2026 Auto & Motoring Hot Hatch Comparison Test (SUBMISSIONS OPEN)

[vero94773]

2026 Auto & Motoring Hot Hatch Comparison Test

Auto & Motoring Testing Headquarters, January 2026

For an upcoming issue of Auto & Motoring, the testing office of the magazine has begun research on all of the hot hatchbacks currently on sale today, for $35,000 or less. However, to do that, they need to start officially searching for the cars that end up in the final comparison test as soon as possible.

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Rules

• I will be accepting entries made in Al-Rilma/the current stable version of the game only.

• Trim/Variant Year - 2020.

• $35,000 autobucks maximum.

• 5-door hatchbacks only. Liftbacks are allowed.

• Wheelbase between 2.6 to 2.8m, standard rounding rules apply.

• AWD is not banned, but it will incur a $2,000 penalty on top of your approximate cost.

• Due to an SVC discrepancy between supercharged and turbocharged cars, there will be an $300 penalty applied to the base service costs of all supercharged entries in the interest of balance.

• 5 full (2 front, 3 rear only) seats required.

• At least standard 10s safety minimum, and ESC required.

• No amount of positive downforce on the graphs on the aerodynamics page is allowed.

• Radial tires are required, and must end in 5. Race tires (including semi-slicks) are not allowed.

• a 3-way catalytic converter (either kind) and at least one muffler is required.

• 95 RON/91 AKI fuel maximum. You may use a lower grade fuel, though it offers no benefit.

• No V16s, no race parts.

• Your car must achieve WES 11.

• Interiors are not required, and will not be judged.

• Advanced trim settings are allowed- however, you are not allowed to make the car look like something that it isn’t using them.

• Legacy car bodies (it should say “Legacy Car Bodies” in the mod name) are not allowed.

• All results are final, and I reserve the right to not accept or judge an entry I deem to be off-brief or inappropriate for the challenge.

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Techpool

All entrants are allowed 50M in total techpool budget. This is the sum of the total car and engine techpool values, as shown in the above screenshot.

If you’ve had trouble with techpool exporting incorrectly in the past, you may include a screenshot of your techpool values in the same DM as your submission- I will then compare the in-game numbers to the numbers listed in the screenshot, and will edit them if necessary. However, if you do not send a screenshot of your techpool values and they end up incorrect- or if the values in your included screenshot are also wrong, you will be binned.

Negative techpool is not allowed.

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Priorities

Design

Auto & Motoring know that buyers can be swayed by design, and a car that isn’t well designed or fitting with the hot hatch theme won’t do here.

Sportiness

A big key to a good hot hatch is a sporty driving experience; something that’s lazy off the line and boring in the corners won’t work here.

OOC - Sportiness will be judged on more than just the raw stat, performance specifications and other engineering decisions will be factored into my judging as well.

Realism

OOC- I’m looking for a car that could feasibly exist and that meets basic road legality (think third brake lights, functional front and rear lighting, etc). Some cheesefest entry with a little tiny engine that’s designed to focus only on one or two key stats at the expense of all the others will not be considered, and will be binned. This is a pretty specific segment, and god is in the details - so if you aren’t sure about something - research it.

Drivability

Hot hatches need to be usable for more than just track driving, anything that’s too much of a chore or punishing to drive isn’t desired.

Practicality

Hot hatches should be practical and useful for the occasional trip to the grocery store or drive out of town - therefore, it should offer good interior room for cargo and people.

OOC - I will be judging more than just the raw stat here, I’ll also be taking into account passenger and cargo figures and the physical size of the vehicle.

Reliability

A hot hatch should still be dependable and reliable for everyday living, something that’s in and out of the shop wouldn’t be desirable for potential car buyers, and it would impede Auto & Motoring’s testing as well.

Fuel Economy

While a hot hatch isn’t going to be as efficient as its basic economy car counterparts, Auto & Motoring testers aren’t looking for a car that drinks fuel by the gallon either.

Safety

Auto & Motoring know that safety is important to potential buyers, so they want a car that’s well-made and protects drivers.

Comfort

Auto & Motoring know that hot hatches won’t ever be the most comfortable cars they’ll test, but they aren’t interested in cars that have punishing rides, uncomfortable seats, and so on - it needs to be comfortable enough to live with.

Value/Purchase Price

Auto & Motoring have no problem with a comparison test full of cars at the maximum budget they’ve set, but if there’s a more affordable option that can do the same things a more expensive car, then it’s likely they’ll add it to the final comparison test.

Service Costs

Auto & Motoring know that hot hatches will be more expensive to service than their conventional brethren, but they don’t want a car that costs as much as some supercars do for basic servicing either.

Prestige

While hot hatches are no luxury cars, Auto & Motoring aren’t interested in cars that are too cheap or inexpensive feeling either.

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Inspirations

Honda Civic Type R

Renault Mégane RS

Ford Focus ST

Cupra León

Mercedes-AMG A35

Audi S3 Sportback

Volkswagen Golf GTI

Hyundai i30N

Toyota GR Corolla

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Submissions

• Submissions will open on Friday, January 9th, 2026 at 11:59pm PST.

• Submissions will then close exactly 1 month later, on Monday, February 9th, 2026 at 11:59pm PST.

• The naming scheme is HHC26- (your username here) for the car model and engine family boxes. Trim and variant are free.

• To submit, please post at least one picture of your car here in the challenge thread, then DM your .car file and optionally a screenshot of your techpool distribution to me (@vero94773) over the forums only. Submissions over Discord will not be accepted. Ads in the thread may be posted up to 12 hours after submissions close.

• As this round is being held on the still being updated version of the game, I will only be accepting resubmissions in the event of an update that affects the engineering of your entries - all other resubmissions will not be allowed. If you have to resubmit, please resubmit in the same DM as your original submission.

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Changelog

• 1/4 - Clarified that no amount of positive downforce on the graph in the aerodynamics page is allowed.

• 1/5 - Allowed liftbacks, removed faux diesel rule and changed techpool example image to one more relevant to challenge.

• 1/7 - Clarified that sportiness will be judged on more than just the raw stat value.

• 1/9 - Added a $300 penalty to the service costs on supercharged entries to better balance the SVC difference between supercharged and turbocharged entries.

[Oreology]

erm excuse me why is the MAZDA 3 HATCHBACK not listed under inspiration!1!!1!!!

[vero94773]

because while there’s a turbo version, it isn’t really in the same league as something like a Civic Type R or anything

[Oreology]

[Capri78]

Any limit to the number of Aero bits you can chuck onto the car?

[vero94773]

I won’t add a direct limit, but I will say that making positive amounts of downforce on the graph in the aerodynamics page is banned.

[Capri78]

I fully suspect I’ve misunderstood this graph but, would this be a banned car?

My assumption is that since one of the full lines goes up, then I’d assume the car would be banned.

[vero94773]

that’d be correct, no amount of positive downforce period would be allowed, and i’ve updated the rules to reflect this.

[abg7]

It’s nice to see you doing a standalone challenge on a segment (hot hatches) that should be extinct by now - but isn’t going down without a fight.

[HyperskiesSM]

Can you clarify “race parts”? Like im assuming billet parts and carbon bodywork are race parts but they dont have it in their names.

Also, are you certain about the minimum wheelbase? I mean they are small(er) cars, they shouldnt have such strict minimum wheelbase limits.

[vero94773]

i’m not really expecting most people to use billet engine parts nor carbon bodywork, so to put it simply - if it says the word race in the name (with the exception of semi-slicks, which are also banned), it’s banned.

as for the wheelbase rule, all of the existing cars in the desired segment are between 2.6 to 2.8m, hence the rule, so yes it’s strict on purpose

[HyperskiesSM]

oh, i thought they were smoller, nvm then, looking forward to the competition.

[abg7]

The wheelbase range also aligns with current C-segment/compact measurements, so it sounds about right to me.

[ILIKECARS]

[feffel]

I dont really get the Penalty on AWD cars, since its standard practice nowadays. AWD systems already have their downsides, mainly higher weight, so penelizing them additionally makes no sense to me.

Also 95 RON Maximum? Thats standard grade fuel almost everywhere in Europe, and also im pretty sure that most of the inspiration-cars given run better on 98 RON premium gas, if not required

[Hshan]

What’s the target market? Europe, USA, somewhere else? Because that matters in terms of which of my models/brands I can choose from, and for some flavour details.

(BTW I really want to make a car for this, but likely won’t have time - end of semester at the uni. So I’m actually asking as a potential participant, not just pestering you out of nitpickiness )

[06DPA]

I suggest not banning liftbacks, as I’d argue the Civic included in the inspirations is one, as well as the i30N fastback even though it has a regular hatchback version.

[Vanilla]

Would something like a Ford Puma ST fit? More of a compact suv, but considering similar sizes, would it be allowed?

[vero94773]

@feffel

I dont really get the Penalty on AWD cars, since its standard practice nowadays. AWD systems already have their downsides, mainly higher weight, so penelizing them additionally makes no sense to me.

all of that may be true, but they also offer marked improvement in drivability, grip and acceleration, which in turn impact sportiness. to keep things more balanced, a small penalty seems like a fair trade off.

@feffel

Also 95 RON Maximum? Thats standard grade fuel almost everywhere in Europe, and also im pretty sure that most of the inspiration-cars given run better on 98 RON premium gas, if not required

using the Civic Type R as an example, it recommends premium unleaded fuel, which would be 95 octane. I do not personally feel as if going to 98 is necessary, and additionally while I didn’t have a specific market in mind when I wrote the brief, I would generally say that it’s based around the US market where 95 RON/91 AKI tends to be the highest grade fuel you’ll find at most gas stations.

@Hshan

What’s the target market? Europe, USA, somewhere else? Because that matters in terms of which of my models/brands I can choose from, and for some flavour details.

broadly I’d say USA? but I didn’t really have a specific market in mind when I chose the brief, as I said above.

@06DPA

I suggest not banning liftbacks, as I’d argue the Civic included in the inspirations is one, as well as the i30N fastback even though it has a regular hatchback version.

I’ll have to do some additional testing to see how a liftback stacks up, but for now i’m going to keep the ban in place and give an official decision on allowing them later before submissions open.

@Vanilla

Would something like a Ford Puma ST fit? More of a compact suv, but considering similar sizes, would it be allowed?

it’s kinda straddling the line between hatchback and crossover, but I’m more inclined to say no because compared to the other inspirations it’s not really on the same level of performance.

[feffel]

@vero94773

while I didn’t have a specific market in mind when I wrote the brief, I would generally say that it’s based around the US market where 95 RON/91 AKI tends to be the highest grade fuel you’ll find at most gas stations.

Fair, im talking from a European perspective, I assumed that the cars for this challenge should appeal to the european market, since historicly Europe had a much larger hot hatch market compared to the US.