Drag race: Corolla v Civic v i30 v Leon. Forward AND reverse race!

G'day, I'm Paul. So we got some feedback from you that you were sick of us drag racing SUVs and dual cab utes. And the feedback was made even clearer when I got home the other night and there was a horse's head in my bed. So we get it. So what I thought we'd do is get four of the hottest hatches I could get my hands on together to do a good old fashioned drag race, but I wanted to do it just with regular people. So I'm going to be in the Cupra Leon. We've got Mac over there in the Civic Type R. He actually owns one. So it's kind of like the perfect car for him to be driving. Scott over there in the GR Corolla. He owns a Pajero, but anyway, it'll be comical to watch at the very least. And then Mel right up the back there in her very own Hyundai i30 N, but it is the limited edition. It's called the Drive N. So let's get behind the wheel. Let's do some drag racing and see which one of these hatches is quicker just with some regular drivers. Okay. So time to do some drag racing. Now I'm going to quickly explain why the seatbelt looks like this. I had to get some surgery on my chest and I've got some stitches there and it's very sore. So I'm going to be okay from the doctor to kind of have the seatbelt off to the side. Do not drive like this on the road. It's not great. So just as a refresher, these are all the power and torque figures and also the acceleration times of these hot hatches. Look, Civic Type R, it is really the king of hot hatches. So that is if it's shifted right. And like I said before, we wanted this drag race to be all about just regular people driving their cars and Mac being an owner of one, I think should have a good hold of what it's like. So we'll see how that works. Both the Cupra and the i30N have a dual clutch transmission with launch control. So we're going to be using that to see how quick they are. So I've got the Cupra in individual, I've got engine in Cupra mode, I've got stability control switched to limited traction, and I'm going to be using launch control here to see how that goes. Obviously Civic Type R's manual. It'll be just a bit of a feel job there. Front wheel drive as well. Corolla GR is all wheel drive. So it's going to be a little trickier to launch. And then of course, Mel is going to use launch control. So, Sean, count us in. OK, everyone go on go in three, two, one, go. Oh, look at that. GR is out of there. Oh, the i30N, hello. Oh, I think I had Mel there. That was close. So GR had the early lead there. I saw the Civic Type R spinning its wheels off the line there. I had a fair bit of wheel spin as well. But once I hooked up, this thing moved. I reckon we need to do that again. And I'm going to go back to our judges here and just see whether we all took off at the same time. Let's see what happened at the start. I want to make sure Scott hasn't cheated, which he normally... Oh, that's pretty close. Mac had a fair bit of wheel slip off the line there. So did I. OK, that was close. All right, we'll go one more time. I think Mac wants to have another crack there in the Type R with less wheel spin. So let's see how we go. OK, second time lucky. I'm just going to do the exact same thing again because that was quite productive for me. So it's in sport mode, it's all set. Guys, you ready? Perfect. All right, Sean, count us in. OK, on go in three, two, one. This sounds so good. Go. Nice, nice, nice. Ooh, Corolla's moving. Oh, that i30 N is so fast. That was so close. I'm not actually sure who won that. I know it was definitely either i30 N or Cupra. Sean, you're at the finish line there. Who took that one? It was a win for the Cupra. Well, it must have been close. That i30 N was closing in. Tell you what, I am shocked by that i30 N. I was not expecting it to be as quick as it is along here. So, yeah, like I said before, just regular drivers in these cars, if you do put professionals in, I mean, you've seen the 0-100 time of the Corolla is 5.29. They claim that it's quicker than the Civic Type R, which makes sense because it's all-wheel drive. But, I mean, you must have to have the world's best driver, all that sort of stuff to do it. All right, can we give it one more shot? I think everyone is now very well accustomed to how their car should work. Let's see whether the result is the same. OK, last time around, I love the turbo whistle and all the other sort of theatrics that they've dialled into this. It is seriously cool. So, yeah, you know what? Why don't I just do no launch control this time and we'll just see how it goes off the line there. Lift traction off, so we'll see what happens. All right, Sean, count us in. We'll see how we go. On go in three, two, one, go. Oh, it didn't change gears there. Oh, no. Oh, OK, so... I love this story. Use launch control. OK, so now it's time for the rolling race. What we're going to do here, a little bit tricky to make all this work, but we're going to go third gear up to 50kmh and then I'll count everyone in and we'll mash the throttle and hopefully we'll have some kind of a result. This should also take away the element of just a regular driver launching the car as well. So we'll see what happens. Let's all sit up, pop it into manual. All right, guys, let's take off now. Up to 50kmh in third gear. So there's 40, that's 50. And three, two, one, go. Oh, Civic Type-R, hello. Oh, go on, go on. OK, so that's interesting because I had a shift up to fourth, which I can't control because this shifts up on its own. But I have a feeling if I didn't shift up to fourth, the Type-R may have had me there. So what we're going to do this time, we're going to do it one more time, except the race ends when I shift up to fourth. So I'll basically call that out on the camera here and then we'll have a look at the footage and see how it went. All right, guys, ready, set, go. Third gear up to 50kmh. OK, there's 40 and 50. And three, two, one, go. Oh, and fourth. All right, that was all very close, but still comprehensively the winner here is the Cupra Leon, which I'm just... I'm genuinely shocked by it because on paper, this should not be winning anywhere near as much as it is, especially in-gear acceleration. So, yeah, sort of quite impressed with that. So now time to do the thing you've all been waiting for, and that is our reverse acceleration contest. Well, that was the most pointless test in the world, but here is something you will find interesting. I'm going to be quiet and you are to listen to a quarter mile run in each of these hot hatches. So there you go, that was so much fun. I really did enjoy that because, I don't know, we don't really do the average driver, average sort of situation in terms of drag racing. So it does show you that if you are in a set of traffic lights and you've got an i30 N, it is going to be marginally quicker than the rest of these hot hatches, ever so slightly quicker than the Cupra and the GR Corolla. I think if you did sit here all day and really played with the thresholds of the clutch there with the Corolla and even the Civic, you'd probably extract a quicker time. But over the quarter mile, though, the Cupra was actually the fastest, closely followed by the GR Corolla. Shows you that they really pick up a bit of pace once they finally leave. But the Honda Civic, it is still the king of the hot hatches. When you get to the corners, it absolutely tears them up and it is so much fun to drive. But you don't have to spend megabucks on a Civic to get thrills in a straight line, especially given the age of the i30 N. I think that shows you everything you need to know. And that Cupra is a surprise package as well. It sounds unreal while it's driving and it just delivered consistently. I30 N kind of had a few problems with activating launch control continuously. Whereas with the Cupra, you would do one run, turn up again, do another run, do another run. It just wouldn't stop and it made some pretty cool sound while it was running as well. So let me know what you reckon in the comments section below. Sorry about all the flies. Average driver driving these cars, do you like that format or do you want us to have professional drivers extracting every single last inch out of these cars possible? Let me know what you reckon in the comments section below. If you did enjoy this video, please make sure you like it and you share it with your mates. And if you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon. But until next time, take it easy.