YESTERDAY’S SUPERCARS VERSUS TODAY’S HATCHBACKS

2021 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R 1981 BMW M1

Unlike the Italian pairing, here we have a modern sub-£40,000 family hatchback that trounces its homespun supercar forebear in the power and performance stakes. Even by today’s standards, the Golf R comes close to upsetting supercar royalty but, versus the M1, which was made between 1978 and 1981, it produces an extra 43bhp and 67lb ft of torque and accelerates to 60mph nearly 2.0sec quicker. The M1 is a bona fide homologation special, too, and the first to be fully developed by BMW’S now famous M division. As with the Giulia, turbocharging gives the Golf R much of its power advantage, despite trading two cylinders and 1.5 litres to the M1’s straight six. Some of the M1’s mid-engined handling characteristics could probably even be replicated by the Golf R’s new Drift mode, plus Volkswagen’s Haldex four-wheel drive system would guarantee it the traction needed for victory in any drag race against the old supercar.

2021 HONDA CIVIC TYPE R 1990 HONDA NSX

This is the only pairing here from the same manufacturer, and one in which both cars’ names have been applied to more than one model. You could certainly argue that the original NSX represented leading-edge supercar technology when it was revealed in 1989, but while it was actually benchmarked against the Ferrari 328, it moved the game on by offering greater reliability, lower purchase and running costs and ergonomics that even today are impressive. More than 30 years later, the Civic Type R hatchback somehow manages to match the NSX’S headline numbers (5.8sec from 0-62mph and a 169mph top speed play the NSX’S 5.7sec and 168mph), while having gained only 30kg over its supercar ancestor, with a kerb weight of 1400kg. That the Civic Type R’s 316bhp and 295lb ft (versus the NSX’S 256bhp and 208lb ft) are extracted from a 2.0-litre four and not a 3.0-litre six shows once again how blown engines have changed everything. And, of course, the Civic Type R can accommodate five people plus their luggage.

2021 MINI JCW GP 1988 LOTUS ESPRIT TURBO

One could argue that 33 years of evolution haven’t quite blessed the Mini John Cooper Works GP with many clear advantages over what was probably Britain’s only genuine 1980s supercar, the Esprit Turbo. This is partly down to Lotus’s prescience, developing a blown four-cylinder engine for its rangetopper (which could reach 60mph from rest in around 5.5sec and hit 150mph), but also the fact that the JCW GP is sadly lacking in key dynamic areas (we called it “a muddled and frustrating car”). Both are two-seaters, both weigh less than 1260kg and both have a turbocharged four (although the hot hatch’s produces almost 100bhp more than the supercar’s, at 302bhp, plus nearly 70% more torque). There’s no doubt that you would be more reassured about reaching a long journey’s end in the Mini, but this is one pairing that perhaps proves that progress needs to be more than the sum of a car’s components.