Caliber shot down, looks like Mazda3 may be my new ride.

Now we all know, this should be my new ride, a Ford Focus ST, built on the C1 platform. But Ford hasn't seen fit to release this in the US. So I had been doing a lot of research, in order to buy a new car. I want something useful, that will get decent milage and look fairly good.
And I thought I had been lured by the Siren's song of the Dodge Caliber SXT. On paper it seems to be quite a car, roomy and versatile, with good economy and muscular looks. But it only took one test drive to just suck the wind out of it's sails. I had an opportunity, thanks to my brother the Mazda guy, to visit a dealership that sells both Mazda and Dodge. That way I could test drive both the Caliber and the Mazda3 back to back and compare them side by side litterally.
And even if I was willing to overlook the cheaper interior materials on the Caliber, which I was, what killed it was the drive. The Caliber was an SXT with the 2.0l I4 and a CVT auto trans. Power was close on both cars 158 hp for Caliber and 160 hp for Mazda. Now I had never driven a car with a CVT trans, so I was expecting it to be very near a conventional automatic transmission. Boy was I wrong. Pulling into traffic on the 2 lane road was fine, but getting onto the parkway was a real education. As I accelerated on the ramp, I was assaulted with a buzzy engine and a total lack of power. I mean we did get to 50 mph, but the revs never dropped below 4 grand and the lack of shift feel had me nervous. Once up to speed with traffic the engine stayed up at 4 grand and stabbing the go pedal didn't seem to make much of a difference. Now I had intended to buy a manual transmission model anyway, but after driving the Mazda3, even that couldn't sway me. Besides after talking to several local dealers, I don't believe it will be possible to test drive a manual trans Caliber for some time.

Now the Mazda3 was a real breath of fresh air. The 160 hp 2.3 I4 and 4 spd Auto trans worked in unison to bring me up to highway speeds with confidence and obviously power to spare. The car pulled with a good amount of low end grunt and I don't think the tach went over 3500 rpm. The engine hummed up to speed without the raspy clatter of the Dodge. And the slush box shifted firmly and without and hesitation. As for utility, the 3 can handle it, the rear leg room is similar to the slightly larger Caliber and the slightly smaller hatch is not really a penalty, because with the rear seats folded, they are very close. Add to that the higher quality materials everywhere in the Mazda and it's a clear decision. Well, as fickle as I am, nothing is clear, but the Mazda3 just feels better anyway you compare. It's about $1500 more than the Caliber when equiped similarilly, with Leather, Moonroof and 6 disc stereo, but the value is there because of the quality.

Now if Ford would bring the C1 Focus here, I wouldn't have had to look at either of these.