Audi RS3 v Toyota GR Yaris v Mercedes-AMG A45 S – car pictures of the week

Hot hatchbacks used to offer simple, no frills fun for the masses, but today the genre has evolved dramatically. The most advanced examples of the breed pack the kind of performance and technology you'd expect to find in a supercar from not too long ago. With four-wheel drive, torque vectoring and enormous power, the 0-62mph times begin with a three, in some cases. In issue 332 of evo, we gather three cutting-edge hot hatches – the Audi RS3, Toyota GR Yaris and Mercedes-AMG A45 S – to evaluate just how far the class has come, and find out which is best on road and track. To read the full test, pick up a copy of the magazine in-store or online via the evo shop.

The Audi RS3 is the newest of the three contenders, with a subtle facelift introduced late last year to refine the already impressive 8Y-generation model. A turbocharged five-cylinder engine remains at its heart, generating 394bhp and a spectacular sound as it does so. Key to the current-generation RS3’s talents is its sophisticated four-wheel drive system, which uses a Torque Splitter rear differential. With the ability to send up to 50 per cent of torque rearwards and all of this to a single rear wheel, the RS3 is more exciting and throttle-adjustable than you’d expect of a traditional fast Audi, and this latest model gains tweaks to its chassis electronics to accentuate this further.

The RS3’s closest rival is another German hyperhatch – the A45 S. Like the Audi, the AMG packs some truly spectacular numbers, drawing 415bhp from a 2-litre four-pot engine and reaching 62mph in just 3.9sec. It too has a trick four-wheel drive system with a torque vectoring rear diff, plus a plethora of modes to tune the driving experience to your tastes. It's a formidable hatch that has hints of classic Mitsubishi Evo in the way it drives, but the third car in this test is a genuine, pure-bred Japanese rally icon: the GR Yaris. 

Now in fettled Gen 2 form, the Toyota takes the hot supermini formula to its very extreme, with a bespoke engine, chassis, four-wheel drive system and a serious depth of engineering (the original was a genuine homologation special, after all). This latest model turns out 276bhp from a 1.6-litre turbocharged three pot, which drives both axles through a retuned four-wheel drive system – and in this case, an eight-speed automatic gearbox, new for the Gen 2. The suspension has been stiffened and honed, too, to make the Yaris even more adept at scampering along twisting, gnarly tarmac in all conditions imaginable. 

Three different takes on the ultimate hot hatch, then, and a test split between fabulous Welsh B-roads and the Anglesey circuit to sort them in order. Pick up a copy of evo 332 to find out which comes out on top.