Sonic RS is a fun drive

Sure, if you want to get all emotional over the RS badge then obviously a small 1.4-litre hatch, even with a turbo, is going to fall a bit short of your expectations.

But if you are realistic then you are really going to enjoy all this R225 300 car has to offer.

This Sonic runs the 1.4-litre turbocharged ECOTEC petrol engine that sees a nice 103 kW of power made at 6 000 rpm and a useful 200 Nm of torque delivered at 4 000 rpm via a close ratio six-speed manual gearbox.

I enjoyed the drive that this combo offered but I do question the tuning of the car that has the torque come in so high.

Doing this made the car feel like it actually wasn’t turbocharged because the dollop of torque that normally arrives not long after idle was not there.

In fact, it felt much more like its natural rival in this segment, the naturally aspirated 100kW/160Nm Suzuki Swift Sport.

That said, the claimed performance figures include a 0-100 km/h sprint time of 9.5 seconds and a top speed of 197 km/h, which seemed achievable to me and would have put the Sonic right in the Suzuki ball park.

Fuel consumption was good too at around 7.0 litres per 100 km if you didn’t spend the day flat out everywhere.

The slightly lowered ride height and stiffer suspension set-up that sees MacPherson struts up front and a multi-link setup at the rear provided for a sporty enough drive without being harsh at all.

You also get a host of other standard features that include the 17-inch gunmetal alloy wheels, multi-function steering wheel with satellite controls for the audio system as well as cruise control, MyLink including full media support and Bluetooth for hands-free cellphone use and audio streaming, piano black and matt-silver trim, red RS-specific detailing, sports leather and suede

combination seats, sports pedals and RS floor mats.

The Sonic’s safety equipment includes disc brakes all-round with ABS, EBD and BAS, ESC and Traction Control, a full-size spare wheel, ISOFIX child seat anchors and four airbags – all of which completes what is a great package at the price.