The 2011 Mazda 2 will go on sale soon, and will compete in the increasingly crowded subcompact segment with the Ford Fiesta. But the Mazda 2 is a significantly different car than the Fiesta.

The Mazda 2 rides on the same platform as the Fiesta, and like the Fiesta, the Mazda 2 has been around for a couple of years elsewhere in the world, but they aren’t identical. According to a a Mazda spokesperson, the Mazda 2 and Ford Fiesta have several interchangeable parts, but only three are actually the same. Think of them more like fraternal twins. They both came from the same place, but they’re definitely different.

Compared to the Ford Fiesta, the Mazda 2 is focused on being sporty and fun to drive, while the Fiesta is more luxurious and has more cool technology for drivers to play with. Ironically, even though the Mazda 2 is the sportier tiny car, it has a substantially less powerful engine, with 100-hp to the Fiesta’s 120. Autoblog recently spent some time with the Mazda 2 and their opinion from the drive was that the engine and transmission on the Mazda 2 are so well sorted out that it actually feels sportier. Autoblog called the 2’s 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine a “total workhorse.”

In their review, Autoblog says that the interior of the Mazda 2 isn’t on the same level as the Fiesta, and from their description, the Mazda sounds more like what you’d think of when you hear ‘base model’. They complained about the poor quality seats and the lack of a telescoping steering wheel. Combine that with the absence of all the gizmos found in the Fiesta and it’s pretty clear that the Mazda 2 and the Ford Fiesta are designed at different buyers. The Ford Fiesta is for people who want to be entertained on their drive, while the Mazda 2 is for people who want to be entertained by their drive.

Image via Autoblog.