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The car went zoom-zoom, sip-sip, which was odd. Most cars that go zoom-zoom don’t sip; and most that sip don’t go zoom-zoom. When you get a car that does both you pay attention. The subcompact Mazda3 2.3 Sport sedan was hard to ignore.

We did not want the car. We preferred something larger to drive roundtrip to Cambridge, Md. — the site of this year’s Mazda product rally — from our home in Northern Virginia.

But I goofed. I scrapped earlier plans to attend the event. I thought we’d be too busy moving out of our Arlington house, which is scheduled to be remodeled. But nothing in the construction world happens the way you think it will happen. We were all boxed up with nowhere to go.

“At least we’ll be away from this mess when we go to the Mazda thing,” my wife, Mary Anne, said a week before the rally date.

I said nothing.

“We are going, right?” she asked.

“I canceled,” I said. “I thought we’d be moving.”

Mary Anne said nothing.

My wife’s silence is far worse than her ranting when she’s angry. It’s an intimidating quiet. There is no way to combat it. You can’t argue with silence. You can’t reason with it. And even if you choose to leave the house for a marital time-out, it does no good. You come back to that silence, that churning black hole of unspoken anger — deeper, more dreadful than before.

I called Mazda.

Yes, they still had space for me and a guest or two at the rally. Sorry, there was no Mazda CX7 or CX9 crossover utility vehicle available. No, all midsize sedans and wagons were spoken for. “How about a Mazda3?” the Mazda spokeswoman asked.

Personally, I love the Mazda3. I think it’s one of the best subcompact cars ever made — sporty, very decent interior, fun. But it’s a subcompact. A roundtrip drive of 260 miles in a small car with a wife still boiling over a delayed remodeling job is no easy thing. Add a third body — a persnickety daughter who once usurped the master bedroom in her childhood home and who held onto that space until she left for college — and you have a problem.

“We’ll take my Mercedes,” said daughter Binta, who is a lawyer in New York.

“It’s a Mazda event,” I said.

“And that means . . . ?”

“Yes,” I said, and left it at that.

The ride began in perfect silence, which this time was a good thing. Binta in the rear did not complain about being cramped. Mary Anne in the front passenger’s seat fell asleep. The little Mazda3 2.3 Sport, once it broke free of Beltway traffic, just whizzed along.

Mary Anne awakened. “Not bad for a little car. It’s kind of nice,” she said. Binta acquiesced from the rear. “Not nearly as bad as I thought,” she said. “It’s a little tight, but all right.”

I was feeling good. Heck, I was feeling great. The women were happy. I was out of the boxed house and the dog house. But . . . .

“You’re going to get a ticket!” Mary Anne shouted. “You’re speeding! Slow down!”

I looked at the speedometer, which was backlit in red. My God! I was speeding. I hereby take the Fifth Amendment and decline to say how fast I was going. I didn’t feel the speed. I had gotten to that point so effortlessly in a subcompact, front-wheel-drive car with a 2.3-liter, four-cylinder engine and a five-speed automatic transmission. It wasn’t even the fastest or most powerful version of the Mazda3. Fast and furious honors go to the model line’s top runner — the turbocharged, 2.3-liter, four-cylinder 263-horsepower, appropriately named Mazdaspeed version of the Mazda3.

I slowed to a more reasonable pace.

“Should we get gas now for the ride back?” Mary Anne asked when we reached Cambridge.

“We don’t have to,” I said. We had a mostly spirited 130-mile drive. We had used barely one quarter of a tank of regular unleaded gasoline. We drove back to Arlington without adding fuel. Mary Anne did several late-weekend errands in the car without adding fuel. I drove it all over Arlington on Monday. Finally, after accumulating 330 miles, I refilled the tank before returning the car to Mazda. There was little less than a quarter of a tank left when I went to the pump.

I told Mary Anne. Stupid! I should have kept my mouth shut.

“What would we have to pay for a car like that?” she asked.

I reminded her that we already had enough to pay for, which is why those moving boxes are stacked all over our house.

* Complaints: If you come to the Mazda3 2.3 Sport expecting it to perform like a truly hot-rod Mazda3 Mazdaspeed, you will be disappointed. But if you come expecting ordinary subcompact competence, you will be overwhelmed.

* Drive, acceleration and handling: This is a subcompact car with a short wheelbase, meaning it can be a tad bumpy on poorly maintained roads. But overall ride is very good. Handling is excellent. And it goes fast enough to yield a spousal shout: “Slow down!”

* Head-turning quotient: Friendly, cute and hot — one of the most attractive subcompact cars available.

* Body style/layout: The Mazda3 2.3 Sport is an economy, subcompact, front-wheel-drive car with four doors and a notchback trunk. It is available in four basic trim levels — Sport, Touring, Grand Touring and Mazdaspeed. The Mazda3 also is available as a wagon.

* Engine/transmission: The car has a standard 2.3-liter, 16-valve, inline four-cylinder engine that develops 156 horsepower at 6,500 revolutions per minute and 150 foot-pounds of torque at 4,500 revolutions per minute. The engine is mated to a five-speed manual transmission.

* Capacities: There is comfortable seating for four people. Mazda literature claims seating for five. I wouldn’t want to be the fifth person. Luggage capacity is 11.5 cubic feet. The fuel tank holds 14.5 gallons of recommended regular unleaded gasoline.

* Mileage: We averaged 30 miles per gallon in highway driving.

* Safety: Side and head air bags are optional. Traction and stability control were not available on the Mazda3 2.3 Sport at this writing.

* Price: Base price on the 2007 Mazda3 2.3 Sport is $18,140. Dealer’s invoice price is $16,979. Price as tested is $20,095, including $1,360 in options (power sunroof, satellite radio and cargo net) and a $595 destination charge. Dealer’s price as tested is $19,455. Prices sourced from Mazda and www.edmunds.com.

* Purse-strings note: Mazda is having a hard time meeting demand for the Mazda3. That means no sales incentives on this one. Compare with Chevrolet Cobalt, Ford Focus (shares the Mazda3 platform), Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, Kia Spectra, Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, Volkswagen Golf.