"In this day and age, power comes at a premium. From pricey electric bills and rolling blackouts to rising oil prices and $3-a-gallon gasoline, power and the means by which we obtain it have become especially costly. For the typical American buyer who's out to purchase a new car, the average transaction price now hovers around $29,000. Finance that debt over five years at a reasonable 6.0-percent interest rate, and you're looking at roughly $560 per month. Ouch. So if you want some muscle under the hood but don't want to empty the bank account, what can you do?
Happy to say there are some rides out there that offer maximum muscle for minimal moola. These mini-musclecars deliver levels of power and performance that belie their pennywise price tags. In this frugal and fast field, no two vehicles deliver more bang for the buck than the veteran Subaru WRX and the newcomer Mazdaspeed3. The rally-bred all-wheel-drive WRX received significant upgrades for 2006--notably a 230-horsepower turbocharged flat-four--while the all-new front-drive Mazdaspeed3 has entered the arena with a force-fed inline-four whose direct injectors help kick out 263 horses. Best of all, they both start for under $25,000. To find out which one is best at terrorizing the tarmac, we subjected both vehicles to the hilly roads and commuter highways in and around Los Angeles as well as a full day at the test track, the latter including myriad laps on a demanding autocross. Which electrifying econobox delivers the strongest current for the least currency? "
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