Hatchback

When you think of 1980s Mercedes-Benz cars, you probably think of the bulletproof W124-generation or maybe its smaller brother, the 190E (W201), also known as the “Baby Benz”. But what you probably didn’t know is that, in the 1990s, a tuning company called Schulz took a Mercedes 190E and turned it into the first Mercedes hatchback, way before the A-Class and BMW 1 Series. It’s called the Mercedes 190E Stadt (City).

The 2021 season of Formula 1 recently concluded with a new champion. Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing Honda effectively ended the streak of Mercedes-AMG Petronas’ Lewis Hamilton, albeit in a controversial fashion. But that’s a story for another day. What we have here is a chance for you to own his Honda Civic Type R.

A few months ago, Honda gave us a preview of the 2023 Civic Type R. Since then, the Japanese automaker has been silent on its upcoming hot hatch. To maintain its excitement, Honda has dropped a set of new photos showcasing the Civic Type R undergoing development at Suzuka Circuit.

Following a previous spotting of a jacked-up A3, a new set of spy shots has essentially confirmed that Audi is, in fact, designing an A3 Allroad. Like the previously spotted model, this one was wearing a lot of camouflage on the lower body, meaty tires, and it clearly has elevated suspension – enough for at least 2-3 inches of extra ground clearance over that standard A3. Although the camo does a good job at concealing what’s underneath, if you look closely, you can make out cladding around the wheel arches, especially in the front. The side skirts don’t appear to be any beefier, but there’s a good chance that are plastic for added protection.

Beyond this, there will likely be more hard plastic all around to protect the car on mild off-road adventures. The rear doesn’t appear to be any different, though the front will likely take on a more rugged appearance. Little else is known about this specific car. It may not even be known as an Allroad as the Citycarver name – previously found on the jacked-up A1 – could also make a comeback. The A1 Citycarver actually had a taller suspension (about two inches), larger tires, some plastic cladding, and an overall more rugged appearance. This A3 could simply be a larger version of that, leaving the Allroad name for larger models.

Hoonigan’s YouTube channel returns with another “Hoonicorn versus the world” episode and this time it’s all on the line because the mighty Hoonicorn goes up against a Tesla Model S Plaid – the bane of many high-performance, combustion-powered vehicles. So far the Lia Block – Ken Block’s, 14-year old daughter - has been crushing it, losing only to a 2,000 horsepower Nissan GT-R. Will Tesla take another scalp or will the Hoonicorn finally put it in its place?

The current Mazda2 is already on its eight year on the market, and ever since its launch it was only offered with a choice of 1.5-liter gasoline or 1.5-liter diesel engines. In 2020 a mild hybrid version was also added to the lineup.

And now it looks like the third-generation Mazda2 is continuing to live on for yet another year, but with some major improvements under the hood. As a first in Mazda’s lineup, the 2022 Mazda2 will be offered with a self-charging, full hybrid powertrain.

Electric vehicles (EVs) seem to be the key to solving our climate crisis, or is it? Toyota’s hydrogen combustion engine that powered this GR Yaris is proof that the answer to the global climate crisis can and should be a multi-solution approach.

When the Toyota GR Yaris was unveiled, the hype surrounding the tiny hot hatch was extremely high, to say the least. However, it was never meant to reach the North American market, which disappointed a lot of enthusiasts. It seems there’s no need to be jealous anymore as Toyota sneakily teases the GR Corolla.

The fourth generation Mazda3 was launched back in 2019 and since then it received no major updates. Things continue unchanged for the 2022 model year, but Mazda is offering a new Carbon Edition model.

Prices for the 2022 Mazda3 will range from $20,800 for the 2.0 version with FWD to $34,400 for the 2.5 Turbo Premium Plus AWD. The new Carbon Edition will be priced at $26,400 for the sedan version and at $27,400 for the hatchback.

WayRay is a Swiss deep-tech startup, has introduced the Battery Electric Holograktor, which is the world’s first car with a holographic display that can superimpose items at any distance around the vehicle.

Every automaker is on the cusp of announcing ambitious plans to switch to electrification. While some have jumped the wagon, some are still on the verge of doing it. The latest automaker to do so is the Japanese giant Nissan. Nissan has revealed its ‘Nissan Ambition 2030’ plan that includes 23 electrified models coming out of the automaker’s stable this decade. To give a glimpse of what to expect, Nissan has revealed four EV concepts. None of them are anywhere close to a production model, but this shows Nissan will re-shape itself as an EVmaker in the ongoing paradigm shift.

The ‘Carwow’ team brought in five German cars to face each other on the drag strip. The contenders include the Audi RS3, the BMW M2, the Mercedes-AMG A45, the Porsche Cayman GTS, and the Volkswagen Golf R. All the cars have very different setups – some are naturally aspirated, some turbocharged; some are rear-wheel-drive, some all-wheel-drive – that make this an unpredictable race. Which car are you betting on here?

The hot hatchback has come a long way since its inception in the seventies. The current hot hatches have an accepted formula: taking a standard model, increasing the engine output, and beefing up the suspension to go round corners a bit too quickly. The current high-performance versions offer between 250 and 400 horsepower, with better agility than they did decades ago. The emissions and running costs are infinitely much better. For 2022, automakers have upped the ante with a few offerings that will maintain the ongoing theme.

In recent years, Fiat started resurrecting model names from the past. They started with the Fiat 124 Spider, which shares the underpinnings of the Mazda MX-5. More recently, the company brought back the Tipo name, as a more affordable alternative to the likes of Toyota Corolla and Volkswagen Golf that comes in three body types – hatchback, sedan, and station wagon. For 2023, the Italian model is station wagon is getting a more rugged, high-riding version called the Tipo Cross Station Wagon.

If you follow everything revolving around BMW’s cars, you know that every time the Bavarian carmaker brings out a new model, it’s only a matter of time before Alpina makes its own version of it. The Bavarian-based tuning company is operating independently, since 1983 and now, it’s cooking up its own version of BMW’s 4-Series Gran Coupe in the form of the Alpina B4 Gran Coupe, which was recently spied testing.

Acura has been hyping the new Integra for a few months now. It all started in August this year when the automaker officially announced that the moniker is making a comeback. The next month, we got to know that it will be a full-blown hatchback with fastback styling. And, finally, coming up with a kickass trailer announcing that the new Integra will feature a six-speed manual gearbox.

Fast forward to the present day, Acura has revealed the 2023 Integra prototype. It is a near-production version and we don’t expect any major changes to be made to the real deal. Unfortunately, the company didn’t give out a lot of details, but we at least know what it looks like.

Toyota wouldn’t be the first brand you think of when talking about exciting cars. However, the Japanese brand has been on something of a roll in recent times and the GR Yaris is one of the best examples. Chris Harris has driven and raced more than a few cars, so he is quite qualified to talk about it while finding out its limits. As you might guess, some epic driving is in store, and here’s what Harris makes of Toyota’s rally-bred hot hatch.