6/10SeatLeon£18,645 – £31,095Seat’s strongest car in a long time, the Leon is now a Golf-baiting player.
7/10VolkswagenArteon£32,480 – £41,605Good looking, spacious and well equipped, but it’s missing on that oh-so-important ‘buy-me’ factor...
7/10AudiA7£47,910 – £85,770This isn’t a luxury sports saloon – it’s a luxury limousine dressed in a rakish, designer suit
7/10SkodaOctavia£19,480 – £28,500Solid, gimmick-free all-rounder that’s slightly less good at everything than a Golf, but cheaper for it.
7/10AudiA3£22,500 – £37,925The definitive example of rock-solid, sensible, impeccable German engineering
8/10VolkswagenGolf (Mk 7)£18,325 – £33,925It defines this sector and should be its default buy. You simply can’t go wrong.
8/10VolkswagenGolf (Mk8)£18,325 – £33,925New eighth-gen Golf remains the lingua-franca of the hatch world. A finely polished machine
9/10FordFocus£20,460 – £31,585This Focus, if you get the better rear suspension, is the sweetest drive in the mainstream hatch class