Amazing how $4-per-gallon gas can make us sit up and notice formerly innocuous economy cars.

In all fairness, cars like the Mazda2 have always shown brightly on our radar. Sporty and stylish with a bargain-basement price tag and a fuel-sipping demeanor that will keep more of those dead presidents in our pockets, it sounds like a perfect fit.

When you add in the Zoom-Zoom nature of your typical Mazda, the fun factor just shoots up to 11. We've already discussed this car a bit here at AB, and have even shown you 3- and 5-door hatches we've seen in the metal, but now we are starting to get more glimpses of the sedan version undergoing desert testing.

Pictures like these from Fastlane Daily give us hope that this fun little car might finally be greenlighted for sales Stateside. The car might end up being identical to the sedan we saw in China, but all of that camo makes it hard to say for certain.

Whatever we end up getting, it will probably be another fun option at the low end of the car market.

Catch the latest version of FLD, co-starring the BMW X1, Nissan GT-R and Cadillac CTS wagon, after the jump.