Hot hatches have to be many things, but fun is pretty near the top. And, frankly, if you can’t have fun in either of these then it really is time to go to bed six feet down.
However you could hardly say they’re alike, even if their performance parameters are almost equally wide. The Germans don’t exactly have the reputation as wild, hedonistic crazies, while the Japanese have slowly evolved a reputation for being either very sensible or indeed sometimes really quite extreme.
It’s not hard to see which side of their personality they led with when they designed the latest Civic Type R. The bodywork screams for attention but Honda claims it’s all for sensible advances in downforce. It has stuck with a four-cylinder engine but its 2.0-litre turbocharged unit is pretty wild, even if the front axle does manage to somehow tame it well. If you want to get noticed even sitting still, then this is for you.
But if you want people’s eyes to slide over your car, only perhaps to come back for a second-take some time later – for example if those eyes belonged to someone holding a speed camera – then the VW Golf R would be your preference. It looks more mature, less frenetic, more understated, yet don’t let that fool you, this thing with nearly 300bhp is scorchingly quick.
So which of these two approaches works out the best? Join us as we put the two cars through their impressive paces to find out which hatch is even hotter than the other.
