Road Test: Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works GP

Price as tested: €47,640

+ Handling, performance, styling, seats, noise, fun
– Hard ride, impractical
= Small car, massive fun

News: Kia to take on Golf GTI with Cee'd GT

We've become used to Kias with high quality, Kias with style and Kias with a long warranty, but are we ready for a Kia with a high performance engine? Well, we will find out very soon as Kia will be presenting its Cee'd and Pro_Cee'd GT models at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, with a new 1.6-litre turbocharged engine with 200bhp. 


That will put Kia head to head for the first time with the likes of the Volkswagen Golf GTI, Ford Focus ST and Peugeot 208 GTI. The GT models get lower, stiffer suspension, LED running lights, Recaro bucket seats and 18-inch alloy wheels. It sounds like an enticing cocktail, but once again; are we ready for a high-performance Kia?

Designed in Europe under the direction of President and Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer, the two debutants feature bold athletic styling, distinctive LED daytime running lights, dual-exhaust pipes, Recaro seating, 18-inch alloy wheels and eye-catching red brake calipers.

The new turbocharged 1.6-litre GDI petrol engine will produce 204 PS (201 bhp) and 265 Nm (195lb/ft), powering the front wheels through a six-speed manual transmission and allowing the Kia pro_cee’d GT and cee’d GT to accelerate from 0 to 100km/h (62mph) in 7.9 seconds.

Production of the newest members of the latest generation cee’d family is scheduled to start at Kia’s Žilina plant in Slovakia in mid-May.  The Pro_Cee’d GT is anticipated to go sale in the UK and Ireland from the middle of the year and be joined by its Cee’d GT counterpart towards the end of 2013.

Prices and specifications will be confirmed closer to the on-sale dates. Meanwhile, Kia will also be bringing a concept car that point the way to the replacement for the Soul compact SUV and a future rival for the Nissan Juke, Peugeot 2008 and Mini Countryman. No mechanical details as yet, but expect it to be based on the same platform as the hugely successful Rio supermini and that sharp-edged front styling and expanded grille should be the new corporate 'face' of Kia.

News: Kia turns up the heat

Kia, which has now built itself a massive European and Irish customer base on the back of its value for money proposition (and that now-famous long seven-year warranty) is winding up to launch it’s first ever high-performance model. 


Based on the three-door coupe Pro_Cee’d version of the popular Cee’d hatchback, the Pro_Cee’d GT (seen here in design sketch form) will be a rival to the likes of the VW Golf GTI and Ford Focus ST.

The design is, once again, down to Kia’s famed ex-Audi stylist Peter Schreyer, and will feature an aggressive bodykit, a prominent GT badge in the grille and red highlights along the body. The three-door Pro_Cee’d GT will arrive first, and that will be followed by a five-door hatchback version, while apparently an estate version is under consideration, such is the popularity of the load-lugging version of the Cee’d.

Under the bonnet will be a tuned and tweaked version of the same 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine already found in the turbo versions of the Hyundai Veloster coupe (Hyundai and Kia are, of course, part of the same company these days). In the Veloster, that engine makes 184bhp but that will be increased to a much more muscular 200bhp for the Kia. The only transmission for the moment will be a six-speed manual gearbox; Kia isn’t yet ready to offer a rival to VW’s dual-clutch DSG ‘box.

Depending on how the car is received, this could be the start of something big for Kia. It’s known that Kia is keen to kick off its own in-house tuning and performance arm, rather like Mercedes’ AMG, but it needs the Pro_Cee’d GT to sell well initially to justify the investment. 

If it comes off, then we could see hot versions of both the Rio hatchback and Soul crossover, as well as the possibility of a large, rear-drive coupe to take on the likes of the Audi A5 and Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe.

News: Opel pits '91 Kadett against '12 Astra GTC – just for fun

Opel has shown off this video of it pitting a classic 1991 Kadett GSi hot hatch against a new Astra GTC OPC.

Both cars are being driven by legendary German driver "Smoking" Jo Winkelhock and never mind that there's 21 years and around 130bhp between the two, this is just a bit of fun for your breakfast-time...

Road Test: Fiat Abarth 500C

Price as tested: €31,000 (approx)

+ Styling, engine, handling, seats, quality, sense of fun
– Tiny boot and rear seats, quite thirsty, no official imports yet
= Funnest hot hatch of the moment




Like a Scottish Terrier carrying a Kalashnikov, the Fiat Abarth 500C is packing way more aggression than befits something so small. The standard 500 is cute, chic, even (whisper it) a bit girly. The Abarth is its mildly psycho brother who's into body piercing and headbutting walls.

As with all great Italian cars, the heart of the Abarth is its engine, a 1.4-litre turbo petrol developing 135bhp. 135bhp doesn't sound like much these days, but it's accompanied by a decent slug of 200Nm of torque and, in practice, there's more than enough grunt to both hoick you up the road at a suitably impressive rate and keep you making rapid gearchanges on the stubby five-speed manual, punching them through from the elbow.

When you do that, and especially during fast upshifts as you accelerate, the optional Monza exhaust (which actually adds 5bhp thanks to improved engine breathing, bringing the Abarth up to 140bhp), with its mildly hilarious quad exit pipe, bangs and growls like a grumpy howitzer battalion. It's all ludicrously entertaining, and thanks to the 500's diminutive dimensions, it all happens at a reasonable rate of consumption. 8.1-litres per 100km sounds a touch thirsty for a small car, but in the context of the fun on offer, it's a perfectly acceptable price of admission.

It always used to be the case that with high-performance Italian cars, you paid for the (glorious) engine and the rest of the car was thrown in (and together) for free. Famously, journalist and racer Paul Frére complained to Enzo Ferrari that his Testarossa Le Mans racer had such a big, flat windscreen that it was crawling down the Mulsanne Straight while the sleek Jaguars and others blasted past. "Well you know," declared Il Commentadore airily, "aerodynamics are for people who can't design proper engines..."

Thankfully, the Abarth 500 proves that such dismissiveness is truly a thing of the past for fast Fiats (effectively what Ferraris have been since the seventies; heresy I know). The 500C feels beautifully built for a start, with high levels of cabin quality and gorgeous high-backed Alcantara bucket seats. Rear space is somewhat compromised by these bulky buckets, but it was hardly all that roomy to begin with, and by choosing the C over the regular hatch 500, with its peel-back convertible roof, you are effectively resigning yourself to having no boot space to speak of. A squashy bag is about the limit.

No matter. Once you get rolling, you won't care about the practicalities. It may sound odd to say it of a stiffly sprung sporty thing with big optional alloys and watch strap Pirellis, but the Abarth actually rides better than the standard 500.It bounces around less, even though it's plainly harder than the standard car, and the steering, so remote on a normal 500, is here full of feel and delightful weight. There is simply tonnes of grip, a little hint of the back end squirming around when you corner seriously hard and an abiding sense of out and out fun and enjoyment. Occupying an even smaller amount of road than Mini's conceptually similar Cooper S Works, the 500C feels ideally suited to Ireland's twisty and narrow back roads. And because it's not over-burdened with some silly specific output, you can enjoy ringing its neck a little without attracting the attention of either sides of the legal profession.

When the going gets properly twisty and slippery, it’s best to thumb the TCC button just below the aircon controls. That activates an electronic differential which brakes an unloaded front wheel to prevent power being spun away and which also helps the Abarth’s chassis to reduce understeer to an effective minimum. Unlike some similar systems (or a pure mechanical diff) it doesn’t bring with it unnecessarily hefty steering or camber-following tendencies, it’s much more subtle and effective than that.

As yet, Abarth models are still not officially imported into Ireland, but their visa status is due to be updated any time now. For the meantime, you can personally import one (a process that I’m sure your local Fiat dealer would be more than happy to help with) and you’ll have to fork out in the region of €27,000 for the 500C, about €2,000 less for the hatch. Our test car came loaded with options including that wonderful Monza exhaust and the gorgeous high-back Sabelt seats which swelled its price by €4,000. Pricey for such a small car then, but very much worth it to my mind. Besides, try speccing a Mini Cooper S up to similar levels and see where you get to...

You could spend even more and upgrade to the Essesse kit, which brings with its more power (160bhp), uprated brakes and tweaked suspension, but the extra stiffness would probably ruin the Abarth’s rather lovely ability to flow with bad roads rather than fighting them, so I wouldn’t bother.

Personally, I'd skip the C part too (the roof is nice and all, and works at speeds of up to 80kmh, but its usability in Ireland is always going to be limited) and go for the hatch, which also brings with it a more practical boot and that slight cut in price. Would I buy one? Oh, if only I could afford it. Hot hatches have become, as a species, somewhat too refined and practical of late. Even the likes of a 200bhp Clio or DS3 can fail to provide much in the way of outright thrills, so steady and safe are they. The Abarth feels a touch more unruly, raw and on the edge than that. It's the hot hatch as she is meant to be spoken.


Fiat Abarth 500C
Price as tested: €31,000 (approx)
Price range: €12,895 to €27,000 (approx)
Capacity: 1,368cc
Power: 135bhp
Torque: 200Nm
Top speed: 205kmh
0-100kmh: 7.9sec
Economy: 6.5l-100km (43.4mpg)
CO2 emissions: 155g/km
Road Tax Band: C €330
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star adult, 3-star child, 2-star pedestrian

Road Test: Citroen DS3 Racing

Price as tested: €30,495

+ Fun, high quality, gorgeous
– Bit pricey, other than that not much
= Other may be purist but the DS3 is more fun

In a motoring world where convention is king (“I’ll have that in silver please, with black upholstery” is the phrase most often heard in Irish dealerships) it is refreshing, like zesty mineral water on a hot day, to drive something a bit naughty.

And naughty is not often a word that you would apply to Citroen. Quirky? Yes. Comfortable? Absolutely. But naughty? Not so much. That kind of changed when the little DS3 hatch was introduced. Take the chassis and engines from a C3, add a healthy measure of the kind of appealing styling and sporty driving experience that has made the Mini such a storming success, garnish with a sprinkle of the DS badge magic, shake over ice and pour... It’s been a storming success in Europe (albeit much, much less so in Ireland) and is a sharp-edged competitor to the Anglo-German hatch.

The Racing is all of the same ingredients, with about a quart of Wasabi added to the mixture. It takes the 150bhp DSport model as its basis, cranks the (BMW-sourced) 1.6-litre petrol turbo engine up to 204bhp, adds a chassis tweaked and balanced by the sorcerers at Citroen Rally Sport (which has utterly dominated the World Rally Championship in recent years) and served it up as a grey-and-blinding-orange, €32k playzone.

There are few things better in life than a quick, well-balanced hot hatch and the DS3 Racing is certainly not going to upset that assertion. It gives you all the performance you could reasonably ask for, unless you are a track-day junkie, yet it remains practical, spacious and comfortable enough for everyday driving.

Aside from the damage to your retinas that the paintjob will cause, the most abiding memory you will take from driving the Racing is the performance of its engine. And oddly enough, not because it is savagely powerful but because it seems so unassuming.

That’s a strange thing to say about a hopped-up turbo job, but it’s true. There is so little turbo lag and the power is delivered so linearly that you start to doubt, just a little that it really has its advertised power output. Its other significant rival, the RenaultSport Clio 200, has a similar grunt figure but it’s all delivered, in one mad dash, at the top of the power band, making it more exciting in extremis than that Citroen, but maddening and frustrating at all other times. The Racing, with its diesel-like low-down shove, is much more accessible, and yes, I consider that a good thing.

It’ll still do the 0-100kmh dash in 6.5secs (hardly blistering I know, but it feels pretty rapid in a car this compact) and will run on to a top speed of 235kmh (given space and legality, of course). Yet its fuel consumption is reasonable claimed 6.4-litres per 100km, which you should be able to match, or at least get close to, in real world driving.

It’s the chassis, rather surprisingly, that feels unruly and naughty. Normally, cars tweaked by motorsport departments are set up for cold, clinical apex-annihilation. Racers want cars that go as quick as possible, even if the quickest way sometimes looks and feels the slowest. The DS3 Racing, rather pleasingly, eschews this for a more on-the-edge feel. It’s not really anywhere near the limits of its abilities on the public road, it just likes to make you think that it is. It does this through steering that feels a touch ragged, with a nibble of torque steer at the edges, and handling that washes surprisingly quickly into understeer. Now, technically, this is not good, but it is enjoyable as you feel as if you’re really pressing on when in reality, you’re actually just cruising. A classic case of being better by appearing worse.

What I particularly like about the DS3 (in all its forms) is the way it really nails the static quality side of things. Renault’s hot Clio is all business-like plain plastics and underwhelming styling, preferring you to concentrate on the chassis and engine. Which is fine if you’re lapping the Nurburgring, but not so good if you’re stuck in traffic on the Wellpark Road, casting around the cabin for something nice to look at. The DS3’s funky exterior styling, its high-quality cabin (yes, in a Citroen) and its decent rear space and boot mark it out as a car that gets the true ownership essentials right.

So, it’s not a paragon of hot hatch handling, or even grunt for that matter. A Mini Cooper S Works offers (slightly) more power, a RenaultSport Clio has sharper steering and handling and, frankly, a VW Golf GTI has the lot licked for all-round appeal. But, like an engagingly naughty child, the DS3 Racing’s character shines through, and in a world of grey cars, that is truly something to be happy about.


Facts & Figures

Citroen DS3 Racing
Price as tested: €32,990
Range price: €17,490 to €32,990
Capacity: 1,598cc
Power: 204bhp
Torque: 275Nm
Top speed: 220kmh
0-100kmh: 6.5sec
Economy: 5.4l-100km (44.1mpg)
CO2 emissions: 149g/km
VRT Band: C. €330 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star; 87% adult, 71% child, 35% pedestrian, 83% safety assist

Road Test: Opel Astra GTC 2.0 CDTI 165 Sport

Price as tested: €25,495

+ Gorgeous styling, spacious, excellent chassis (with FlexRide), well priced
– Grumbly diesel engine, inert steering
= Best Astra ever

So the question, before we even get started, is; who will buy a coupe in 2012 Ireland? In the heyday of the now-defunct Celtic Tiger, the Opel Astra Sport Hatch (as the previous, slinky, three-door coupe Astra was known) sold like the proverbial heated cakes, making up around a third of Irish Astra sales, when the European average was around 15%.

Now though? Who can say? Opel is making the relatively sensible prediction of “less than 1,000” sales of its new Astra GTC coupe in Ireland next year, which seems a bit of a lo-ball figure for a car as good looking as this.

Being good looking is for a coupe as much of a raison d’etre as it is for Derek Zoolander, and the Astra GTC certainly hits its glamour marks spot on. The standard Astra 5-door hatch is hardly ugly, but this coupe version is really very handsome. 15mm lower, 40mm wider and 10mm longer in the wheelbase, the GTC looks low, lean and very tasty. Some will still prefer the more understated charms of its closest rival, the VW Scirocco, but it’s a clear nose in front, to these eyes, of the over-styled Renault Megane Coupe. It is a bit colour sensitive though. Yellow looks awful. ‘Mineral White,’ which is actually more of a matte pale grey, looks gorgeous on a sunny day, but will likely look dreary and washed out under Irish drizzle. Better stick with red.

It shares only three exterior components with the more family-friendly five-door; the radio aerial, the door handle and the door mirror. While you’d hardly mistake it for any other family line, the two cars are actually radically different. Even underneath, they diverge. The basic mechanical package is the same, but the GTC ditches the 5-door’s conventional McPherson strut front suspension in favour of the much more sophisticated, and expensive, GM-designed HiPer Strut. In simple terms, the HiPer strut is there to make the GTC drive with a great deal more verve than the 5-door Astra.

And it does so. Oddly, it’s rather lacking in true sporting sensations. A car so ground-hugging as this, you would assume, would be rather more direct and to the point about its sportiness. But the Astra GTC instead impresses initially with a healthy dose of refinement and comfort. Lower and stiffer the suspension may be, but the combination of HiPer struts and the optional electronic FlexRide dampers means that the GTC rides with a firm calmness that belies its hot hatch looks. In fact, it feels more like a big, comfy GT car at first.

Show it some corners, and it reacts well. The electric power steering robs you of true road feel (whatever the engineers may claim) but there is excellent grip, sharp turn in and real poise to be found. Keen drivers won’t be disappointed, even if ultimately they would be better served in the Scirocco.

One area where the GTC notably lags behind its rivals is in the engine department. The range topping engine, at least until the 280bhp turbocharged OPC high-performance variant arrives next year, is the 165bhp 2.0- CDTI diesel. With 380Nm of torque working its way through the front wheels, it never feels slow, and its on-paper 0-100kmh time of 8.9secs simply doesn’t reflect its muscular in-gear acceleration feel. The claimed fuel consumption figure of 4.8-litres per 100km and the Co2 emissions of 127g/km mean that even this range-topper will not be too expensive to run. But boy, is it noisy. There’s a constant obviously diesel clatter at low rpm that never really goes away, until it is drowned out by wind and tyre noise at motorway cruising speeds. Even then, the slightest touch of the throttle pedal will have it grumbling away to itself, and a distant turbo whistle, that sounds disconcertingly like a far-off ambulance siren, makes itself known at urban speeds.

At least the cabin plays a strong hand. With a layout and switchgear lifted straight from the impressive Insignia saloon, it could hardly do otherwise and everything looks and feels much more expensive than the entry price of €22,995 (for the 1.4T 120bhp petrol) would have you think. There’s even decent space in the back and boot; Opel engineers’ struggles to make the GTC as practical and useable as the 5-door paying, mostly, off.

So, as we asked when we came in, who will buy it? Younger buyers, drawn by its enticing looks and sporty promise, will likely not be able to afford it, or at least not be able to raise sufficient credit. Older buyers, able to pay the sticker price, will probably shun it in favour of a bigger, more practical Insignia. Which leaves the Astra GTC in an unfortunate middle ground.

Its clever front suspension and sharp-edged looks mean it’s without question the most impressive of the current Astra range. It’s not quite as satisfying to drive as an equivalent Scirocco, but is far cheaper. It’s more expensive than a Megane Coupe, but far more powerful and overtly sporting. Fix the diesel engine’s refinement and engineer a touch more feel into the steering and it could be a world-beater. But, their hands forced by economic realities, few enough buyers will ever realise what a good car it is.


Facts & Figures

Opel Astra GTC 2.0 CDTI 165 Sport
Price as tested: €25,495
Range price: €22,995 to €30,495
Capacity: 1,956cc
Power: 165bhp
Torque: 380Nm
Top speed: 210kmh
0-100kmh: 8.9sec
Economy: 5.9l-100km (58.8mpg)
CO2 emissions: 127g/km
VRT Band: B. €156 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested

Road Test: Renault Megane RS Trophy

Price as tested: €39,000 (approx)

+ Sublime chassis, massive poke, price
– Cheap cabin fittings, needs a racetrack to fully exploit
= Best hot hatch of the year. Possibly ever



It should all be bang-crash-wallop. Stuffing a massively powerful engine under the bonnet of a family hatchback, and then lowering and stiffening it while garnishing it with a side order of tyres so low in profile that they resemble watch straps should be a recipe for excitement tinged with acute discomfort.

But the Renault Megane RS Trophy is simply not like that, and that is a verdict drawn from driving it on the most challenging, bumpy and poorly maintained road surfaces that Ireland has to offer.

Renault has a long and glittering career of producing the finest hot hatches behind it, from the mousy-looking R19 16v through the fabulous Clio Williams and up to recent gems like the current Clio RS 200 and the previous generation Megane R.26. But the Megane Trophy could yet turn out to be the shiniest gem of the lot. It uses a 2.0-litre turbocharged four cylinder engine with 265bhp and 360Nm of torque which is, remarkably, more efficient in both consumption and emissions (claimed 8.2-litres per 100km and 190g/km of Co2) than its less powerful predecessor.

What had me assuming that it would be a desperately uncompromising and uncomfortable track-day special was the fact that it holds the production car lap record at the Nurburgring. Cars tweaked for the ‘Ring tend not to do so well when bumps, cambers and other traffic are introduced to the equation. IN fact cars tweaked at and for the ‘Rinfg tend to annoy me an utterly astonishing amount by, on bumpy proper roads, being undriveable, harsh-riding dens of awfulness that I just can’t wait to get out of. The Trophy proved me so, so wrong though.

Climb aboard and you get the standard Megane cabin (which is fine if nothing more) upgraded with fabulous Recaro bucket seats which hug without squeezing. The rev counter is, Ferrari style, painted bright yellow and there’s a plaque on the centre console informing that this particular car is number 21 in the series. It’s comfy and I, someone who likes the occasional almod crossiant, really appreciated the extra bit of space and give in the buckets. Far too many sports seats are just constrictive and uncomfortable. Like all Meganes, space in the back is good and the boot is a decent size too. Do you care? Thought not. On with the driving experience...

The steering, although short on real feedback, is beautifully weighted and positive and as soon as the Trophy is rolling just gives you this terrific feeling of meatiness and control. We may have lost true road feel in the switch from hydrualic to electric power steering but RenaultSport has proven with this rack that you can still mkae fake feel good.

The ride, even with those 35-section 235 Bridgestones on 19” wheels, feels remarkably supple. On the motorway, with cruise engaged, the Megane is a refined and comfortable cruiser. This isn’t supposed to be in the script.

Find a road with more twists and it really comes to life. Front grip is simply remarkable, allowing you to carry speed safely through all but the tightest corners, while that steering weight gives you something to lean against as you choose your line. The Brembo brakes are strong and delay the onset of anti-lock remarkably well, even on slippery surfaces, but ultimately never give you that I’ve-just-hit-a-brick-wall that the best performance car brakes give you. Pity that and a pity too that the silly drilled metal pedals are too slippy and act as a bit of a confidence drain.
What brings back the confidence is the Megane’s poise. The way it reacts to direction changes is utterly brilliant. I have a quiet stretch of road to test such things (no, I’m not telling you where it is) and never have I driven anything that deals quite so will with a particular bit of off-camber approach, sudden direction-change tarmac as the Trophy.

 That 6.0sec 0-100kmh time allows you to sprint away from tight junctions, with the tractions control juddering away to keep the front tyres in play.

But it’s the ride that really impresses. It’s certainly not soft, but it feels remarkably well tuned for Irish roads, shrugging off lumps and scars on the road with a relaxed gait, while still giving you the sort of iron-fisted body control that you really need to be able to enjoy a good drive. Honestly, I don’t know how Renault has managed to get such a fast car to be so comfy. Witchcraft, perhaps?

The only slight let down is, surprisingly, the engine itself. Yes it’s powerful, and makes a nice roar at the top end, but it’s only at that top end that you really feel the power. That big turbo only really starts puffing at 4.500rpm and it’s all over at 6,000rpm.  It’s not slow below the 4,500rpm mark, far from it, but you only get the big guns firing once you stretch it past this point and by that time, you’re already going so quickly that, on the public road, you’re not really going to stretch it any farther. Bigger fireworks lower down the rev range, even if they compromised ultimate grunt, would make the Trophy a little more enjoyably unruly. The noise is good, a bassy bellow that encourages further listening, but again it’s all happening in the final 1,000rpm. Lower down, the refinement is welcome on a long journey but you do crave a bit more aural entertainment.

But the price. Renault Ireland has still to set a final price for the Trophy, but circa €39,000 makes it one of the performance bargains of the decade. Honestly. The Megane Trophy is so useable, so easy to get the best from, so biddable and such gloriously good fun to drive that you really are talking about buying cars costing three, four even five times as much before you’re into something that you can honestly say is a quantifiably faster way to cover tarmac miles. If Renault had added €20k to the price, we’d still have called it good. As it is, barely any more expensive than a specced up Golf GTI, it is an utter legend.

Facts & Figures:
Renault Megane RS Trophy
Price as tested: €39,000 (approx)
Price range: €18,890 to €39,000 (approx)
Capacity: 1,998cc
Power: 265bhp
Torque: 360Nm
Top speed: 254kmh
0-100kmh: 6.0sec
Economy: 8.2l-100km (34.8mpg)
CO2 emissions: 190g/km
Road Tax Band: E €630
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star adult, 4-star child, 2-star pedestrian

Road Test: Renault Clio RS Gordini

Price as tested: €28,000 (approx)

+ Scalpel-sharp chassis and steering, characterful engine
– Silly paint job, high Co2
= A purist’s hot hatch

Quite why Renault has chosen to revive the old Gordini name for its hot hatch range is a little baffling, to me at least. OK, so there’s the connection with the classic R8 Gordini, some sixties Le Mans cars and, not least, the original fifties Gordini F1 team. But, looking back at Gordini’s F1 record, it’s hard to ignore that aside from a couple of thirds for legendary charger Jean Behra, the team’s record was one of lower placings and retirements. Which is why I’m puzzled. After all, Renault already has the RenaultSport brand, which has won mulitple F1 world championships as both an engine maker and a team, has won the Le Mans 24hrs and the Monte Carlo rally. So why go to the bother of resurrecting a racing name that few have ever heard of?

Especially when, applied to the Clio 200 RS, the Gordini name seems to signify little more than some sparkly blue paint, some silly stripes and some blue inserts in the cabin. Amedee Gordini’s signature is conspicuous by its absence and there are no mechanical changes to the chassis or engine.

Then again, there didn’t need to be. The Clio RS has been THE reference small hot hatch for some years now, providing the sort of razor sharp thrills that once seemed to have been outlawed, or at least forgotten about. And while I’d aver that that crown has slipped a little (we’ll come to more of that in a minute) this is still a properly thrilling little car to drive.

It is, in a way, quite old-fashioned. There are no turbos here, no clever downsizing. Just a big (2.0-litre, with 200bhp and 215Nm of torque) engine stuffed into a relatively small, light car. There are hot camshafts, improved breathing and all the classic techniques for getting more grunt out of a simple engine.

That lack (if that’s the right word) of a turbo means that the Clio RS is quite unforgiving. There’s enough torque to pootle around happily at low speeds, and the gearing is so short that even sixth on the wonderfully notchy-feeling gearbox won’t bog down around town. No, if you want to feel what the Clio is really capable of, you have to rev it. By 3,00rpm it’s starting to move, and starting to fart angrily down the exhaust too. By 4,500 that fart has grown in intensity and is now really roaring. But you sense that there’s still more, much more, to come. And you’re right. Get the needle moving about 5,000rpm, get the engine onto the cam properly and things really start to move. By now the Clio is bursting with energy, ripping through its last 3,000rpm to the redline and you’re seriously moving. So grab another gear, drop back down the rev range and begin again. 0-100kmh is done in 6.9secs, should you wish.

The problem is, and this is where the Clio starts to wobble a little atop its throne, is that while having such a highly tuned, high-revving engine is wonderful, it does bring with it some limitations. The chief one of which is that you have to drive it like you’re in your own personal Le Mans to get the most out of it, which is hardly a practical, or even law abiding, state of affairs. Its turbocharged rivals may not have the true, spine-tingling feel of the Clio at high rpm, but their torquey, low-down oomph is more suited to the quick-thrill-and-then-relax driving style so necessary in these heavily regulated times.

It doesn’t do the running costs any favour either. Renault claims 8.2-litres per 100km on average, we managed 10.1l/100km, thanks to some (ahem) enthusiastic driving. The Co2 figure of 196g/km doesn’t look to clever either, especially when you consider that a Mini Cooper S Works manages 164g/km.

But where the Clio really starts to make up for all this is when you get it on to a twisty road. Now, a small, light car with big wheels and low profile tyres is hardly going to prove a perfect match for Irish back roads, and so it proves as the Clio hops and skips its way along. But the way this thing steers is where the real gold is to be found. That steering is just alive, flowing with information and perfect weighting, in an era when even the best supercars have numb, over-assisted tillers. There is still that slight whiff of unnatural self-centering, but that apart, this is not so much a car as a tool for deconstructing the geometry of the road builder’s art. Tightening apexes, sudden changes of direction, long, fast sweepers; all are a playground for the Clio’s talents.

The rest of the chassis backs that up. You’d have to be clinically insane to be going fast enough to get it to slide or slip, but there is still a sense of adjustability. It’s not just a point and squirt car. Once you get into the meat of a corner, you’re not just waiting for the apex to come and go before opening the throttle again. The Clio gives you options. Tighten the line to give oncoming traffic a wider berth. Let the nose run a little wide to avoid an errant tree root. Or just stick to your chosen line as if the tyres were covered in PrittStick and blast out the other side with a massive grin on your face.

The rest of the Clio fits neatly into the classic hot hatch playbook. Spacious cabin, comfy seats that support without squeezing too hard (even if the driving position is all over the place). A decent boot and a sense of decent build quality, even if some of the materials used simply don’t look or feel up to the task.

I have to admit to a slight, lingering sense of disappointment about the Clio Gordini too. It’s not the colour scheme, with its silly stripes (all car makers succumb, sooner or later, to such needless theatrics). It’s not the fact that you have to wring the engine so hard to truly experience its magic. It’s not the jiggly ride or the offset pedals. It’s actually a comparison to its bigger brother. The Megane RS Trophy (full road test HERE) is only around €10,000 more expensive. I say only, but there is a serious point here. Whereas the Clio stands in comparison to the likes of the Citroen DS3 Racing, the VW Polo GTI and the upcoming Ford Fiesta ST, the Megane is something else again. It is a spacious, comfy, practical hot hatch that bears serious comparison with seven-figure supercars in its ability to cover ground. It is on another planet entirely.

So while I loved driving the Clio, and would recommend it as a tonic for the ills of the modern motoring world, perhaps I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have driven its bigger brother first.


Facts & Figures

Renault Clio Gordini RS
Price as tested: €28,000 (approx)
Range price: TBC
Capacity: 1,997cc
Power: 201bhp
Torque: 215Nm
Top speed: 225kmh
0-100kmh: 6.9sec
Economy: 8.2l-100km (34.6mpg)
CO2 emissions: 196g/km
VRT Band: F. €1,050 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star adult, 4-star child, 1-star pedestrian