If you ignore the ones that have a stonking great three-litre V6 engine where the rear seats should be, this is the ultimate Clio, and there is a strongly-held opinion that it is also by a large margin the ultimate car in its class. It has even been referred to, by independent observers, as the greatest hot hatch ever devised. In the face of such plaudits there seems to be no room left for criticism. Still, let's give it a go.Without adding anything too dramatic to the basic shape, Renault has made the 182 Cup look seriously purposeful from the outside, not least by ensuring that one of only two standard colours is a rich orange. Indoors, things are more subdued. Apart from a pair of seriously supportive front seats and the addition of some shininess to the gearknob and pedals, there is little to suggest that this is anything other than an ordinary Clio, and a none too lavishly equipped one at that.The lack of goodies is part of the overall plan, though. The 182 Cup distinguishes itself by being both light and inexpensive, in relative terms, and you don't achieve that sort of thing by loading on extras. Even the audio system is less comprehensive than it might be in the search for low weight (though air-conditioning and ABS, which were deleted from the even more austere 172 Cup which this car replaces, have been brought back due to customer demand). Likewise, Renault has left the car with a five-speed gearbox, which apart from benefits in terms of cost and mass shows that a car like this really doesn't need six gears, at least for road use.In gentle motoring the 182 Cup feels quite like an ordinary Clio, too. The very firm ride gives a clue of what is to come, of course, as do the low gearing and the considerable mid-range urge which results from putting a powerful engine in a small car, but on the whole the car feels quite standard until you start pushing it.And you really do need to push it to find its true potential. Forgive the barrage of four-figure numbers that follows - there just isn't any way round it. Here goes: although the engine performs well at lower speeds, there is a definite increase in intent at 4000rpm, followed by entry into a whole new world at 5000. From now on it feels like a race unit until the revlimiter chimes in at around 7000. There's a sense of anticlimax at this point, as if the engine would happily spin up to 8000 if Renault were prepared to allow this. No two ways about it, this is a screamer.The snag here is that it's very difficult, in road conditions, to keep an engine running at more than 5000rpm for much of the time, unless you stick the gearlever into second and leave it there. But that would be tiresome, so you change up, and are conscious that you are no longer allowing the car to perform the way it might.I have not driven the 182 Cup on a race circuit, but I can imagine that it would be a lot of fun to keep the revs up for lap after lap. I also suspect that on such a smooth, wide piece of tarmac, with no oncoming traffic and no speed limits, the car would handle rather nicely too, and I'd bet my house on the fact that most of the journalistic enthusiasm for the Clio has arisen from driving it in just such conditions.Surely, though, the Cup isn't nearly quick enough for anyone to buy it simply to use on trackdays? It has to perform well on the road too. And this is where I distance myself from the idea that nobody has ever built a better hot hatch.Proper roads, after all, have crests and blind corners and surfaces that would be unacceptable on a race track. The Clio is quick enough in this kind of environment, but it's not entirely at home. The finger of suspicion points at the front end, which may behave splendidly on a test track but feels nervous and unhappy when there are undulations to deal with. There seems to be a mismatch between very hard springs and not quite sufficiently stiff dampers, leaving the business end of the Clio to jab into the road as the suspension compresses and wander slightly as it relaxes.In most circumstances this would not be a major problem, but we're supposed to be talking here about the best-ever hot hatch. Well, I've driven other hot hatches which give more of a sense that they are getting ready for what comes next, rather than - as here - constantly recovering from what has just happened.The effect to the driver is that you are always having to persuade the front to get from point A to point B. You don't feel that it is dealing with whatever the road throws at it, nor that the rear is aiding the process by giving a little steering input of its own. Of course, this is a notoriously difficult thing to achieve in a front-wheel drive car, in which nearly the entire business of accelerating, braking, changing direction and carrying weight has to be dealt with between the front bumper and the windscreen.But it is achieved in other cars: the Cup's close rival, the Peugeot 206 GTi 180, comes to mind here, as do most MINIs and even a few MGs. The Clio isn't as bad as the Honda Civic Type-R, which has an alarmingly wayward front end, but it's in the same basic category.So: the 182 Cup is something of a performance bargain, it performs well in a straight line, it's not too bad through the corners, and it looks great. But the greatest hot hatch of all time? I'm sorry, but no. Engine 1998cc, 4 cylinders Power 182bhp Transmission 5-speed manual Fuel/CO2 34.9mpg / 194g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 6.9 seconds Top speed 139mph Price £13,800 Release date 15/05/2010
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