The car is great. It gets great gas mileage and looks like a sporty car. It has great dynamics for a cheap car and was ranked number one in compact cars, small cars and hatchbacks. At the time that I purchased the car, it was a Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Top Safety Pick. It handles very well at high speeds and is a pretty comfortable ride, although a bit noisy at times. From a storage standpoint, there is plenty of room for being such a small car. It has plenty of leg room in both the front and back, and the trunk is bigger than other vehicles that I've owned that were bigger. The final point was the cost - which was a huge reason that I ended up buying the car. I was able to finance the entire purchase in cash without a loan, just after being a student, so that alone should tell you something.

The car I own - a Mazda 3, the baseline car - is one of the best cars I've ever owned. It's a fairly rudimentary car, nothing special. But it also gets the job done. It gets me where I want to go - has been a very reliable car without any major breakdowns and is also still looking modern and stylish nearly 7 years after I bought it. The only downside is that it's not a super fancy car and it's the base model, so has none of the super fancy things that people all want on their cars now.