December 17, 2006 - Among other things, including helping to start a little company you might have heard of called Intel, Gordon E. Moore noted more than 40 years ago that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit -- processing power -- doubles every 24 months, with no increase to manufacturing costs.

Known as Moore's Law, it's the reason why your new gazillion-megahertz laptop's residual value halved by the time you've read this.

I don't know if Mazda's in-house Mazdaspeed gear heads know about Moore's musings, but their latest offering, the 2007 Mazdaspeed3, illustrates their own exponentialism of horsepower.



OK, compared with Mazdaspeed's first production example, a hopped-up version of a 2003 Protege sedan with 170 horsepower, you don't need a slide rule to calculate that the 2007 Mazdaspeed3 doesn't come with 480 hp, as per Moore's calculations.

But when Volkswagen GTIs and Honda Civic Sis are being driven with around 200 hp, the Mazdaspeed3's 263 hp and 280 pound-feet of torque from a turbocharged and intercooled 2.3-litre, four-cylinder, direct- injection engine definitely shifts the sports compact power paradigm up a notch or three.

Keep in mind, Moore never had to be concerned with high-performance microchips torque-steering themselves off a twisty two-lane on a Sunday morning.

But with an additional 103 hp and 130 lb-ft of torque compared with a regular-strength Mazda3, a perenial Straight-Goods Sports Compacts finalist, Mazdaspeed's engineers sure did.

Unlike the existing all-wheel-drive Mazdaspeed6 sedan and CX-7 crossover, which are also powered by the same turbo four, the new fast and furious compact is front-wheel drive only.



Play word association with "263 hp" and "front-wheel drive" and the first thing that comes to driving enthusiasts' minds is "torque steer."

In an attempt to minimize this unwanted effect, Mazdaspeed programmed the engine to hold back intake volume and boost pressure control during abrupt torque peaks. And, through the first three gears in the standard six-gear manual box, torque is also electronically reined in. The stiffness of the left and right driveshafts is now balanced, and a newly developed limited-slip differential reduces wheelspin on the inside wheel when you're playing with all of that new-found Mazdaspeed muscle.

Frankly, if your first few kilometres in a Mazdaspeed3 are spent trumbling through low-speed suburban traffic, you might get the impression your neighbour's kid with the too-baggy pants built this ride up from parts proffered on the Web.



The light clutch take-up late in the pedal's travel, sensitive throttle, balky two-three shift, hard seats, heavy steering, unyielding suspension, coffee-can rear exhaust with its leaf-blower imitation mid-range toot .... Ay carumba!

At this point, you're thinking, "Geez, a regular Mazda3 would be so much nicer to drive."

Perhaps.

But "nice" wasn't in Mazdaspeed's brief for this car. Give the Mazdaspeed3 the appropriate environment, (i.e., away from the strip malls), and let it off its leash.

A head's up: Nothing quite readies you for the immediate scenery blurring when you hammer the fast five-door's instantaneous throttle in first gear. The 5,500-rpm power peak comes up fast, so you'll want to grab second gear, er -- now!

At this point, you've had two opportunities to feel how the turbo kicks in with mucho feeling after 3,500 rpm. By the third gear throw, you're into demerit-point speeds.



Be careful. The muscle-bound Mazda's high-speed smoothness masks actual speeds, with a mid-range punch that makes the 2.3 four feel more like a 3.2 six.

Suspension changes specific to the Mazdaspeed produce 60% greater roll stiffness compared with the Mazda3. It's definitely firm, burgeoning on rough around town, but it feels composed and damn near autobahn-ready when you're into triple digits. The added roll stiffness is really appreciated when positioning the car in long sweepers, keeping it flat and stable, allowing the tires to stay in contact with the road.

Perhaps it's the effect of all those electronic nannies to tame the ton of torque-steer, but the Mazdaspeed3's steering is also better at elevated velocity than at lower speeds where more feel is needed if you want accuracy.



Ultimately, all that big car power exclusively driven through the front wheels does produce some torque steer. But it's well managed, with little required of the driver to tame its actions.

If you don't mind the notchy shifter, the raucous exhaust or the trigger-happy throttle, nothing for the price outperforms the 2007 Mazdaspeed3.

With class-leading horsepower, sharp handling and the practicality of five doors, Mazdaspeed's latest offering seems to have created its own Big Bang for the Buck Law.

- John LeBlanc, Publisher, www.straight-six.com



Just the facts...
Build quality
Features
Performance 
Fun-to-drive
Overall value 

TYPE OF VEHICLE Front-wheel-drive, compact sport hatchback
ENGINE Turbocharged 2.3L DOHC four
POWER 263 hp @ 5,500 rpm; 280 lb-ft of torque @ 3,000 rpm
TRANSMISSION Six-speed manual
TIRES 215/4518 winter performance
BRAKES Four-wheel disc with ABS
FUEL ECONOMY L/100 KM 11.8 city, 7.6 hwy.
PRICE: BASE/AS TESTED $30,995/same
STANDARD FEATURES Dynamic stability control, super-limited slip differential, traction control, xenon headlamps with manual levelling, AM/FM/six-disc CD stereo system with six speakers, steering wheel-mounted audio and cruise controls, auxiliary audio input, tilt and telescopic steering, front and side air bags and side air curtains, Mazdaspeed cloth sport bucket seats, sport bumpers and fog lights.

© National Post 2006. This article originally appeared in The National Post's Driving.