Hot Hatch Comparison 2022: Track Test

You’ve probably already checked out the comprehensive carsales Best Hot Hatch 2022 comparison and been suitably impressed by the quality of the six combatants.

But you may have also noticed one crucial element of the process was missing: a track test.

Yes, it’s all well and good knowing your hot hatch has a decent boot and the requisite number of airbags. But these are performance cars and what we all want to know is how they go when they get fanged to the limit.

The best place to do that is on a racetrack and the best person to do it is our resident expert 'fanger' and Bathurst 1000 champion Luke Youlden.

Luke joined us on a sunny but cool-ish day at serpentine Winton Motor Raceway to test out our six contenders; the Ford Focus and Fiesta ST, the Hyundai i30 and i20 N and the Volkswagen Golf and Polo GTI.

Before we go any further, yes we know Ford has announced the end of Focus and Fiesta ST sales in Australia. It’s a sad decision as far as we are concerned and also an untimely one given it was made just after we shot this video and published Best Hot Hatch 2022. Just in case you were wondering why there’s no reference to their departure in the video.

So back to the action at hand. All six cars are five-door, front-wheel drives with turbo-petrol engines. But from there things start to diverge.

For a start, we’ve actually got two class battles going on within the overall contest. There are three minis in the line-up (Fiesta, i20 and Polo) and three small cars (Focus, i30 and Golf).

The Fiesta is a 1.5-litre triple and the Focus a 2.3-litre four-cylinder. The i20 N is a 1.6-litre four-cylinder and the rest of the line-up are 2.0-litre fours.

The two Volkswagens and the i30 N use dual-clutch automatic gearboxes (six-speed in the Polo, seven in the Golf and eight in the i30 N), the Fiesta and i20 N are six-speed manuals and the Focus drives via a seven-speed torque converter auto.

They all use some form of mechanical or electric limited-slip front diff to aid power distribution, which varies from as little as 147kW in the Fiesta and Polo to 206kW in the Focus and i30 N. The i20 N trails the pack on torque with 275Nm (upped to 304Nm on overboost), while the Focus is top dog with 420Nm.

In terms of chassis, the minis all have passive suspension set-ups including torsion beam rear-ends. The small cars have driver-adjustable adaptive dampers and multi-link rear-ends. Brakes are discs all-round, of course.

The Pirelli PZero is the tyre of choice for both Hyundais and the Focus, the Fiesta rides on Michelin Pilot Sports, the Polo on Continental Contisportcontacts and the Golf on Bridgestone Potenzas.

The i20 N is the lightest, the Fiesta is the shortest and the Focus is the longest and heaviest.

And price? Well, if you can keep up with it good luck, but as this was written the Fiesta ST was cheapest at $33,490 and the Golf GTI the most expensive at $54,990 (plus on-roads).

So to the contest itself. First up was the 0-100km/h sprint and then came the lap times. Launch control was used if available for the straight-line stuff while it was maximum attack and minimum digital nannying when it came to the lap times. Tyre pressures were as per the placard for a single passenger.

Let’s get to it.

Through the generations this car (be it ST or XR4) has been a carsales favourite and expectations for this latest generation with its Quaife limited-slip front diff, Tenneco dampers and banana rear springs were certainly high.

With 320Nm of pulling power the Fiesta needed to be managed off the line for the 0-100km/h sprint and then required a change to third because of its short final drive ratio. No surprise it’s the slowest car here.

Luke struck some drama on his hot lap, drifting a little too wide onto a rumble strip exiting the sweeper. The steering wheel immediately went right-hand down and once the lap was completed a bent left steering arm could be spied.

Luke was pretty confident the injury didn’t impact too much on the mighty mini’s very credible 1 min 41.4 sec time.

“I loved it,” he enthused. “I love the growly engine, I love the slight turn-in oversteer balance it has right when you initially give the steering wheel a bit of a turn. It really helps the car rotate and point.

“The Quaife [limited-slip front] diff helps it put its power down too.”

Negatives? The short gearing struck again. Luke felt the car wasn’t optimally geared for this track.

A new arrival on the hot hatch scene, the i20 N comes armed with a 1210kg kerb weight, a Torsen limited-slip front diff and an overboost that pumps up max torque to 304Nm.

It warmed up with a 6.542sec 0-100km/h dash that could have been better if not for a couple of small impediments.

One was a non-switchable layer of secondary traction control that means it can’t be launched with as many engine revs as preferable.

Then the soft-limiter cuts in at 99km/h in second gear! Dang, couldn’t they make it 100km/h?

Anyway, onto the track where a highly respectable 1:39.58sec time had Luke eulogising. A hard brake pedal and some slipping and sliding on a wet patch also caught his attention!

“This thing feels like it has the hand of God helping you. It just seems really well-tuned in terms of the torque vectoring in the diff,” he said.

“It makes you feel like a better driver.”

But Luke felt the most important lap time gain compared to the Fiesta came from a set of gearbox ratios better suited to the Winton layout.

“You are not having to short-shift or pull gears between corners here. The gear split also seems to work better here, so as you pull into third gear it really starts to accelerate whereas the Fiesta drags a little bit.”

Another recent arrival, the Mk 8 Polo GTI has the biggest engine among the three minis, but only matches the Fiesta for outputs.

It’s easily the heaviest light-car here and has an electronically controlled XDL diff lock rather than a mechanical LSD.

It immediately impressed in the 0-100km/h sprint, clocking a 6.481sec time that was aided by launch control and hindered by secondary traction control that kills off wheelspin. Still, it’s a much quicker time than its 6.8sec claim.

But a 1:43.69sec lap time is nothing but disappointing. A massive four seconds off the i20 N, it’s indicative of a much more conservative tune.

That expressed itself in the Polo’s insistent reclaiming of gearshifting from the driver and determined safety-first understeer. A lovely road car, but not so much a track car, Luke thought.

“If the i20 N is a hot hatch the Polo is a mild hatch,” he said. “It just doesn’t feel rapid to me.

“VW has a Golf R… I reckon they need a Polo R too.”

And so it’s time to step up to the three bigger and faster contenders, with the Ford Focus ST leading things out.

Often existing a little bit in the shadow of the aggressive Focus RS, the ST has never had the wildest reputation. That doesn’t mean it’s slow though.

A 5.996sec 0-100km/h dash underlines that. A perfect launch might eke a couple more tenths, but its big and torquey 2.3-litre engine makes wheelspin in first and second gear hard to manage.

Moving on to the racetrack and Luke ended up having two goes at a time. The car simply didn’t pull strongly the first time out, suggesting it was in an engine protection mode following the 0-100km/h runs.

Given some time to cool down it was fine, clocking an entirely respectable 1:38.4sec time. The ability to rotate the rear on entry was reminiscent of the Fiesta but the added urge and weight were a different sensation. Overall, Luke was thoroughly impressed.

“It really upped the ante compared to the small hatches,” he enthused.

“This feels like what a hot hatch should be like. It’s a bit edgy, a bit noisy and not perfect, but it’s fun.

“It’s what a hot hatch should be.”

Gotta be honest, we were all going to be surprised if Hyundai’s original N-car didn’t post competitive times in both a straight line and around the track.

This thing is tremendously tuneable: launch control, mechanical limited-slip diff, engine, the new eight-speed dual-clutch transmission and the suspension to name a few.

Straight away, the i30 N showed its prowess in the 0-100km/h sprint, thoroughly eclipsing its rivals with a 5.395sec time. Put a lot of that down to a brilliantly calibrated launch control.

On to the racetrack and the i30 N simply looked and sounded faster than the rest, slicing the corners and crackling and banging on the overrun.

Like the i20 N, it needed a hard shove on the brake pedal, but ultimate stopping power was excellent.

The 1:37.37sec number tells the story. Luke’s big grin as he stepped from the car added the exclamation point.

“This feels like what a hot hatch should be. It’s a little bit angry, it’s stiff,” he said. “It’s what a hot hatch should be for the track.

“Sure it has a lot of adjustability but what’s obvious to me after a few laps is how good the inherent balance is underneath.”

There’s no doubting the legacy of the Volkswagen Golf GTI or the respect with which it is regarded. It’s the original hot hatch, but is it the best?

The latest eighth-generation GTI can’t match the power and torque numbers of the Focus and i30 N, but it does add an electronically-controlled limited-slip diff previously reserved for limited models like the GTI Performance.

A 6.074sec 0-100km/h dash smashes its 6.3sec claim but is only a hint of what could be achieved if the traction control didn’t insist on shutting the action down.

And a 1:39.12sec lap time is the slowest of the big three. Like the Polo, the Golf has an all-rounder approach that makes it an impressive daily drive more than a track specialist.

“It’s not quite as angry as I thought it would be,” admitted Luke. “Considering that, the lap time is actually pretty good.

“It’s actually a very good track car for an inexperienced driver because it’s a very safe drive.

“It’s also a great road car. It’s my pick to head back to the airport in tonight.”

So while Scott Newman slaved endlessly over facts, figures, pointscores and algorithms to arrive at the Ford Focus ST as Australia’s best hot hatch, we had a much easier job at Winton.

For us, the stopwatch was king. And therefore, so was the Hyundai i30 N, which was clearly fastest in a straight line and around Winton.

“It was a class above and a huge amount of fun,” said Luke.

That the i20 N was fastest of the minis in the corners and in a straight line emphasised further just what a great job the emerging Korean hot tuner is doing.

“I love that car. It’s not much slower than its big brother and [has] a bargain-basement price,” Luke added.

But that doesn’t mean the other cars are unworthy. Kudos to Ford Performance, which has developed two cars that straddle both track and road performance so well. We’ll be sorry to see them go.

And respect to the Volkswagens, which aren’t at their best on the track, but drive so nicely everywhere else.

0-100km/h times:
Hyundai i30 N – 5.395sec
Ford Focus ST – 5.996sec
Volkswagen Golf GTI – 6.074sec
Hyundai i20 N – 6.542sec
Volkswagen Polo – 6.481sec
Ford Fiesta ST – 7.066sec

Winton lap times:
Hyundai i30 N – 1:37.37
Ford Focus ST – 1:38.40
Volkswagen Golf GTI – 1:39.12
Hyundai i20 N – 1:39.58
Ford Fiesta ST – 1:41.40
Volkswagen Polo – 1:43.69

How much does the 2022 Ford Focus ST X cost?
Price: $51,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 206kW/420Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.8L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 200g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2019)

How much does the 2022 Hyundai i30 N Premium DCT cost?
Price: $53,700 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 206kW/392Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 8.5L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 197g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested

How much does the 2022 Volkswagen Golf GTI cost?
Price: $54,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 180kW/370Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 7.0L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 159g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2019)

How much does the 2022 Hyundai i20 N cost?
Price: $34,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 150kW/275Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Fuel: 6.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 157g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested

How much does the 2022 Ford Fiesta ST cost?
Price: $33,490 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 147kW/320Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Fuel: 6.3L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 144g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested

How much does the 2022 Volkswagen Polo GTI cost?
Price: $38,750 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 147kW/320Nm
Transmission: Six-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 6.5L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 150g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)