THE TOP-THREE SHOOTOUT
52 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 28 AUGUST 2019
Guess who wants to go first when it’s
de c i sion t i me at a n A ut o c a r Ha nd l i n g
Day test and you have to take your
t u r n t o sit dow n at ou r v e t e r a n
Windows laptop (no brutish jabbing
at the keyboard, please; it’s pre-war)
and type your final scores into the
all-knowing spreadsheet of doom?
Nobody – that’s who. Trust me,
there’s much less ‘politeness’ when
we open the pit lane.
From urgent phone calls to
bursting toilet commitments, every
stalling tactic you can think of
suddenly comes into play in order
to prevent a given road tester from
being the first to vote, and therefore
being unable to sneak a peek at
his colleagues’ rankings before
committing his own. As the bloke
who usually sets up the Excel score
sheet, my votes are often the first
down – but the queue behind me
t o t a k e up p o sit ion i n t he hot s e at i s
slower forming than a conga line at a
state funeral.
Mercifully, it didn’t come to the
locking of doors and shouting like
John Bercow in the bijou briefing
room of Llandow Circuit this
year. Like me, judges Prior, Lane,
Davis and Calo all had to pick a final
top three from the field of nine cars
we’d assembled and award three
points to their favourite, two to
second place and one to third. With
performance value and usability in
mind, therefore, as well as outright
driver appeal, we all duly obliged;
a nd a p o d iu m m a de up of t w o
full-sized, front-driven, manual-
gearboxed hot hatchbacks and the
only rear-driven sports car in the
field emerged.
I n no pa r t ic u l a r orde r, t he n , t he
Civic Type R and MX-5 made the
cut – previous annual Britain’s BestAffordable Driver’s Car champions
in both cases – as well as the test’s
freshest-arriving meat: the Focus ST.
Quite a podium, that. Much as
some of us had hoped that the sharp
end of the competition might be a
bit closer fought, truly outstanding
driver’s cars have a habit of, well,
standing out; and while all five
judges had both the Honda and
Mazda in their top order, only one
overlooked the Ford. It was a terse
‘nul points’ for the Golf GTI TCR,
M i n i Joh n C o op e r Work s , L e on
Cupra R ST and Mégane RS 300
Trophy. That may seem tough on
cars that weren’t short on driver
appeal by any means, but, contrary
to appearances, I guess we’re a
tough bunch. It was a solitary
point, meanwhile – but no podium
place – for the i30 N Fastback. It
was universally saluted for being
a performance car of intriguing
potential and made of all the right
ingredients, albeit ones not quite
blended and brought together with
flawless skill.
Which brings us, inevitably, to the
sharp end of this contest; and to what
exactly separates one of the greatest
hot hatchback debutants of the pastseveral years from what’s probably
t he mo s t w ide l y a nt ic ipat e d of 2 019.
Would either be good enough to force
its way between Mazda’s affordable
rear-driven sporting icon and
another BBADC title? Our jury had
plenty to say on the former question,
but was split on the latter; and so our
Inside, Civic Type R is as attention grabbing as its bodywork There’s a more sober tone to the ambience inside the Focus
Focus ST has an
effusive quality to
its on-road dynamics
2 019 c h a mpion e nde d up t a k i n g
the golden biscuit by a margin of
just three points.
B ot h on r oa d a nd t r a c k , t he r e ’s
quite a big difference between the
ways in which the Focus ST and
Civic Type R go about establishing
their respective cases to be
considered hot hatchback topdog. Conveniently enough,
acknowledging the strengths of
one only serves to shine a light on
the weaknesses of the other – and
picking either meant becoming
aware of your own tastes in fast
front-drivers as much as anything.
I f y ou l i k e y ou r hot h at c hba c k s
relatively small, lively, agile and
dynamically effusive, for example,
consider yourself a Focus ST sort of
p e r s on. T he Ford go e s bi gge r t h a n
the Honda on character and noise,
on steering response and handling
balance, and on tactile feedback and