Stay away from the mazda3's ( no offense to the 3's on here) I like they way they look and have decent power for a daily but the MPG freaking SUCKS for the power you get. I have also read about quite a few problems with them. (It was close between my civ and the 3).
Dunno if I told you but my parents have a fit. Its an 07 but it is a very practical car. I wouldn't call it fun to drive by ANY means. My major complaint is no intermittent wipers (09 may have changed), but the biggest thing is it is geared for the city. At 75mph its around 3500rpm (manual trans). I know your commute is mostly highway, so keep that in mind ( again maybe this changed in 09).
The 09 looks like a great improvement though.
oh and also, don't buy it used. If you plan to keep the car a long time just buy it new and break it in properly and keep up on maintenance. Plus honda's retain their price so you probably won't save all that much money, plus you will get a better interest rate.