jaje

The Honda Civic EX faces the Mazda 3 s, the Ford Focus ST, the Toyota Corolla XRS, and the Hyundai Elantra GT

The order of the cars is strange...it seems it was not ranked but here is a list of where cars came up (usually with most magazine comparisons the better cars are listed last)

Toyota Corolla XRS
Ford Focus ST
Honda Civic EX
Hyundai Elantra GT
Mazda 3s

MrFatbooty

It would appear that they are not ranked at all, although the Mazda 3 was chosen as the "winner."

04 Acura TSX

The Civic is just old, small, and dull...the article is right on with it. The Mazda3 gets my vote for nicest compact car.:bowdown:

velfarretokyo

Nicest and most expensive (its on par with say a Jetta). I guess it kinda does show you that you get what you pay for generally. I wouldn't even say that the Mazda 3 is in the same league as any of those cars as I think that its definately moved upmarket while the rest have been around as strictly econo-boxes.

jaje

i own a protege5 the predecessor to the 3...they are nice new but do not hold up as well over time as the 3 civics i've owned...also the resale on my car sucks...for instance...our 2k1 civic ex sedan we paid 19K out the door and sold it for $13k with 25k miles on it...my 2002 pr5 i paid $19k out the door dropped to $10k real resale (not kbb) as soon as i drove it off the lot...it has worn fabric areas and squeaks and rattles galore...paint is starting to fade and it gets paint chips all over the place

i love driving it but by 5k miles it was already dropping out of 3rd gear and mazda was trying to hide a clutch chatter defect that they would only fix upon being able to repeat the problem but of course the only mazda dealer within 30 miles of me would require me to drop if off overnight and if they didn't discover a problem they would charge me for the rental i'd have to drive...a bunch of my mazda 6 drivers have all these little problems and the trannies are starting to act up like mine

though the protege/3 are fun to drive they are not as reliable as a civic...and for 90% of the people who buy economy cars reliabilty is the most important thing...unfortunately i'm in that 10%

bluetwo

interesting.
I saw that the CTR was the favourite on Fifth Gear last night.

Samson

i would pick the Civic EX and the Corolla XRS as the best all around.