‘THIS IS PEAK HOT HATCH.’ THE message from John Barker arrived after he had just returned from pitting Honda’s new Civic Type R against its key rivals (see page 54). I won’t ‘do a Barker’ and give the result away here, but suffice to say that Honda, Hyundai and Audi are working overtime to create memorable final flings for those who worship the tripod cornering technique. So where does Vauxhall’s new Astra GSe sit within the heights of (nearly) affordable hot hatches? Er, some way back from the summit,
