Originally Posted by RollCNY

I just went through this, with the same list of vehicles. If you have never driven an old Mazda3, the new Mazda3 is decent. If you know the old, it is a pale comparison. The Honda Fit is insanely underpowered, and geared in the manual so that it SCREAMS at 6omph and up. Surprisingly nice otherwise, but it also has no modern amenities. Of the stick shifts, the best two hatches I found were the Hyundai Elantra GT and the Ford Focus. The Hyundai was more performance oriented, but the Focus was nice (it was the 5 speed stick).