> 2022 hot hatchback battle: the middleweights
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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 and sets the bar for hot hatch performance, its 2-litre, turbocharged engine delivering a thrilling 415bhp, which it deploys effortlessly through all four wheels. It’s also a car you could use every day, perhaps even more easily than the Civic Type R thanks to its paddleshift dual-clutch transmission and even more cossetting ride.
You can never underestimate a fast Volkswagen Golf, though. The new flagship Mk8 Golf R could be the absolute sweet spot, treading the perfect line between these two highly accomplished rivals by combining the potency of the Honda with the four-wheel-drive ability of the Mercedes, topped with lashings of traditional Golf strengths and understated flair.
First, though, the Civic. From how it looks inside and out you might expect a raucous experience. In fact, while you feel hard-wired into the Civic through its incredibly precise, slack-free controls, it’s also comfortable, reasonably refined and rides remarkably well.
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The default drive mode is Sport and it’s fine for almost every situation, though there’s Comfort if you’d like the ride a little freer and ‘R’ if you want a sharper throttle and firmer ride. After a relaxing three hours heading north on the A1, Sport mode was also acceptable for the increasingly challenging road jinking cross-country to the rendezvous near Alston.
