SECONDS OUT
WHAT’S THE BEST HOT HATCH CURRENTLY ON SALE? We have a few firm favourites but recently we’ve driven some great newcomers, so we reckoned it was time to find out definitively. This is the first of a trio of group tests that will establish the best from each class before we bring the very finest together for a final, best of the best, winner-takesall shoot-out. Will it be the new Hyundai i20 N or Toyota GR Yaris? The new Cupra Leon or BMW 128ti? Or will it be the new Volkswagen Golf R, which here takes on two of our current favourites, the formidable Honda Civic Type R and the ballistic Mercedes-AMG A45 S?
If you love driving you also love hire car lottery – the thrill of arriving at the airport rental car desk not knowing what you’re going to get. It’s a bit like that with an evo group test, except that when dep ed Adam Towler calls to say what’s being delivered to you for the start of the test, you’re a guaranteed winner. ‘Civic Type R,’ he said. Bingo! Get in! Mind, if he’d said AMG A45 S I’d have been just as happy. And, to be honest, as the writer of this test I probably should have started with the new Golf R but, hey, logistics.
The Honda will do very nicely because it’s the pre-test favourite. Probably. It was mightily impressive at eCoty 2020, holding its own against many cars that were much more powerful and expensive. It’s a car of exceptional focus yet somehow not at the expense of everyday useability. It’s only ‘probably’ the pre-test favourite because we’ve never pitched it against the Mercedes-AMG A45 S. The AMG was great on eCoty 2019
