Mazda fans are like the denizens of a cool underground speakeasy, hidden behind a false door and a mounted antelope head. They’d love people to know how much fun they’re having, but they may not want the masses to force their way inside.

The automaker, of course, would happily drop the velvet rope and put more people into the driver’s seat of its cars — as long as the party didn’t turn into a Toyotathon filled with earnest dweebs arguing about hypermiling techniques.

Yet with the government mandating that automakers’ fleets average 54.5 m.p.g. by 2025, even Mazda can’t focus exclusively on sporty hijinks at the expense of fuel economy. That’s been demonstrated, in triplicate, by its CX-5 crossover and the redesigns of its Mazda 6 midsize sedan and now its compact Mazda 3 hatchback and sedan.

All of these models have adopted Mazda’s Skyactiv technology, which may sound like a sinister missile-defense system, but is actually a bundle of improvements to the cars’ powertrains, chassis and aerodynamics.