Hot hatches | Top Gear

it really is miss Iceland up against miss Munich Beer Festival and miss I've had all the pies [Music] and the instra isn't just a pretty face on either [Music] all these cars have turbocharged 2-litre engines they're all the same size and they all weigh about the same as well but though all the animals are equal the Vauxhall is more than the others and that's because its engine turns out 240 brake horsepower that is 20 more than the Renault it's 40 more than the Gulf as a result it will hit 60 in six seconds and unlike the others it'll sail way past 150 makes a good noise as well so it's the best looking the fastest and get this it's also the cheapest just slightly over this there are a few drawbacks of course because of the sloping rear end our chest of drawers wouldn't fit in the boot and the stereo navigation trip computer thing is completely unfathomable and then as the VXR really big problem you're asking the front wheels to deal with the steering and 240 rampaging stallions and you know what they can't so with a butterfly flaps its wings in China you're going into a tree driving this car is a bit like get the piggyback off Richard Hammond after we've had a couple of pints of Stella you don't know what he's going to do next I've got clogged steer when I accelerate I've got understeer when I turn into a series let me just show you okay let me just pull up here into first hands off the wheel okay just watch the steering wheel here as I accelerate turbo comes in and we turn left and again left that is torque steering the car and it's good if you want to go left if you see one of these cars burning rubber and slowing round the estate where you live they're called the police he won't be a yobbo it'll be your next-door neighbor just trying to drive to work so ladies there are many options available for this car but there's only one it really needs a straightjacket listen see this yes it's a Ferrari 308 Ferrari 308 we used to dream about this yeah I didn't actually have a post or one of these on my bedroom wall absolutely let me tell you something interesting the engine in that Vauxhall produces exactly the same brake horsepower as the v8 in the back of this that puts it into perspective how powerful that is that is actually if someone had come up to me when I was 18 and said when you're grown up you'll be able to buy a Vauxhall with the same power as here kind of silly anyhow we've now got to find out how fast the Vauxhall goes round our track so we must hand it over of course to the tame racing driver some say that his voice can only be heard by cats and that he has two sets of knees all we know is he's called the Stig [Music] doing well so far but that's good he's going in a straight line here comes the first corner ho this is where it's gonna get interesting turns in hard tires squealing in pain stick shaking his head there not even the sound of camel consuming the braking very hard into Chicago they leaped so far through there but can be like on the way out on the grass he's trying to oversteer on the way it's a hammerhead it's like the staring like a shopping trolley full of logs [Music] this car is completely bonkers but Stig bravely keeping his foot down through the follow-through looking for the tires very quick two corners left now there he comes and he's sawing away at the wheel no kerb left unclipped on the grass again sweaty paws [Music] and it is 1 minute and 33 seconds dead which is in there now as you'd expect that is 2.1 seconds faster than the Golf GTI okay but it's half a second slower than the Renault really yeah unbelievable just shows how much of this engines power is being wasted well you could give it a million horsepower if the chassis cut put it on the road pointless sort of exciting though isn't it come on it's exciting in the same way that being shot at is exciting okay what about the rennet Renaud's tempting no question about that it's a very good car but you know what I'd I still have the Volkswagen I would because it does what a hot hatchback is supposed to do it does everything and don't think it's boring who would like to see what happened when the Stig tried to get it round our track yes play the tape here he comes look into the final corner to understand we nearly died rolled it over so you see is a great car brilliant

Channel: Top Gear

Views: 2,454,810

Keywords: BBC, BBC Worldwide, Top Gear, Transport, Motoring, Cars, VW Golf, Vauxhall Astra, Peugeot

Id: 53pjVf_bp-4

Length: 7min 7sec (427 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 09 2010