Cape Town - British automotive publication Evo, released their annual Car of the Year video on Youtube this week.
The team chose 12 of the best performance cars of of the year, including the Aston Martin Vantage GT8, Audi R8 V10 Plus, BMW M4 GTS, Honda NSX, Lamborghini LP580-2, McLaren 570S, Porsche 911 R and VW Golf GTI Clubsport S amongst others.
Most powerful GTI yet
But it's the little GTI Clubsport S that perhaps caused the biggest upset. South African Golf aficionados will be familiar with the 'normal' Clubsport, however the S dials the wick up to 11.
The most powerful Golf ever produces 228kW/380Nm, completes the 0-100 km/h sprint in 5.8 seconds and has to be physically restrained at 250km/h.
It's a proper track-car, featuring slick tyres two doors and only two seats! The deletion of the rear seats means the Clubsport S tips the scales at 1285kg.
Read: Why Volkswagen's hot hatches are annoyingly good
The Evo team reckon the Clubsport S' dynamic ability is on par with a Porsche 911 GT3 or Cayman GT4. It's a big claim from some of the world's best motoring hacks and shows how far hot hatches have come in recent years.
The Clubsport S according to Evo, surprised the team in how dynamically satisfying it was to drive. However it puts performance motoring into context and shows just how good a hot hatch can be and how the thrill of driving can be experienced by many not just a few.
To see where the Clubsport S ranked against the rest of the field, scroll down to the end of the article.
*Volkswagen SA confirmed to Wheels24 all 47 units of the Clubsport S are in the country, but have all been snapped up.
Watch: 12 performance cars for ECOTY
ECOTY 2016 standings:
Image: YouTube