I had owned a VW also and had allot of problems.
In the past I had owned a RX-7 with no problems and went back to Mazda and bought a Mazda3 2005 hatchback, auto, and white last summer. Just turned 10K miles and FLAWLSESS.
The car performs excellent

For those talking about MPG check out this site made by a MZ3 owner:

www.brianbauer.org

there you can compare your MPG and log your fuel usage!

 

these realy are good cars we have had one in our driveway for 2 years now and almost 50,00 miles. mechanicly the car is still great it just likes to run into things (my whife has had 2 collisions and i have had 1) the car is a hoot to drive we havent had any problomes or warranty issues and the dealer support has been alright. the only thing that i will gripe about is the tires they realy dont do the car justice and they wore out pretty quickly. but you arent going to see a car in this price range come with good tires on it .

 

Well Guys - I did it!
I'm now a proud owner of a Titanium Gray Mazda 3 hatchback as of 3/25/06 - purchased, not leased. She is fun to drive and has so much pep! I turned in my poor ole VW Jetta (and wouldn't you know it was trying hard to behave itself in it's last week of lease, but she didn't convince me to keep her - just couldn't trust her). I agree with most people that the Mazda 3 gives you so much for the money. Comparing the VW which was a $3,000 more expensive car 4 years ago - I really can't complain. I will say the VW is a smoother riding car - suspension wise, the body solid and I will miss the arm rest and the continuous window function when I drop off my office mail in the mailbox, but there's so much more to love with the Mazda 3. I love the radio switch on the steering wheel and the extra room for sunglasses, drinks, and glove compartment I just hope I never have transmission problems or silly other problems with this one that I had with the Jetta. I also love the reversable back cover for wet items such as sweating milk cartons in the Florida heat!