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- Philippines
Alfa Romeo 147 GTA '02, Alfa Romeo GTV 3.0 V6 24v '01, Acura RSX Type-S '04, Audi A3 3.2 Quattro '03,
Fiat Coupe Turbo Plus '00, Lexus IS200 (J) '98, VW Golf GTi Mark V '05, Volkswagen New Beetle RSi '00
Read Part I here
Breaking the 200hp Barrier
Once upon a time, if you told an automotive engineer that you could put 200 horses under the hood of a front-wheel drive sportster (never mind the big V8 barges), they wouldve clubbed you over the head and called the police. Nowadays, its de rigeur for any serious hot hatch to have at least that much power, to keep up with the Joneses. So what happened?
New suspension, tire technology and drivetrain design have mitigated most of the problems of power delivery in FF vehicles. Traction control is becoming more widespread, too, allowing an FF car to perform stoplight launches without shredding its tires into oblivion. And lastly, cars are much heavier than before. Some sports compacts need that much power simply to keep up. That said, a lot of powerful FF cars still experience axle-tramp, torque-steer and heavy understeer, but good engineering keeps pushing the envelope further and further back.
The Contenders
Weve pegged the lower limit of this test group at 191 hp, which qualify cars like the Toyota Celica and the Golf GTi, and the upper limit at below 300 hp. Weve excluded some sports cars which fall below the upper limit of size and power, as theyre not exactly what this comparison is about. This includes two of the most popular sport compacts of all, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and the Subaru WRX STi. Though we would dearly love to give these two rally rats a thrashing on the Nürburgring, theyre more super cars than sports cars. And frankly, they scare Bob silly.
Power isnt everything in the sports compact world, lightness and nimbleness are. The lap times, and more importantly, our subjective ratings reflect this. We didnt completely ignore power, and some great handlers were ranked somewhat lower because of the lack of it. Price is also a consideration here. If a company charges you an arm and a leg for a wooden bicycle, well definitely take that against them.
As this is a huge testing group, weve subdivided them into the super cruisers and the super sports to weed out some of the cars with less sporting intentions. There are some cars which should fall into one category but which are placed in the other because, upon testing, we really didnt feel that they belonged in that category. For these cars, weve explained why we shunted them into that particular testing group.
As per our previous installment, all cars were tested on sticky road tires (N3) as provided by PD. Though this works to the detriment of the TRD Celica, which was already equipped with better tires, we feel that its only fair to some of the cars which come stock with less aggressive rubber. As well see, even with better rubber, stock tire sizes still have a great effect on lap times and handling.
The Cruisers
Nürburgring Lap Times
8:48.763 Alfa Romeo GTV 3.0 V6 24v '01
8:45.747 Fiat Coupe Turbo Plus '00
8:44.633 Volkswagen New Beetle RSi '00
8:40.600 Acura RSX Type-S '04
8:40.438 Golf GTi Mark V '05
8:35.499 Lexus IS200 (J) '98
8:32.303 Alfa Romeo 147 GTA '02
8:31.858 Audi A3 3.2 Quattro '03
Subjective Rankings
8th - Alfa Romeo GTV
The GTV is the oldest Alfa here, but not by much. Still, it doesnt feel like a 21st Century car. We feel that this one isnt much of an improvement over the original GTV, and it definitely suffers under the weight of that big 3 liter engine. Its an alarming precedent, the Alfa V6s seem to ruin the chassis balance of the cars theyre shoehorned into. The older Twinspark engine might be a better match for this chassis, but it isnt fast enough to do the looks justice.
And what looks they are. Its an unusual looking car, but once you get over the fact that it doesnt look like anything else, (which takes all of half-a-minute -Ed) its breathtakingly beautiful.
As the oldest of the V6 Alfas here, the GTV suffers from the most tire-spin, the most understeer, and the most woeful of lap-times. Its not a particularly sharp drive, but youre never in danger of overcooking it, with the slow responses, massive understeer and the inability of those front tires to put those Italian ponies down in a convincing manner.
Looks ten, driving five. This is a car youd love to be seen in, but its not up to anything more than a windows down cruise through the mountains or a slow roll around the café parking lot. Too bad.
7th - Fiat Coupe Turbo
The Coupe Turbo is a distinctive car, with extremely low and sleek styling and an unusual I-5 turbo engine. Its sporty looking in a funky way, like the GTV. The Alfa may be prettier, but the Fiat isnt without its charms.
This is a powerful car, the turbocharged inline 5 cylinder giving a gruff, strangely sing-song but inspired performance that peaks low but pulls hard to the redline. Traction issues are as to be expected with this much power, but its not the worst here. Its got terrific speed and it feels powerful and responsive in any situation.
The suspension is surprisingly soft for a car with sporty intentions. It leans a bit too much in corners, and dives hard under braking. Turn-in is precise off-power, but still exhibits modest understeer. With power coursing through the front-wheels, that understeer becomes pronounced. The Fiat Coupe has trouble navigating sharp corners and long medium speed corners due to this. In long high speed corners, lateral grip comes into question, and the Fiat washes out much earlier than some of the newer metal here.
The Fiat is definitely an interesting car. Its a powerful and stable autobahn cruiser, perfect for long cross-continent jaunts. Its not really a B-road carver, as the chassis and engine dont really mesh in this department. It feels more old-school than most of the other cars here. With a stiffer suspension and a better sorted front end, it would be much, much faster.
6th - Alfa Romeo 147 GTA
Stiff and heavy, the 147 posts a respectable time, but is ultimately blown away by its heavier and less-powerful GT sibling. For those in the know, GTA stands for Gran Turismo Alleggerita , which means lightweight grand touring. As it is, theres nothing particularly lightweight about this car, especially with that huge V6 slung over the front axle. This car is basically a hot hatch with a freakishly huge heart. Its a Frankensteins monster of a car, and it drives like one.
That engine is wonderfully tractable, but the too-stiff suspension ensures that it doesnt find traction at full-throttle easily. The V6 gives a good linear shove, and the chassis is a match for it, but the front-heavy weight bias means that this car just doesnt turn as well as most, and definitely not as well as the lowly 147 Twinspark. With a chassis setup that refuses to rotate and an engine that overwhelms the tires at any speed unless youve got the steering straight and your foot halfway up, its no wonder the GTA is a much slower car than the Alfa Romeo GT. Overall, weve been impressed with the Alfas here, but this one doesnt feel at a piece with itself. Its more of a jigsaw car, or a tuner car gone wrong. Too much power, too little of everything else.
Its still a good car, but against this competition, it needs to try a bit harder to convince us. We stuck it in the cruiser test group because it struck us as more of a one-trick pony than a serious hot hatch, and it seems we were right.
5th - Audi A3
The new Audi A3, built on the Golf platform (or is it the Golf thats built on the A3 platform? -Ed), roars into a high spot on our lap leaderboard, but not without some work. The Volkswagen Groups 3.2 liter narrow angle V6 is at its most powerful here. It redlines at 6500 while the rev-cut comes in at a heady 7500 rpm. Best acceleration times are achieved, though, by shifting at 7000-7200 rpm, as the power falls off rather quickly after redline. The A3 has good chassis, with precise turn in and the ability to carry a lot of speed through turns. But the poor rubber selection is overwhelmed by the weight at times, forcing you to tread a fine line between understeer and oversteer. Once the weight starts shifting the car around at high speed, not even the Quattro system can save it.
Getting a fish-tailing pendulum-motion started in linked turns is easier here than in the much heavier and taller Beetle RSi. The brakes are no match for the weight of this car at high speeds, forcing you to brake much earlier than in most cars. The fast sweeper leading into the hairpin at Schwedenkreuz and the final bends before pit lane are places where these two traits interact in a most irritating way and are difficult to get right.
The A3 is a good handler, sharing the dynamic nature of the new Golf, but a soft set-up and poor grip make it a less than spectacular track machine. That it is so fast down to the terrific response and linear power of the VR6, and nothing more.
4th - Beetle RSi
None of us here at R&T have ever really warmed up to the Beetle. Its kind of strange to us, to be charged so much for a Golf with a heavier body shell, sluggish engine and girly-looks. Even driving the Beetle Cup Cars for a promotional event last year didnt change our minds. They were still slugs. Good handling slugs, but just not as good as they ought to be.
Though the RSis intent is to be the ultimate sporty Beetle, it falls short of the mark. With the additional weight and excessively stylized bodykit, its a slow car. That its not much faster than the flyweight Clio 2.0 is no surprise, given the amount of pork. The VR6 is a wonderful engine, though not as powerful here as in the updated A3. The redline is much higher, but you still end up short-shifting by a bit, to get the most power out of it.
Its a great handler, based on the Golf chassis and sporting a better suspension, larger brakes, larger wheels and wider tires than the stock Beetle. Its easier to catch than the A3, and doesnt suffer as much weight transfer in transitions (it is still significant, however). The 4Motion system works well here, but that and the heavy wheels exacerbate an already bad power-to-weight situation.
The silly weight and looks of the RSi dent its case as a sports model. That it costs almost twice as much as the Clio V6, at least three times as much as most of the other cars here, makes it a fairly ridiculous proposition for a track machine. Its definitely a committee-designed vehicle, and one compromise too far makes this Super Beetle is more like a Super Snail.
3rd - Lexus IS200 (J)
With more power than the lower-end IS200, a 6 speed manual, and better tires, you'd expect the 200hp IS200 to be a proper sports sedan. Well, I used to think so, but the last time I'd driven one of these (before this test) was way back in 2000, when they were still new. Nowadays, the outgoing IS model is far from state of the art.
The extra urge from the 2 liter straight six comes in about a thousand revs higher than in the lower end IS200, making the engine sluggish at low revs. The first three ratios of the six speed box are very long, disrupting your rhythm unless you nail the gear change just right. At speed, the close-ratio high gears make for entertaining highway cruising. This is a great engine when you get it in its element.
The IS200 is a heavy car compared to most of these compacts, and this is reflected in its lap times. Despite the larger wheels and stiffer suspension, this IS200 still exhibits a moderate amount of understeer and isnt any faster than the front wheel drivers through many of the corners. Rear-wheel drive does allow you to put the power down earlier, though oversteer antics still seem to scrub off too much momentum, due to the peaky power delivery. The transition between mild understeer and oversteer comes a bit too early. The IS200s troubles with the numerous left-right transitions of the Ring contribute greatly to a relatively slow lap time. Its fast, but it isnt as fast as it should be, being a rear-wheel drive sports sedan.
Just like the lower-end IS200, its a back-to-the basics car. Set up for the turn early. Brake in a straight line. Hammer the throttle through the apex on the way out. Stray from the formula and you go slower. In the end, though its easy to control and catch, it still isnt as entertaining to drive as the BMW 1-series.
Thats no surprise to us. But its disappointing that it isnt as good as many of the front wheel drive vehicles here. Which is a shame, because I used to love this car.
2nd - Volkswagen Golf GTi
While the Beetle RSi may charge you an arm and a leg to achieve handling magic, the Golf GTi is much more reasonable about it. Marketed as direct competition to the Honda Civic Type R, and employing good (but unorthodox) looks and cheeky advertising, the Golf is the VAGs direct shot at the hot-hatch market. But is it worthy?
The Turbocharged 2.0 FSi is wonderfully tractable, and the cornering prowess of the car is spot on. Ultimately, it may not be as hardcore as the Honda CTR, but its fun in that tail-happy sort of way in which we all like to drive.
Unfortunately, the Golf's power understeer means youll need to make sure that it's settled and pointed early into the turn. The car is easy to catch, but its heavy, enter a turn too hot, and you drift wide. You hit the brakes, rotate it (which is easy enough) and nail the turn, but once youve got the tail out, it loses speed quickly. That new 2 liter turbo revs high but inherits some of the old 1.8's top-end breathlessness. The urge falls off the higher you get into the rev range, and the wide ratios force you to hold onto gears way longer than the engine would like.
While the Golf isnt as heavy as some of the other VAG cars here, its still heavier than its competitors, and this hurts lap times. In terms of dynamics and driving, the Golf GTi, with its lively chassis and superb damping, is a more comfortable but less precise alternative to the Honda, but in terms of track ability, its somewhat wanting. Push it hard enough, paradoxically, and youll go slower. You have to really hold back on the throttle, brakes and steering to make this car go fast, and that takes some of the fun out of it, in the end.
This is a car that you cant drive at 10/10ths, because at 8/10ths, its going as fast as it can possibly go. But in this company, thats fast enough.
1st - Acura RSX Type S
As befitting the luxury version of the Honda Integra, the Acura RSX sports a softer suspension, smoother power delivery and about 50kg more weight than the Integra Type R. Its also got less rubber, a milder bodykit, and less power and revs than the Integra. So its more of a cruiser than a sportster, right?
Well, even in this soft trim, the Acura is an entertaining drive. It doesnt have the same cornering limits as the Integra, nor as much speed, but its got a more progressive power delivery and it shares the Hondas precise turn-in and agile responses. The RSX also shares the Integras moderate understeer even off power. But its an easy thing to drive around.
The softer suspension makes the car tractable over the rougher sections of the ring, but doesnt cause excess roll. Though the engine lacks grunt when compared with the Japanese market K20s, and is disappointingly weak as compared to the European market turbos, its a smooth powerplant, with linear delivery and little of the flatness that most variable cam engines suffer before the cam-changeover point. The six-speed is well matched to the engine, but we wish it had shorter ratios.
Its a good car, entertaining to drive and nimble. Its not up to the top European Hot Hatch standards, but its not bad, anyway. With better rubber, the RSX might even be competitive with the über-hatches, but against this lot, its a definite winner.
