huh, my 2014 Mazda 3 (manual 6 speed) I find quite fun to drive. It feels light, it's not some powerhouse but its immensely spritely. It feels like, given the constraints, the engineers were still trying to make something that feels good. Very different from Corollas or Civics that I've owned.
I actually bought the 2014 model rather than 2015 because I wanted the last year made in Japan, though I don't know how much of a difference this makes.
I have the 6 and it's a bit of a boat. Manual transmission would definitely make it more fun, but I got stuck with the 6-speed auto. Yeah it still has manual shifting but it's just not the same.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great ride and a great car. The only thing I don't like about it is that there's nothing to like.
It's the Brother laser printer of cars. It's fine, it's whatever. It does the thing, it'll do it for years and years and never bother you. But it's still a bland boring box with nothing to love except the fact that it works and only needs serviced every fifth year.
I bought CX-3 5 years ago and it's a really fun (and reliable) car to drive and I say that as someone who previously was daily driving a sporty roadster for many years :-) Unfortunately they stopped producing the CX-3 line and replaced it with CX-30 which is very similar, but I prefer the look of CX-3..
I actually bought the 2014 model rather than 2015 because I wanted the last year made in Japan, though I don't know how much of a difference this makes.