I guess I am not sure what you are looking for then. If you are looking for a compact car that gets great gas mileage for commuting, you can surely do much better than a mazda3. Its mpg is near the bottom for its class. Honda, Toyota, etc. offer far better fuel economy. Granted, I don't like what any of their offerings look like, aesthetically. But if you were looking for a fairly sporty sedan or hatch, and I think you almost would have to get a stick, then the mazda3 is perfect. I have driven some vehicles with manumatics or whatever which do shift quite nicely (BMW M3, etc)., and the Mazda3 in my opinion is clearly not one of them. I would highly recommend the manual. Most of my driving is city, stop and go, and I still bought one as my only car. Your money though.