Three for 2

After yesterday's Italian supercar bonanza, some more real-worldly - though obviously no less exciting - news as the three-door version of the Mazda2 goes on sale in the UK.

We've been seriously impressed with the five-door Mazda2, which is already one of the lightest, liveliest superminis around, and the removal of a couple of doors should improve it yet further.

It won't be any smaller, mind: the three-door 2 (if you see what we mean) is the same length and width as the five-door, retaining the same interior dimensions and only losing out on a couple of centimetres of rear shoulder room.

The three-door will only weigh in about 10kg lighter than the five-door, so expect performance and emissions to remain the same from the 1.3- and 1.5-litre petrol engines and the 1.4-litre diesel.

You will, however, save a bit of cash: the three-door will be priced about £500 cheaper, which means the cheapest model will weigh in just under eight grand.

The only fly in the ointment is that there's still no word on a hot MPS edition to rival the Fiesta ST and the Corsa VXR. Or, erm, a V8 version with 460bhp and a folding hard-top...