Super - Saloons

One’s a coupe, another used to be a hatch, but what’s in a name when they’re this good?

- Ollie Marriage

Sun and rain. They had a big effect here. When the clouds gathered, the rain fell and the track darkened, I thought one was a revelation, another a total liability. When the sun shone, the wind blew and the track dried, those positions were reversed – one danced, the other dulled. The third car? Well, that wasn’t fazed by anything at all.

Sensible representatives of the German big three. Who’d have thought they’d deliver anything other than a perfectly polished performance? But here’s the thing – each of these has a very strong character, a certain way of doing things that colours the way it drives as well as the conditions it thrives in. They’re not direct rivals. They don’t sit in the same class. We’re calling them the super saloons, but one’s a hot hatch, another a coupe. One’s rear-wheel drive, one’s 4WD, the third is, well, both.