Ultimate HOT HATCH DRAG RACE: Ford v VW v MINI v Alpine v Abarth

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It's time for a hot hatch 1/4-mile drag race in between a Ford Fiesta ST, VW Polo GTI, MINI JCW, Alpine A290, and an Abarth 600e!

These gas and electrical pocket rockets all come in at under ₤ 40,000, but which will be quickest over the quarter mile? Let's take a more detailed take a look at the stats …

The Ford Fiesta ST is powered by 1.5 turbocharged 3-cylinder 200hp and 320Nm. This power is sent to the front wheels only through a 6-speed handbook transmission, and it's the lightest cars and truck here, at 1,283 kg. When brand-new, it costs around ₤ 27,000.

Along with it is the Volkswagen Polo GTI. It's packing a 2-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder, and this puts down 207hp and 320Nm. It's geared up with a 7-speed automatic transmission which sends out power to the front wheels, and it pointers the scales at 1,296 kg. It costs just over ₤ 31,000.

Up next is the MINI Cooper JCW. Like the Polo, it also has a 2-litre 4-cylinder turbo, and it produces 231hp and 380Nm. Power is sent to the front wheels through a 7-speed automobile, and it weighs 1,330 kg. It costs from ₤ 33,000.

The first of the two electrical automobiles is the Alpine A290 GTS. It's powered by a single electrical motor, which sends power to the front wheels, and it provides 220hp and 300Nm. It weighs in at 1,479 kg, and costs around ₤ 37,000.

Then we pertain to the most effective (and most costly) vehicle in this line-up, the Abarth 600e. It has a single motor, delvers 280hp and 345N, all of which is provided to the front wheels just. It weighs in at 1,640 kg, and it costs around ₤ 38,000.

So, will it be an easy win for one of the electric cars? Or could among the ICE-powered automobiles take it? There's just one way to discover for sure … LET'S RACE!

Thanks to everybody who helped us established this race:
– @tomi- automobile.
-.
– dbfb:.

Comments

75 responses to “Ultimate HOT HATCH DRAG RACE: Ford v VW v MINI v Alpine v Abarth”

  1. @UzairW Avatar
    @UzairW

    Can we get the old format back please with the stats of the cars described (and summarized in a table) BEFORE the start of the race? No fun going in dark!

    1.  Avatar
      Anonymous

      Totally agree

    2. @nextgencarhub Avatar
      @nextgencarhub

      Agreed I mentioned this last video old format ftw!! Carwow you have taken a step back

    3. @slimemcmahon4883 Avatar
      @slimemcmahon4883

      PLEASE‼️

    4. @alestiv__x Avatar
      @alestiv__x

      Cause of the lack of attention span that people have today, They are just starting the race at the beginning itself without giving a whole stat soo people won’t just leave and watch something else.

    5. @ZenMoments2211 Avatar
      @ZenMoments2211

      Agreed

  2. @derluke9674 Avatar
    @derluke9674

    Oh yes, the dying genre of nearly affordable fun-cars

    1. @welephant2013 Avatar
      @welephant2013

      Was thinking the same thing. The saxo vts was about 12k and came with a years free insurance. The astra gsi was 14 ish I think and an m3 was 35k. 30k for a polo today or a 3 year old 5 series with full service history.

      Oh and automatic gearboxes in hot hatches is ridiculous too.

    2. @drunkenhobo8020 Avatar
      @drunkenhobo8020

      @welephant2013 With inflation that £12,000 in 1996 is now £24,000. Considering it only had 120 bhp, that puts it around the base model Renault 5. Which is £23,000, plus a further £1,500 off with the EV grant.
      If you want to stick to warm hatches, £24,000 was also the price of the dearly departed Suzuki Swift Sport.

      Both are far better than the Saxo in basically every metric.

    3. @UserUser-vo2ky Avatar
      @UserUser-vo2ky

      To sink 30k into a car you’ve still got to be rich or get on finance! 😂

    4. @welephant2013 Avatar
      @welephant2013

      ​@drunkenhobo8020the vts had a 7.2 0 to 60 time. And would beat the new electric 5 in a drag or on track. So im not quite sure of your point.

      All i was saying is 30k for a polo is crazy when second hand few year old cars are in the same bracket?

    5. @welephant2013 Avatar
      @welephant2013

      ​@UserUser-vo2kyobviously. But 30k however its gotten can get you much more than a polo or fiesta.

  3. @carwow Avatar
    @carwow

    Get 20% off Car Vertical using code Carwow: https://bit.ly/Carwow-Car-Vertical

    1. @jacobrev6567 Avatar
      @jacobrev6567

      Ok👍

    2. @MoistJiblets Avatar
      @MoistJiblets

      Get 20% more video quality by bringing back the old format with car names, specs, and driver introduction first!

    3. @what-mf4zg Avatar
      @what-mf4zg

      F your Carvertical, i bought a car using their service, showed ”Clean” but after some time i discovered it had hidden damage

    4. @kwstasmelitos3649 Avatar
      @kwstasmelitos3649

      Come on let’s see a race between BMW 120 , golf 1.5etsi , audi a3 1.5 !!!

    5. @florimuhametaj8349 Avatar
      @florimuhametaj8349

      Agreeeeeeeeee

  4. @kingjohnson7041 Avatar
    @kingjohnson7041

    Mini is a BMW underneath so I expected ntn less than a win for it

    1. @mglisty Avatar
      @mglisty

      very close, but 50bhp gap is a lot.

    2. @davidgriffin79 Avatar
      @davidgriffin79

      Pity the driver was asleep for the 2nd and third launches.

    3. @dom3827 Avatar
      @dom3827

      The motor is citroen or renault. Forgot which one of these.

    4. @dannyfawcett8253 Avatar
      @dannyfawcett8253

      ​@dom3827don’t the new minis use the b48, from BMW itself?

    5. @ecrj1964 Avatar
      @ecrj1964

      @dom3827 its not. Its Bmw engine

  5. @slimemcmahon4883 Avatar
    @slimemcmahon4883

    PLEASE BRING BACK THE OLD FORMAT CARWOW

    1. @Stop_Pre-Ordering_Video_Games Avatar
      @Stop_Pre-Ordering_Video_Games

      This probably works better for them because people have such a short attention span. Most people likely just skip straight to the drag and then click off

    2. @ggaby493 Avatar
      @ggaby493

      @Sto@Stop_Pre-Ordering_Video_Gamesthey literally created a whole other channel just for people with short attention span

    3. @garethmayhew1676 Avatar
      @garethmayhew1676

      Just a guess but I’m sure the data says that most people skipped that part

    4. @BollocksToThat Avatar
      @BollocksToThat

      ​@ggaby493 people are r e t a r d e d

    5. @Jeromeonly1 Avatar
      @Jeromeonly1

      ​@ggaby493Pretending that you do not have a short attention span is like playing a game of Among us and you trying to convince me that you are not the imposter. 😉

  6. @RICH5528 Avatar
    @RICH5528

    Bring back the old format with stats before

  7. @bernardngwasheng9788 Avatar
    @bernardngwasheng9788

    I actually had missed the normal day to day car races

    1. @TopCarsHere Avatar
      @TopCarsHere

      Hot hatch cars)

  8. @Kingdhex Avatar
    @Kingdhex

    Who else agrees we need the old format?

    1. @marleyb5342 Avatar
      @marleyb5342

      I think most of the comments haha

    2. @lazarmarius7754 Avatar
      @lazarmarius7754

      All

    3. @Randomly_selected212 Avatar
      @Randomly_selected212

      I don’t

    4. @BSquare1989 Avatar
      @BSquare1989

      Seriously… I don’t know what I’m looking at half the time… What are the cats? Who is in what? This is just stupid

    5. @mabirc2844 Avatar
      @mabirc2844

      I disagree. It took several minutes for the race to start because of all the talking, but i came for the race. If you need the stats, look them up in the description.

  9. @mooferoo Avatar
    @mooferoo

    Please please bring back the old format. You need to introduce the cars before racing.

    1. @mclogged2280 Avatar
      @mclogged2280

      That’s the boring part. In fact just have the specs in the comments. Not interested.

    2. @Ghajahha Avatar
      @Ghajahha

      It’s perfect how it is, the still introduce it but with a drag as an introduction

    3. @omletow6967 Avatar
      @omletow6967

      @Ghajahha its a inconsistent mess

    4. @TopCarsHere Avatar
      @TopCarsHere
  10. @owenscallum4565 Avatar
    @owenscallum4565

    Yeah I miss the stats before the racing 🤷🏼‍♂️

  11. @ash3r123 Avatar
    @ash3r123

    i much prefer the old format, but i can see why they have done it – the short attention span of some people means they have to get to the point sooner, but its still just not the same

  12. @FrietjeOorlog Avatar
    @FrietjeOorlog

    1640kg and Abarth shouldn’t ever be in the same sentence.

    1. @geetee4037 Avatar
      @geetee4037

      And yet it is.

    2. @mixedthoughts86 Avatar
      @mixedthoughts86

      FrietjeOorlog correct, electric p.o.s

    3. @geetee4037 Avatar
      @geetee4037

      ​@mixedthoughts86came for the EV bashing, never disappointed. Dry your eyes, it’s faster than the fossil fuel crap.

    4. @CaptainPrice.141 Avatar
      @CaptainPrice.141

      100% agreed. I own a 595 Competizione and honestly the Abarth 600e is a disgrace to the brand. The single brand that specializes in small cars made a f*cking SUV. And they dare to call it a ‘hot hatch’

    5. @geetee4037 Avatar
      @geetee4037

      ​@CaptainPrice.141Ferrari made an SUV, so did Lambo, Porsche, Lotus… Get with the times, you’re out of touch with the times.

  13. @luviar3341 Avatar
    @luviar3341

    Ultimate hot hatch drag race but no yaris gr or i20N performance ?

    1. @bap1420 Avatar
      @bap1420

      slower than the fiesta, no point

    2. @theengineer7771 Avatar
      @theengineer7771

      Or Corolla gr and the real abarth

    3. @luviar3341 Avatar
      @luviar3341

      ​@theengineer7771idk about the corolla gr imo it is in the class of the golf gti not the polo but a real abarth would also be great yea

    4. @Dunnelm Avatar
      @Dunnelm

      The i20N is slower than all of these and the Yaris is way quicker, has like 280 hp

    5. @Dan-r6e3n Avatar
      @Dan-r6e3n

      They also didn’t include the Audi s1 because it would of slaughtered the entire line up and made it very boring despite being sold in this size category

  14. @TrainmanSky Avatar
    @TrainmanSky

    With this format, wtf is the point of Carwow drags?

    1. @ivofixzone6410 Avatar
      @ivofixzone6410

      Exactly ….it ‘s just stupid. After 30sec I don’t have to watch it .

    2. @FuckDictators Avatar
      @FuckDictators

      Y’all are the problem with your single digit IQ’s

    3. @Timmycoo Avatar
      @Timmycoo

      I guess they probably looked at their watch statistics and saw there’s people who just watched the drag races – decided to make a separate channel strictly for that with no frills. (I dunno, just speculating lol) since carwow drags is super delayed anyways.

    4. @msngrid Avatar
      @msngrid

      where is the sound check

    5. @TopCarsHere Avatar
      @TopCarsHere

      See above.

  15. @Carheadszambia Avatar
    @Carheadszambia

    Im i the only one that checked to see if this was carwow drags ? Mans went straight to it

  16. @danrowley1150 Avatar
    @danrowley1150

    That fiesta sounds pretty good!

  17. @BashRaw Avatar
    @BashRaw

    The fact nobody is speaking about the prices of these is wild!.
    The world has gone mad.

  18. @Cynthiar2m2h Avatar
    @Cynthiar2m2h

    Ultimate hot hatch drag race but no yaris gr or i20N performance ?🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

    1. @tonydixon2684 Avatar
      @tonydixon2684

      *i30N

    2. @thenamestevewastaken Avatar
      @thenamestevewastaken

      These are more junior hatches with maybe the mini as the exception

    3. @Birmingham_racing Avatar
      @Birmingham_racing

      Maybe they couldn’t have hold of one at the time

    4. @ronanmcnamee2008 Avatar
      @ronanmcnamee2008

      I think the grmn Yaris and a swift sport would be cool in here too, the swift only has 155hp but is only 950kg(to non hybrid)

    5. @aitorgallego98 Avatar
      @aitorgallego98

      I20N yes, Yaris gr is on another level than these

  19. @MrJesushadAegis Avatar
    @MrJesushadAegis

    Tommy yelling “VIVA LE FRANTCH” was literally the first thing on my 2026 bingo card.

  20. @funkbrakes Avatar
    @funkbrakes

    The JCW Mini is a bad arse pocket rocket and looks gorgeous.

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