I might get flamed for this, but I am thinking about trading in my 04 G35x for a new 2013 MazdaSpeed3. I haven't test driven the mazdaspeed3 yet,but on paper it looks really good.

 

Testdrive first

 

Well you're right, that's probably not a good question to ask here If you like it and you're willing to take the front wheel drive tradeoff and turbo lag, i'm sure it's a fun car.

 

A friend of mine bought a new 2009 MS3 and let me drive it a little bit in order to refine his manual transmission driving techniques. I remember I was rather impressed by it's handling characteristics stock for stock. It has good front end rigidity and turn in response and the motor had good response and power. The shifter was kinda ropey though sort of like a VW (which they might have reverse engineered). It really didn't feel like a turbo car with lag at all but I'm coming from a bigger turbo SR20DET with big mismatched cams and a big intake manifold. I hear a lot about it's torque steer, but at the moment I didn't push it so much as to illicit it. It has much better utility as it's a hatch and the rear seats can fold flat or split. However it's not as refined or good looking as a V35. If there is nothing wrong with your car I would keep it. If you plan on being super active with it or boosting it with upgrades then it's a formidable platform.