Bought a MazdaSpeed3 this weekend. Very pleased so far.
Acceleration in 3rd and 4th gear is amazing! Our last performance car was a 05 Mustang GT, and the 3's pick up is reminisant of the stang's.
The torque steer is a little challenging in 1st and 2nd gear, although completely manageable, and unless you lack basic eye/hand/foot co-ordination you will not have any problems with it after a few mins of cruzin around. Surprising so many people seem put off by the front wheel drive. It is more of a challenge to drive smoothly than a rear wheel drive car, but that just means you can feel better than all those lesser skilled Charger, Mustang, and RX8 drivers out there!
I've also always found front wheel drive cars less scary to push their envelope, the worst that can happen is it starts pushing through a corner, and all you do is lift off the gas and the back end slides out and your back on line - just in the wrong lane.
The feel of the car in the corners is also great - very flat. Amazing brakes as well - I still feel dizzy from 0-100-0 experimenting! 6 speed manual also feels great - not sure what some of the magazines were referring too with the rubbery comment.
Clutch is amusing at first - the total travel is fairly long, however the space that the clutch starts to grab to where it is fully engaged is about 1 inch - makes for some abrupt, but quick, shifting (can be embarassing).
The only thing I was annoyed at, was that the audio system wont read MP3 CDs. Instead, you have an Aux jack to plug in your Mp3/ipod - much more of a hassle than just burning mp3s onto a CD and playing through your stereo. IMO.
Anyways, so far so good, and looking forward to the summer.
Awesome car Mazda