If you live in the city and your family consists of just you and your partner or your dog or a cat who likes to go for drives (just kidding, cats hate to get in the car), the 2023 Mazda 3 just may be your ticket to freedom.  And maybe paradise.

Starting at $33,550 US (yeah, yeah, good luck finding one at that price, even at this late stage of the 2023 model year), this small car, which comes as either a sedan or a hatchback, is peppy and spunky and very easy to park.

And with mileage of 28 city / 37 highway, it’s also relatively easy on your pocketbook (yeah, yeah, no one calls it a ‘pocketbook’ anymore).

All-Wheel Drive is available, and so is a turbo as you go up the food chain. This is a car that you can truly make your very own sportscar without having to pay the sticker price. Or fear that the cops will pull you over for looking too racy.  Yet, as you can see, it really is a nice-looking car.

My husband Paul has been driving a Mazda 3 for more than a decade now and in many ways, I am surprised that thing is still going. But I would never call it a bag of bolts: it is still a solid car that, sure, has needed some work and a lotta love from time to time. But it is still a reliable car that has delivered every day, along with a cuppa joe and a morning sausage roll.

Small vehicles can often become traps on the road, yet the 2023 Mazda 3 has earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick and the 5-star overall safety rating from NHTSA. This is incredible for a small car. It’s always difficult to feel safe on the road, especially in anything as compact as a ‘compact’ car.  So, bravo Mazda. Just so you know.

If you do have children, I am hard-pressed to say this is a car you should consider.  I don’t have children, but I can only imagine how frustrating it must be after a long day in not-so-ideal weather when your dependents are not cooperating …. And you have to maneuver them into the backseats.

The downside to the 2023 Mazda 3 is the interior space.  The backseats get a bit pinched for your friends who are a bit on the big and tall side.  Rear seat legroom is 35.1 inches. And cargo space is not ideal for your visits to the big box stores: 13.2 cubic feet for the sedan’s trunk and 20.1 cubic feet for the rear seats in the hatchback. But that’s always the case when you are shopping for small / compact cars.

As always, we here at gaywheels.com encourage you to do your homework. And run the numbers.

Anymore, the cost of owning a car is, how shall we say, challenging.