2021 Hyundai I30 vs Mazda 3

What's the difference?

Since 2007, the i30 has consistently been Hyundai’s best model.

A car so focused on being an amiable Volkswagen Golf alternative, it’s even been co-developed in Germany. As such, over three distinct generations, there’s never been a dud version.

This was hammered home by the sheer brilliance of 2017’s i30 N, which for many reasons remains a premier league hot-hatch experience to this day.

But does the i30 N-Line have the same impact in the non-full-fat, semi-skimmed warm-hatch category – you know, the sporty hatches that don’t cost the earth?

We drive the latest, 2021 i30 N-Line Premium to find out.

FEW cars have been as complicated or controversial as this current-generation Mazda3.

Launched in early 2019, it would have garnered stellar reviews if Mazda hadn’t decided to ditch the base Neo and kick things off instead with the mid-spec Pure. Consequently, the price of entry jumped by $4500, with predictably many buyers feeling abandoned by the brand. Sales have since declined, but that’s the general small-car trend anyway as the SUV’s stranglehold tightens.

Some enthusiasts weren’t too keen on the rear suspension’s switch from a sophisticated multi-link to a simple torsion beam either, claiming it didn’t align with Mazda’s sporting reputation.

Then the long-awaited, much vaunted Skyactiv-X models arrived in mid-2020 – a compression-ignition supercharged eco model promising diesel-like petrol economy without the noxious fumes and with improved performance and refinement to boot. Years in the making, the hype had perhaps been overblown because what eventuated wasn’t a Prius-rivalling yet GTI-like saviour, but something altogether… more nuanced. 

Now, as the dust settles, we take another look at the Skyactiv-X-equipped 3 (X20) in flagship Astina auto guise, to see if the mainstream small car has evolved as much as Mazda has us hoping.

And, more importantly, whether the Mazda3 can cut it as a premium proposition.