Hot hatches offer the most affordable access point into the performance segment, and that's simultaneously what makes them great, but also the reason why having one will never feel truly special.
Their widespread availability means you're likely to come across others just like yours everywhere owners of this type of vehicles tend to get together, and since everyone likes to feel unique, that's the sort of thing that will ruin your evening. Well, maybe not ruin, but at least put a dent into it.
However, being relatively cheap means owners are much more likely to have a fiddle with their vehicles, be it on the surface (anything from wraps to body kits) or as deep down as you can go (ECU tune, bigger turbos, or even engine swaps).
It's hard to call any of the two hot hatches battling it out in the clip below "affordable." That's because they come from two manufacturers that make up two-thirds of Germany's premium "Holy Trinity": Audi and Mercedes. Getting your hands on an Audi RS3 Sportback or a Mercedes-AMG A45 S doesn't come cheap, but at the same time, you know what you're paying for.
Beyond the plush interior and excellent build quality, you also get access to some of the best powertrain technology in the business. The two follow separate recipes in terms of engines, with Audi sticking with the 2.5-liter five-cylinder unit while AMG relies on what is essentially half of its wonderful 4.0-liter V8 block. That means the RS3 Sportback develops a whopping 395 hp (400 PS), which is still 20 hp less than the A45 S's output of 415 hp (421 PS). The AMG hatch beats the Audi in the torque department as well, though also only by a fraction.
After a Stage 2 upgrade, however, the tables have turned. The larger displacement of Audi's five-cylinder engine enables it to gain a 130 hp boost, bringing its output to 530 hp. On the other hand, the already squeezed four-cylinder in the A45 S could only receive 85 hp more, which means it can now send up to 500 hp toward its wheels. Even so, it should be a close race.
Many people have praised the launch system of the Mercedes-AMG A45 S and its quality shows once more. Despite being down on power, the Merc manages to beat the Audi in the 0-60 mph test, even if only by five-hundredths of a second. The real question now is whether it can at least maintain or widen that gap as they gain more speed, or is the Audi going to come back and beat it over the quarter-mile? That is unless the cars' transmissions don't have other plans. You know what you have to do to find out.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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