Autocar UK – 24 April 2019

1st

Still the daddy. Exceeds traditional notions

of how a front-drive hot hatch can feel to

drive and what it can do on the right road

Δ t h at it r e qu i r e s pr op e rl y s ub s t a nt i a l

loadings to get it working fluidly,

which it surely does, what with its

new hydraulic bump-stops.

It needs commitment, in other

words, and if you’re the sort who

i s pr e pa r e d t o g i v e it t he ne c e s s a r y

in that regard, you’re probably

prepared to indulge its taste

for torque steer and occasional

vulnerability to def lection. God it

corners f lat, though, especially on

smooth stretches of road, where

the ultra-wide front track bites

viciously through quick direction

changes, often prompting the tail

to swing in time-honoured Renault

Sport fashion, whether you’re riding

the new, lightweight bi-material

brakes or have the throttle pinned.

I n f a c t , onc e y ou’r e i n t u ne w it h

the car’s slightly unnatural false-

oversteer routine, the Trophy

becomes wonderfully expressive

and adaptable to whatever driving

style best suits the conditions or your

mo o d. Ju s t m a k e s u r e it ’s a f a s t one.

If the GTI TCR matched the

Mégane’s level of incisiveness, it

would be much more stimulating,

but it also would cease to be a Golf.

Truth is, the optional decals and

f lared sills are misleading, because

this final hurrah never sets the pulse

racing in quite the way you’d want it

to. The steering is probably a touch

more linear but folds the car’s nose

into corners more lethargically, like

a d i m me r s w it c h c ompa r e d w it h

the Renault’s circuit-breaker. This

example’s £875 adaptive suspension

also struggles for vertical control at

the pace set by the Mégane, while

t he p ow e r f u l br a k e s si mpl y a r e n’t

communicative enough for a category

in which confidence when shedding

s p e e d i s s o i mp or t a nt. T he pr e -

emptive electronic differential is the

most predictable of all the hardware

here, however, and were the Golf’s

225-section front tyres to match the

245s of the others, any difference

i n ap e x s p e e d w ou ld b e ne g l i g i ble.

Shame it’s all just a bit remote and

uncomfortable in its boy-racer skin.

Which leaves our final car, and

herein lies an inconvenient truth for

Hond a’s golde n b oy: t he C i v ic Ty p e R

is neither as versatile as the Golf GTI

T CR nor, f r a n k l y, a s e le c t r i f y i n g

as the Mégane on a charge. The

infotainment is dreadful, too, and

materially the cabin is miserable

in parts. The bodykit we’ve already

addressed, although there’s also the

fact that the skinny-spoked 20in

wheels make the rear brake discs

looks like MiniDiscs.

How e v e r, t he Ty p e R p o s s e s s e s

arguably the greatest human-

machine interface compilation of any

c a r on s a le r e l at i v e t o t he nor m s of

the segment in which it exists, and

perhaps beyond. It starts as soon as

you climb aboard. After the Golf – a

car ergonomically all but f lawless

48 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 24 APRIL 2 019

...while Honda copies the Ferrari 458

Golf GTI’s rear is the most restrained

RS gets an Aventador-style exhaust...

The Civic Type R is

the most composed

at maximum attack

Equine ambivalence

didn’t affect our

testers’ final ranking

Civic is the only

one with more than

300bhp, although like

the others puts it through

a limited-slip diff in the front

axle. In the wet, the Golf’s

electronically controlled set-up is

the most predictable, although

on dry Tarmac it lacks the

attack of the Type R or

Trophy.