2019 Mazda 3 vs Volkswagen Golf

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.

The Golf GTI is Volkswagen’s everyday superhero with a history that saw it as one of the pioneers (along with the Peugeot 205 GTi) of the hot hatch cult. Loved for being powerful yet still practical, small but not puny, the Golf GTI has been though seven generations in 44 years while receiving updates during each evolution.

As the end of 2018 neared Volkswagen updated the GTI for 2019 and we had the chance to drive it on the track and then live with it for a week.

So, what’s new for the updated Golf GTI? Is it better on the track or more suited to the road? Is it economical and what’s it like to drive day-in and day-out? We know and we want to tell you.