Hot hatchbacks will never go out of fashion because they always have one big advantage over equally fast sports cars: practicality. So let’s check out two of the latest and hottest hatchbacks being put through their paces at Bedford race rack, in the hands of Evo’s reviewer Dickie Meaden. We have the new Ford Focus ST, fresh from the set of the Sweeney, and the gorgeous new Vauxhall Astra VXR.

Choosing the winner based on styling along would be easy, since the ST looks like a spoiled fat kid. But there’s more to it. Both these cars have turbocharged engines that makes well over 200bhp, and both are front-wheel-drive. So handling could be the deciding factor: