Supercharged Yaris GRMN Destroys 220 HP Renault Clio RS

The RS 18 in the name of the French car doesn't have anything to do with it being legal. It's an F1-inspired special edition, like so many RenaultSport models before it. Under the hood is the same engine as in the Trophy model, a 220 horsepower 1.6-liter hooked up to a twin-clutch 6-speed that shifts faster than in the normal model. It's just got more stickers than usual.

By comparison, the Yaris GRMN seems like it's from another age, but that's always a good thing when it comes to hot hatchbacks. In this era of digital everything, this Toyota packs a Lotus-like 1.8-liter supercharged engine and a simple manual gearbox.

To be honest, we knew the Gazoo Racing Masters of Nurburgring would win, but the way in which it did it is weird. Being supercharged, the Yaris should have had better power delivery off the line. Of course, we forgot that the Clio has launch control, which builds up the revs, so there's no lag or very little of it.

The two cars are neck-and-neck for the first couple of gears, but then the Yaris just finds so much more power after that. Low-end torque will win you the race like that. Of course, we could say it's overpriced, but so is this version of the Clio.

Being a unique offering in this segment, you might be curious to see how the Yaris handles other rivals. Thankfully, there's an older drag race from Britain against things like the Polo GTI and MINI JCW hatch. The conditions are different, but it's still amazingly fast for something of this size.