The most surprising car Edric has driven all year is not a coupe, nor a supercar – it’s a 1.5-litre diesel hatchback.
The most astounding vehicle I’ve driven all year is not the wonderful Porsche Cayman GT4 I enjoyed in southern Portugal in March, nor the storming Audi R8 V10 Plus that I had a blast with at the same venue in July. Not even the spectacularsounding, thunderously fast Mercedes-AMG C63 S I tried locally in September. Special as those cars were, their excellence was more or less expected, and the question was merely one of degree. But a car whose fun factor and all-round competence I had not anticipated, and whose key I was seriously reluctant to hand back, was an unassuming fivedoor hatchback with a 1.5-litre 3-cylinder diesel engine and 116bhp: the BMW 116d.
Despite its modest horsepower, it was peppily eager off the line, around town and on the expressways, thanks to a useful 270Nm of turbocharged torque and well-spaced gearing from its 8-speed autobox. In fact, it felt almost hot-hatch quick in the midrange. It steered beautifully, too, dancing to whatever tune I called through its fluid, wellweighted helm. The reardrive chassis displayed real engineering sorcery, somehow marrying that agile, playful handling to a delightfully supple ride. Big power, fat tyres and an ultrasporty, unyielding ride are the usual criteria for a performance machine these days, but cars employing a diametrically opposed formula can entertain immensely, too.
With light weight, decent torque, a compliant but lovingly tuned chassis and (most critically for me) well-weighted, feelsome steering, great fun is there to be had, as BMW has shown with the cheapest car in its range. The BMW 116d doesn’t have a monopoly on low-powered hatchback fun either. The VW Golf, even the base 105bhp 1.2-litre version, is lively and entertaining. And most of the off erings in Ford’s model range, from little Fiesta to Focus and Mondeo, up to the S-Max multi-purpose vehicle, are great to drive, showing that their engineers appreciate (and, more importantly, are capable of) proper chassis setup.
The Hyundai i30, which sadly is no longer available locally, was another example of this philosophy. If only more manufacturers would step out of the arms race and focus on creating properly resolved, fun-to-drive everyday models, rather than ludicrously powerful range-toppers whose potential can only be fully tapped on a racetrack.
Edric believes there are driving thrills to be had in coe cat a, if you look hard enough.
