Hot hatch face-off
VW Golf GTI, MINI JCW, Honda Civic Type R (Issue 1,070)
Our first group test in July brought together three favourites. To rate VW’s new Golf GTI for the first time on UK roads, we assembled a pair of tough competitors.
But the only way we could include a Civic Type R in our line-up was to gatecrash a Honda event at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, Northants. So that’s where we headed, with a GTI as well as a MINI JCW – and we really didn’t know what the outcome would be. In the end, the Golf returned to the top of the hot hatch pile. With its incredible all-round talent, the latest VW left the competition licking its wounds.
