CAR Reviews - hot-hatch

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  • Renaultsport Megane R26R (2008) CAR review and video

    Price:  £22,990

    27 October 2008 by Chris Chilton

    Dreaming of a Porsche 911 GT3 RS but living with a hot hatch budget? Renault’s stripped-to-the-bones Megane R26R is the answer. Based on the acclaimed R26, the R version is the most extreme factory...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 5 out of 5
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  • Renault Twingo Renaultsport 133 (2008) review

    Price:  £11,550

    29 August 2008 by Chris Chilton

    Renault has just unleashed the Twingo Renaultsport. It's the £11,500 little brother to the Clio 197, so it's a bargain, but is it any good? A new-to-the-range 1.6-litre engine provides decent grunt,...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5
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  • Fiat Grande Punto Abarth Esseesse: CAR drove it up the hillclimb at Harewood in West Yorkshire (pictured)

    Fiat Grande Punto Abarth Esseesse (2008) review

    Price:  £17,000

    01 August 2008 by Tim Pollard

    We've just driven Fiat's new Grande Punto Abarth pocket rocket on UK soil – and back to back with the Mini Cooper S – for CAR's definitive verdict. Has Fiat given the Abarth badge enough credibilitly...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5
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  • Mini John Cooper Works (2008) review

    Price:  £20,995

    14 July 2008 by Nick Trott

    Mini is attempting to create a sub-brand with JCW – think of it as the company’s own M Division – which means the John Cooper Works is more than the ultimate Mini. It's the first of many...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 4 out of 5
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  • Fiat 500 Abarth (2008) CAR review and video

    Price:  £13,500

    10 July 2008 by Steve Moody

    Can the Fiat 500 Abarth live up to the hype? Now we've driven it, we have the answer. In the last year, no car launched anywhere has had the same impact on the buying public as the Fiat 500. It seems...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 5 out of 5
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  • Vauxhall Astra VXR Nurburgring (2008) review

    Price:  £21,295

    09 June 2008 by Ben Oliver

    The new Vauxhall Astra VXR Nurburgring Edition costs over £1500 more than the standard – and already excellent – VXR. The changes seem limited to some new wheels and tyres, another 15bhp and endless...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 5 out of 5 5 out of 5 4 out of 5
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  • Peugeot 308 GT THP 175 (2008) review

    Price:  £18,995

    18 April 2008 by Ben Pulman

    The Peugeot 308 GT THP 175 is only a warm hatch, according to Peugeot. The pre-launch press conference was all about managing our expectations, telling us that the GT was meant to be dynamic but also...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 3 out of 5 3 out of 5 4 out of 5 5 out of 5 3 out of 5
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  • Subaru Impreza 2.5 WRX STi Type UK (2008) review

    Price:  £25,090

    08 April 2008 by Ben Oliver

    New Imprezas seem to arrive with the frequency of buses. But this one really is new, and important. It’s the UK-specification STi, so for us it’s the benchmark new Impreza: it gets the 2457cc, 297bhp...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 3 out of 5
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  • Kia Proceed 2.0 CRDi (2008) review

    Price:  £12,295

    28 January 2008 by Gavin Green

    Stupid names for cars aren’t new. We’re had the Nissan Gloria, the Ford Probe and the Mazda Bongo Brawny van after all. But in the long roll call of daft designations, the Kia pro_cee’d (note the...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 3 out of 5 4 out of 5 5 out of 5
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  • Subaru Impreza WRX STi review

    Price:  £24,995

    09 November 2007 by Ben Oliver

    Please, please tell me the WRX STi is more impressive than the standard Impreza... It is, though the naturally aspirated 2.0-litre Scooby isn’t without merit. It provides a decent base for the WRX...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 5 out of 5 4 out of 5
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  • Fiat Grande Punto Abarth (2007) review

    Price:  £13,000

    27 September 2007 by Simon Harris

    Abarth? Am I right in thinking the last time I saw that name it was on a Fiat Stilo? Wash your mouth out! We don’t talk about that. Abarth has now been launched as a new brand in the Fiat stable,...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5
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  • Renaultsport Megane 2.0 dCi 175 (2007) review

    Price:  £19,450

    26 April 2007 by Richard Aucock

    Golf GT TDI, SEAT Leon FR TDI, Toyota Auris D-4D T180... there are a few diesel hot hatches around nowadays... Indeed, which is why the RenaultSport engineers built a concept fitted with the...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 3 out of 5
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  • Peugeot 207 GTi (2007) review

    Price:  £15,395

    27 March 2007 by Chris Chilton

    Peugeot seems to have happily vacated its place at the top of the hot hatch pile in recent years. What’s the 207 GTi going to do to change our minds? Make the competition look expensive, for a start.

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5
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  • Vauxhall Corsa VXR (2007) review

    Price:  £15,625

    13 March 2007 by Chris Chilton

    Not exactly the shy and retiring sort is it? Come on, this is a product of Vauxhall’s VXR division, a sub-marque that makes a point of being ruder, lairier and louder than any of its rivals. So while...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5
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  • Citroen C4 ‘By Loeb’ (2007) review

    28 February 2007 by Chris Chilton

    Calling it C4 'by Loeb' makes it sounds like some sort of perfume. What's it for and did the world's greatest rally driver really have anything to do with it? The C4 by Loeb (wouldn't 'Loeb edition'...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 3 out of 5 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 3 out of 5 3 out of 5
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  • VW Golf GTi Edition 30 (2006) review

    Price:  £22,795

    22 December 2006 by Chris Chilton

    Has it really been 30 years since the original hot Golf first arrived? Actually the first 1.6-litre four-speed GTi went on sale in Germany in 1976 so the German market got its hands on this...

    Car Handling Performance Usability Feelgood
    Car ratings 5 out of 5 5 out of 5 5 out of 5 4 out of 5 4 out of 5
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