The Mazda 3 is OK, the Mazda Speed 3 is the one to look at . 263hp turbo front wheel drive, better mpg as you aren't dragging around double the drivetrain. The WRX was nice, but it never had the torque or wheel spinning fun of a RWD V8 car. Plus the mpg wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. The last few years I've been trying to find the sweet spot for a fast daily driver (fun/fast/economical), but there are no secret cars that have it all. The mpg is about the same for all of the performance cars. It's interesting to compare numbers from http://www.fueleconomy.gov/ use the find a car & then compare cars. You can even look at some of the old cars. What I found out was that being used to a torque car changed my driving habits so that I was always getting worse mpg in the WRX than I was supposed to & equal or better in the V8 cars. You'll definitely beat the truck tho'. I guess it makes sense, there are no secrets. Power is equal to the air/fuel you can burn. So making 300hp in a V8/V6/Turbo 4 (using same generation technology) uses about the same fuel. Then it just depends on weight, gearing, drivetrain & driving habits. I was on the gas a lot more in the WRX just driving around then in the GTO/TBSS/or G8. It was really nice during the winter, although the TBSS was more fun (V8 roar w/AWD). The TBSS was a pig tho', guess the weight didn't help on that.
I had more fun in the G8 w/winter tires. It was fun to drive & during the summer you could still have all of the fun & challenge.
