Just look at this lineup. In three cars we’ve distilled down to the cream of the current hot-hatch crop for the January group test, and let us tell you, this isn’t a meeting with anticipated consequences – at least for us!

So we have with us Mazda’s latest 3 MPS, apparently churning out 190kW from its 2.3-litre DISI turbomotor and channeling this grunt effectively through the front wheels, this thing should be right up there with the biggest hitters of the hot-hatch segment. But it isn’t, in fact our results were more than a little shocking!

There might be a reason why the Golf VI GTI remains one of the best-selling, most iconic hot hatches on the road. They seem to move these things in droves, despite the Mark 3, 4, and to an extent 5 variations being nonsense. Can we dig these reasons up in our press demonstrator, or are they the sort of thing only an owner will learn and consequently, know about. This one has the new family front end except pumped to the extreme, a slight power bump to 155kW from the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine, and bucketloads of practicality with four doors and comfortable rear seats.

But does it still deserve its title as the defacto benchmark of the hot-hatch genre? Let’s just say, for now, the GTI was another genuine surprise.

But with the Mini JCW, there was no head-scratching, no confusion, no questioning its purpose. It drives just like it looks, hard, but that exceptional 1600 has been massively boosted, to match the GTI’s 155kW! Sounds like the automotive equivalent of a horsefly too, bassy, substantial, with with a clear edge and a sting you will remember.

It’s energetic, it’s immediate, it seems to have very little inertia when tacking into a bend. But it also has no front LSD to harness that power, no versatility whatsoever, and never fails to get it and its driver noticed. Is that enough to take on the icon and the rabid upstart? Find out in the January issue of Drive Magazine, due out in the first week of the New Year!

Meanwhile, why not let us know which you’d choose? Letters@drivemagazine.co.za

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