I ran General Altimax Arctics on my Honda Civic. They're great in the snow on a FWD car. Keep in mind their Q speed rating (99mph) may not meet the minimum recommended by mazda (H) for a 205/55R16 mazda3 tire (though that's for 2010 my, dunno about earlier). I'm running the new Hankook W310 Winter i*cept evo 205/55R16s (91H) on some 16"x7" alloy wheels, so far I'm very impressed with how well they do in the snow and ice, while still maintaining good dry handling. Consumer reports likes them, too, but best of all, they weren't too pricey ($94/ea) in my area, once I got the tire retailer bidding against tiremonkey.com, anyway.
