recent straw poll on
Autocar’s Twitter
asked which of today’s
hot hatch stars would
take victory. There
were a few chirrups in support of the
Volkswagen – the Golf GTI we have
here is a last-of-the-line special from
an engineering powerhouse and
s o ou g ht t o b e r at he r go o d – but , a
little tediously, almost all predicted a
k no c k out blow f r om Hond a.
We shouldn’t be surprised. This
is the FK8 Civic Type R: the best
driver’s Honda since the DC2 Integra
darted onto the Japanese domestic
market in the mid-1990s, and a
car whose behind-the-wheel zing
tends to unify the opinion riven by
its design. Honda might not have
v olu me e nou g h i n Eu r op e t o s upp or t
continued production at the Swindon
plant where the Type R is exclusively
built, but the 3500 employees who
now face an uncertain future can be
obscenely proud of the car they’ve
manufactured. So far this has been
the undisputed class champion, and
t o d ay i s it s t i lt at i m mor t a l it y.
But not if the box-fresh Golf GTI
TCR or a radiant Liquid Yellow
Renault Sport Mégane illuminating
our Welsh surroundings can help
it. These are the latest wares from
arguably the most pre-eminent
houses in the entire hot hatch
business. They’re tweaked and
tuned, more expensive than the base
model but perceptibly quicker and –
we hope – more fun. And why would
anyone spend more than £30,000
on what is, after all, merely a front-
d r i v e n p e r for m a nc e de r i v at i v e of a
m a s s-pr o duc e d f a m i l y c a r, u n le s s it
was enormous, irresistibly good fun?
When it comes to hot hatches,
history shows the engineers at
Renault Sport HQ in Les Ulis
nor m a l l y ne e d a s e c ond bit e at t he
cherry to give us their best effort,
and when that bite comes with a
Trophy badge, it normally blitzes
the opposition. In this instance, no
t i me h a s b e e n w a s t e d i n de ploy i n g
the Mégane RS 300 Trophy – to give
its full name – and it’s a typically
convincing effort. Power from a
quicker-responding 1.8-litre four-
cylinder turbo engine shared with
t he A lpi ne A 110 i s up 2 0bhp ov e r t he
base Mégane RS to 296bhp, withtorque rising from 295lb ft to 310lb ft
if you go for the dual-clutch
automatic gearbox, which we
haven’t. The Trophy retains four-
wheel steering but gets a new
bi-mo d a l e x h au s t , 19 i n w he e l s
wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza
S001 tyres (track-ready S007s are
an option) and Renault Sport’s Cup
chassis as standard.
The Volkswagen is bashful by
comparison, despite the fact this TCR
version wears the most belligerent
bodykit ever seen on a production
Golf and is, at least in a straight line,
the quickest car here to 62mph, if
only by a tenth or two. Those initials
A
`
The Golf GTI has easily
the broadest powerband
among the assembled
a
Final fling for the
Mk7 Golf GTI doesn’twant for visual clout
GTI TCR makes 286bhp and 280lb ft Type R produces 316bhp and 295lb ft
Mégane RS has 296bhp and 295lb ft