Quote Originally Posted by mikespeed95
are both cars completely stock with the same wheels and tires? if so that comparison might not be 100% exact.

btw

coupe >> hatch.
Do you perhaps mean the comparison would not be 100% exact if they were NOT both stock with the same wheels?

Wheels would not contribute to more than 50lbs of lightening on a 4-point scale, I have never seen wheels on a car that weighed as much as to make new wheels reduce the weight as much as you're implying. Also, if you put wheels on one, you put wheels on the other to keep the comparison the same, the difference decreases dramatically. The coupe is lighter because of the support for the back hatch. There is a significant amount of frame around where the hatch drops and along the rail to hold it up. The hatch itself is also quite heavy, starting with doubling the weight of the glass of a coupe's back end. It's similar to the idea of why a convertible weighs more than it's non-convertible version. Despite the fact that there's some material removed, the material added to reinforce the area neccessarily will weigh much more than the original material itself did. The exceptions are of course cross-framed Roadsters such as the Miata and S2k.

The Hatch does indeed weigh more in similar configurations than the coupe, but the difference is not enough to make a decision soley on it. I personally prefer the coupe because I would want to do an S13 front end and an SR swap. YMMV but if you're really having a hard time deciding you may be best off to try and find a way to have one of each. Wish I had the space to store two.