Three vehicle passengers (5-foot-4 female, 6-foot male and 6-foot-4 male) took turns riding in the back seats during an afternoon excursion. The Mazda3 four-door sedan is roomy, but the body movements needed to exit the rear seat undoubtedly burned a few calories. The Mazda3 doesn’t have tumble forward front seats to make entering and exiting the vehicle easier for rear seat passengers, but that’s not an expectation on a compact sedan with a MSRP of less than $18,000. There are a number of touches on the Mazda3 that are unexpected, like a lockable glovebox that’s large and deep enough to store a laptop computer or 16 CD cases. For the 2006 model year, Mazda3 adds s Touring and s Grand Touring trim levels on both the 4- and 5-door models as well as making anti-lock brakes and variable speed intermittent wipers standard fare on the models powered by the 2.3-liter 4-cylinder engine. The 2.3-liter engine grabs horsepower of 160 at 6500 rpm and peak torque of 150 pounds-feet at 4500 rpm. Mazda3 can be tuned as a partial zero emission vehicle – think eco-friendly – with only a slight negative impact on the 2.3-liter 4-cylidner’s performance (153 horsepower at 6500 rpm and 149 torque at 4500 rpm). The 5-speed manual transmission has fast-fun-short gear tosses although it takes a bit of practice to make the entry into reverse gear fast and fun. For Mazda3 models equipped with air conditioning, the a/c is now fitted with a pollen filter. All Mazda models include a 4-year roadside assistance program. Mazda3’s standard equipment list includes tilt and telescoping steering column, 4-wheel independent suspension, 60/40 split fold rear seat, cruise control, power windows and door locks, side impact airbags and curtains. The Mazda3 with 2.3-liter engine and 5-speed manual transmission tallies estimated per gallon fuel numbers of 26 city/32 highway. The MSRP is $17,615.