Best new small car 2020: The final three

The car’s instruments are simple and clear. Its touchscreen infotainment system is not as large or graphically appealing as some but is intuitive enough to use so as not to be distracting. Moreover, almost every important switch and button around the cabin has been moved from the funny old locations in which Renault used to hide them to new ones right where you expect them to be. The cruise control toggle isn’t on the centre console any more but up on the steering wheel spoke. There are big, smart-looking, easily grabbed ventilation controls and chrome-finished window switches to match, both of which inject a bit of classy lustre. It’s very much as if Renault has finally found an accurate French translation for feng shui.

On the road the Clio impresses with precise, perfectly paced steering. There’s also good drivability from a turbocharged engine that has more than adequate accessible torque, albeit perhaps less of it than rivals and with only a five-speed gearbox to channel it through. Mechanical refinement is surprisingly well-suppressed, too (although the sometimes slightly noisy, occasionally uppity ride takes the edge off that), and there’s an abiding sense of intuitiveness in its general operation. It could be quicker, more fluent in its ride and bigger in the back, granted. But for what it costs, it’s got a hell of a lot going for it.

The Polo, of course, might have even more strengths on which to draw. It’ll come as no surprise to long-time readers that we’re praising its merits now; that a Polo will provide comfortable, practical, solidly built family transport remains as dependable as bad weather on a British bank holiday. Well, this one rises unassumingly above the standards of other small cars with its interior roominess, its well-rounded comfort and civility, its easy drivability, its perceived quality and infotainment sophistication and more. The Polo is, in short, now a fully fledged downsized Volkswagen Golf-a-like in that you could give it at least eight and a half out of 10 for anything.

Polos have also tended to come at a slight premium over the supermini class’s going rate – but not so much our test car. VW’s Beats specification addresses the car’s two biggest potential weaknesses by filtering in some extra material colour and vivacity into the cabin, rendering it less serious in its ambience, and also bundling together most of the equipment you might want, all for a pretty reasonable price.

You have to pay extra for the 8.0in Discover Navigation touchscreen infotainment system our test car had, but not for the 16in wheels, the sports seats or the decals. No Beats specification would be complete without an audio upgrade including a subwoofer, of course, and the Polo’s sits in the boot where it prevents you from dropping down the variable floor and eats up a bit of available carrying space, annoyingly. Even so, I’m sure this is exactly how many Polo owners might order their car.

According to our tape measure, there is 70mm more ‘typical leg room’ (we measure it with the front seat set midway for cushion height and for a metre of front leg room) in the VW’s back row than there is in the Renault’s, and significantly more head room offered by either the Renault or the Ford – and if you’re going to carry bigger kids or even smaller adults around, those measurements are enough to make a notable difference in any car this size.

The Polo is also arguably the most comfortable-riding car on test (although such things are a little subjective), and it recorded the best on-test indicated fuel economy. It gives up very little to any other rival in the class on mechanical refinement or drivability and has as much performance as any small car like this really needs with a bit to spare. It isn’t much fun to drive, with slightly softened handling responses and filtered, isolated controls, but it is at least very easy to drive. It looks smart. It’s a VW, so it’s a little bit desirable. That’s plenty to be going on with, isn’t it?

Now to the Fiesta. You’ll have a good idea how this argument’s going to run, too, I bet. And yet I continue to be amazed by how Ford of Europe can manage to make an otherwise very ordinary and modestly priced hatchback that’s built in Cologne so plainly and comprehensively out-handle its competitors. It has been doing so for decades now. The last time there was a duff one (as far as I read at the time), I’d not long started secondary school – and I’m now perilously close to 40. And today, even if you buy pretty much the most ordinary Fiesta going (a car in base-level Trend trim with a few options and with Ford’s much-praised 1.0-litre Ecoboost engine, as tested), you still get something that can dynamically dominate absolutely every rival – even the ones costing several thousand pounds more.