Might I remind you that the Clio Sport is nothing new... just a rehash of other people's ideas...
1978 VW Golf GTi
The car that created the hot hatch nameplate and rewrote the rules for fun in a small front wheel drive.
And of course then there was Peugeot with the almighty
205 GTi in 1984 which redefnined the rules yet again and pushed the GTi aside...
Then there's Renault's limited run of Clio Williams (400 made to homologate for Rally) released in 1993. A honey of a car but victim of it's limited availability in that none made it around the world to build Renault's brand.
But let's not forget the car that briefly killed the hot-hatch, GTi-style cars in 1992 and started the AWD Turbo craze, predating the WRX in 1993... and it was a Ford.
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The Ford Escort Cosworth seems to have entered popular folklore as the car that, for a while at least, killed the hot hatch. Here was a car so quick, so capable and yet so desirable to neer-do-wells that the insurance industry threw a hissy fit, made it all but uninsurable and applied the same policy to anything with a GTi badge on it. Whilst history may record a black mark against the Escort Cosworth, anybody who ever drove it could almost understand frustrated young men wanting to get behind the wheel at any cost. It was that good.
Even by todays standards it more than shapes up, making tracking down a decent used example a fascinating experience
An icon. That and a supremely practical hatchback to go with the loud suit.
Superb. The only area in which the Escort RS Cosworth feels a little old fashioned is in its sit-up-and-beg driving position, but otherwise its still got the wherewithal to show any of todays hot hatch pretenders its chubby behind and that includes the cream of the crop like the Audi S3 and the Renault Clio V6. Chalking up performance figures of 0-60 in 5.7 seconds, the Escort feels beautifully balanced at all times, the four-wheel drive split with a rearwards bias to satisfy gung-ho drivers.
Few four-wheel drive sports cars are easy to balance in a drift but the Escort Cosworth makes such antics easy. The later small turbo cars are probably the drivers choice, despite only packing 220bhp up front. Top speed was 140mph with the rear wing in place or 147mph should you choose to remove it. Do bear in mind that driving an Escort RS Cosworth still appears to be viewed as an offence by many constabularies.
As long as you can afford the insurance and dont mind the slightly thuggish image, the Escort RS Cosworth is a car that can delight like few others. Despite being the car that temporarily killed the GTi genre, theres never been anything quite like it before or since. A classic in the making.
(Sections taken from
http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/car-reviews...h-2003497.html)
So tongue in cheek (you know me) Ford predated Renault's efforts and almost killed the hot hatch craze which until recently has only JUST recovered from the influx of Turbos and AWD.
I'd give my left nut for a Clio Sport, but I'd give both nuts for an Escort Cossie RS... :thebirds: