Production cars and their rally car counterparts

Date Posted 21st October 2016
Read Time 4 min read

Rallying is one of the oldest motorsports in the world and it continues to ensure because of how popular it is. One of the reasons why it remains so popular is the fact that spectators see cars, extremely similar in appearance to their normal day-to-day hatchbacks racing through some harsh terrain. Here are the most used cars in the current World Rally Championships and their consumer counterparts. Plus, one special edition.

Ford Fiesta – Ford Fiesta RS WRC

Whilst the Ford Fiesta is the most popular car on the road at the minute, as well as being rated in its class, it has also taken to the dirt. The Ford Fiesta RS was launched in 2011 in order to comply with FIA regulations. It made an immediate impression that season by taking 1-2-3 positions in its first event in Sweden. Since then it can have continued to make a dramatic impression in every season since.

Fiesta RS obviously comes with a lot of equipment that is not in the consumer version. The RS is four-wheel drive with a six-speed sequential gearbox to go along with its 1.6-litre turbocharged, 4-cylinder engine, which produces 315 bhp.

fiesta

A rather impressive set-up when compared to the consumer edition that is the best rated car in its class. Base models have 1.25-litre petrol engines that can accelerate from 0-60 in 16.9 seconds thanks to it developing 60 bhp. The sports edition of the Fiesta, the ST-3 has a 1.6 EcoBoost engine that develops 182 bhp and can accelerate from 0-60 in 6.9 seconds.

Volkswagen Polo – Volkswagen Polo R WRC

In 2011, the FIA introduced new regulations including every car needing to have a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine with direct fuel injection. The Volkswagen Polo R has a 1.6-litre, turbocharged, straight-four engine that produces 318 bhp. It also comes with a four-wheel drive system with equal torque split and a 6-speed sequential sports gearbox. All of this allows the Polo R to hit 0-100 KMH in 3.9 seconds and has a top speed of 200 KMH.

volkswagen

When you look at the consumer edition of the Polo, you are still looking at some very impressive stats. The base Polo offers a 1.0-litre S engine that develops 60 bhp. This allows it to accelerate from 0-60 in 15.5 seconds. The faster sportier version, the Volkswagen Polo R-Line offers a 1.0-litre engine with 110 bhp, allowing it to sprint to 60 MPH in 9.3 seconds.

vw polo

Hyundai i20 – Hyundai i20 WRC

Following the FIA regulations, the Hyundai i20 WRC has a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine with direct injection. It is based off the Hyundai i20 production car and produces 300 bhp, which has 200 bhp more than the fastest edition production car that has 100 bhp.

Like the other rally rivals, the Hyundai i20 WRC has a four-wheel drive system with 6-speed sequential gearbox, which helps it sprint from 0-100 KMH in 4 seconds and has a top speed of 224 KMH. Hyundai’s fastest i20 has a 1.4-litre Premium petrol engine delivers a 100 bhp, which helps it achieve 0-60 in 11.6 seconds.

Citroen DS3 – Citroen DS3 R5

With the new regulations brought in in 2011, the Citroen DS3 WRC dominated, winning the World Rally Championships in both 2011 and 2012. However, in 2014, Citroen launched the DS3 R5 to replace the DS3 WRC. The DS3 R5 comes with a 4-cylinder, 1.6-litre direct injection, turbo engine that develops 280 bhp. It also has a four-wheel drive system like many of its rivals and a 5-speed sequential manual gearbox.

If a Citroen DS3 for the road takes your fancy, then the fastest model is the Citroen DS3 1.6 THP DSport. It’s turbo petrol engine develops 165 bhp and has a top speed of 135 MPH. It can accelerate from 0-60 in 7.5 seconds. Unlike its rally counterpart, the production edition of the DS3 is only front wheel drive.

Skoda Fabia – Skoda Fabia R5

This is our special edition choice, the Skoda Fabia R5 rally car. Again it followed FIA regulations and has a 1.6-litre turbocharged direct injection petrol engine. It also has a four-wheel drive system compared to the front wheel drive in the normal production car and has a 5-speed sequential gearbox.

When it comes to the production car, the Fabia’s fastest model is the 1.4-litre TSI vRS DSG model. It comes with a 1.4-litre petrol engine and automatic gearbox as well as 180 bhp. This allows the car to accelerate from 0-60 in 7.3 seconds and has an overall top speed of 139 MPH.

skoda fabia

If you are interested in rallying, then we have an excellent infographic designed to explain the basics to the motorsport. If you are interested in having production cars for any of these fantastic rally cars, then why not consider leasing a carPersonal use car leasing is an excellent way to get great production cars like these for a cheap, affordable price.


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