Idle Hands: MG ZS 180

Take one circuit and line up a dozen hot hatches from the early 2000s. You can probably guess which would win the race: the renowned RenaultSport Clio 172. And it would come as no great surprise to find the likes of the boosted ‘n’ boisterous Mini Cooper S, rev-hungry Honda Civic Type R, and ergonomically challenging Peugeot 206 GTi in hot pursuit.

But what might make your eyebrows climb skyward, like a Eurofighter Typhoon scrambled for Quick Reaction Alert duty, is what would be just half a second behind the French flier, and ahead of all the others.

No, it wouldn’t be Ford’s Focus ST170, with its acclaimed control-blade rear suspension; nor the Vauxhall Astra SRi, Seat Leon Cupra, or Toyota Corolla T Sport. And, no, despite the semi-legendary status of the PD engine, it certainly wasn’t the Golf GT TDI. It would be the MG ZS 180. Yes, really, the car that was inauspiciously based on the Longbridge-built Rover 45, which itself was just a facelift of the underwhelming Rover 400 of 1995.