2019 Mazda 3 vs Hyundai I30

What's the difference?

If you will indulge me, I'd like you to cast your mind back to the mid-90s. If you're too young, ask your parents or Google to do the same.

Have a peek at the pretty but not especially amazing 323 Astina. Some folks call it a four-door coupe, but it's a sedan. It was not nearly as attractive as the more adventurous hatchback.

The 323 went dull for almost a decade and then when the 3 arrived, it was the sedan that I thought was the looker. Sure, they weren't completely different like the old days, but the proportions were nicer and it was just a better thing to look at.

Then along came the most recent fourth-generation 3, the BP. The hatch, I think, is the gorgeous one while the sedan is a more sober. And while still made of lovely proportions, it seems to have been... flattened a bit.

Thorough as we are here at CarsGuide, I spent a week with the new sedan to ponder not only its looks, but whether it's much different to the hatch.

This is the Hyundai i30 N like you've never seen it - because this is the new Fastback version.

It takes everything we knew about the i30 N and reshells it in a bigger, more sedan-like package. As the name suggests, it's more 'fast-back...y' than the regular hatch... And according to the brand, also a bit more premium and mature.

Hyundai calls it a five-door coupe, which is similar to what the luxury brands label their models with similar body styles. That's not a coincidence - the company told us the Merc CLA and Audi S3 were what it looked at when figuring where this model should be targeted.

And if you're wondering, the official name for this hatchback that isn't a hatchback? It's the i30 Fastback N, not the i30 N Fastback. Weird.

The name is one thing, but the look? Well... let's check it out.