and brought with it the company's new design language and light-weight engineering ethos.

The result is a handsome arrangement of curves and swooping lines that come together at the

front where they intersect the headlights and create the wing motif grille that now

features across much of the Mazda range. The rear design has its share of neat touches,

too, with twin exhausts, shark fin antenna, and a subtle roof spoiler, while the proportions

themselves are not unlike a rear-wheel-drive car. Of course, it's still front-wheel-drive,

and that means there's more space for passengers, with a good range of seat and steering wheel

adjustment, and a high transmission tunnel that cocoons the driver. The dash itself is

well laid out - the ventilation controls operate smoothly, while the instruments are centred

around the rev counter with an inset digital speedo, the output from which also appears

on a head-up display that rises from the instrument binnacle. Most of the car's functions are

controlled by the company's excellent new media system, which you can interact with

either via the touchscreen, voice commands, or the twisty-turny controller mounted just

behind the gear lever. Some of the menus are a little convoluted, but overall it works

well, and the screen itself deserves special praise for its clarity. Rear seat passengers

should be happy enough, and despite the sloping roof-line, headroom is fine. Foot-room is

perhaps a little tight when initially climbing aboard, and there's quite a prominent transmission

tunnel to contend with. Still, the seats fold forward easily to accommodate larger loads,

and doing so increases cargo space from 364 litres to 1,263 litres. Four engines are available,

starting with a 1.5-litre petrol unit with 100PS and a pair of 2.0-litre units with either

120 or 165PS, as fitted to our car. Pick of the bunch, though, is the 2.2-litre twin-turbo

diesel with 150PS and 380Nm of torque. The 2.0-litre is a little gruff on start-up and

at low revs, but settles down nicely enough once on the move. More noticeable, though,

is the fabulously slick-shifting gearbox, and Mazda have given the 3 their trademark

stubby and short-throw gear-lever that makes ratcheting your way through the ratios a real

pleasure. On paper, the 2.0-litre isn't slow, with an 8.2 second 0-62 time and a 130mph

top speed, but it can feel a little lethargic at low speeds. Perversely, however, it's also

very forgiving of being in the wrong gear, and there are even times when the shift indicator

will advise 6th gear at just 30mph. We'd still choose the diesel, though, its substantial

torque reserves making it feel the nippier of the two in real-world driving. It's also

more efficient, and while our average with the petrol model was around 43mpg - not far

off its government figure of 48.7mpg - the diesel's official figure of 72.4mpg is nothing

short of incredible. Also surprising is the ride - the suspension seems to deal particularly

well with large imperfections and even smoothers speed bumps into submission. This suppleness

doesn't corrupt the handling, thankfully, and on a set of twisties the responsive steering

combines with the well balanced body control to produce something agile and consistent.

There are no gimmicks to it - it's just good old well-sorted handling. In fact, our only

criticism is that the larger 18-inch wheels of our Sport model do generate quite a bit

of road noise, but that's hardly a deal-breaker. The Mazda 3 is available in three grades - SE,

SE-L and Sport - each with the option of satellite navigation. They're all well equipped and

prices start from £16,695 for the 1.5 or £19,245 for the diesel. We've driven every

model in the range and while the diesel is our favourite, there's not a duff model amongst

them, and even the most basic model is quite a cheerful place to be. The Mazda 3, then,

doesn't just drive well - there's also something very trustworthy about it. And if I had to

choose between this, a Golf and a Focus, I'd choose the Mazda.