Grab a Mazda3 before everyone else figures it out

Length: 175.6 inches

Weight: 3,002 pounds

Cargo space: 20.2-47.1 cubic feet (five-door)

EPA rating (city/highway): 28/38 mpg

Fuel consumption: 31 mpg

Fuel type: Regular

Base price, base model: $16,945

Base price, test model: $26,495

As tested, including destination charge: $30,260

If the 2014 Mazda3 wore a Honda or Toyota badge, there would be a waiting list to buy one. But since it wears a Mazda badge, it’s ignored by myopic car buyers used to buying other brands. Too bad; they don’t know what they’re missing.

As was the case in 2013, the new Mazda3 is available as a four-door sedan or five-door hatchback. There are four trim levels. The base SV model is available only on the sedan, while the Sport, Touring and Grand Touring are offered in either body style.

Both bodies wear Mazda’s sporty new design language, which gives the car a sense of motion. A five-sided grille serves as its anchor, framed in chrome trim that sweeps up to meet the sculpted hood, fenders and doors. It looks fast.

Inside, Mazda’s obsession with speed and performance continues.

The instrument cluster is dominated by a large tachometer; a small digital readout provides the car’s speed. This sporty aura is reinforced by paddle shifters mounted on the steering wheel that allow for manual shifts of the automatic transmission. A new head-up display system, which the company calls Active Driving Display, is mounted above the instrument cluster and provides vehicle speed, navigation and other information.

But this car’s goodness goes beyond style. Check out the new infotainment system that’s displayed on the 7-inch screen atop the center console. It’s much more useful than those in older Mazdas, which had screens that were smaller than many smartphones. This new system includes a text-to-voice option that reads aloud text messages and Facebook updates when the car is moving.

The instrument panel is framed in piano black and satin silver trim that gives the vehicle a bit of panache. On the test car, the white seats and door trim were a relief.

Seats were comfortable and supportive. Head- and legroom were more than sufficient up front, although a bit dearer in the back. Of course, you may not care about rear-seat legroom once you toss the Mazda3 around.

Two four-cylinder engines are offered: a 155-horsepower 2.0-liter mated to six-speed manual or automatic transmission, and a 184-horsepower 2.5-liter, which comes only with the automatic. The larger engine is available only on Touring and Grand Touring models; the smaller one is available on all models. The four trims — SV, Sport, Touring and Grand Touring — are preceded by an I for the smaller engine, or an S for the larger one.

Of course, Mazda sent a fully loaded five-door S Grand Touring model. It was a lively driving companion, proving to be more fun than most cars in this class. It’s as if the company injected the Mazda3 with some of the Miata’s DNA. Few fuel-sippers are this much fun to drive.

Credit goes to the car’s snubbed-down suspension, allowing the Mazda3 to be driven as if you stole it. It snakes through corners while remaining absolutely flat. The trade-off is a fairly stiff ride, but it’s worth the compromise. Unfortunately, you’ll also have to contend with a fair bit of road and tire noise.

Despite its performance, the Mazda3 returned 31 mpg in mixed driving due to the car’s Intelligent Energy Loop system, or i-Eloop for short. This option converts the car’s braking energy into electricity to power components in the car and that, in turn, improves fuel economy.

But if you need more than just good performance and fuel economy, the Mazda3 has a long list of options. They include blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-departure warning, forward-obstruction warning, radar cruise control, adaptive front lighting, rear-view camera, heated leather seats, automatic headlamps and rain-sensing windshield wipers.

Of course, all of this goodness comes at a price. While the Mazda3 starts at $16,945 for the I SV, it goes as high as $26,495 for a top-of-the-line S Grand Touring. With options, the test car came to $30,260. That’s pricey for a mass-market compact, but not for one as well equipped and as capable as the Mazda3.

That’s why, if you’re looking for a new small car, take off your blinders and head to your Mazda dealer for a test drive. You may end up not going anywhere else.