The i20 a poison dwarf? 'Poison' may still be true, but 'dwarf'? With a length of over 4 metres? No, and it shouldn't be counted as a small car either, because it still just outweighs the Golf 2. it should be assigned to the B segment, perhaps with the emphasis on today's.

The design of the i20 already looked as if the rather conventional designers had been allowed to do their work up front, but the authorities were not satisfied with it in the end. So the progressive designers were allowed to finish at the bottom and in the corners. At the back side, they initially continued up including the luminaires. But the same authorities got cold feet and let the more conservative ones do the rest.

With the i20 N, a middle way between the two groups was chosen. The progressives were allowed to let off steam, but only on parts that were interchangeable or inexpensive to add. So only the radiator and spoiler grille were replaced at the front, the sills at the sides were underlaid with plastic parts and two spoilers were added to the rear, significant at the top, not so at the bottom except for a triangular rear fog light in the middle.

The special colour scheme of course reinforces the difference to the normal i20, but is basically identical on the N models. Inside, the sports seats, the all-over round steering wheel and the black headliner stand out. On the otherwise equally large display in the middle, you can configure all sorts of special ingredients of the i20 N.

These include, for example, the sound of the engine and its operating behaviour, the naturally modified and adjustable suspension including steering and the unfortunately completely disengageable ESP. In addition, there seem to be further, actually superfluous features such as launch control, intermediate throttle and the possibility to make the car corner exceptionally well on the race track with the left foot on the brake.

How tight the budget is with a price of 26,405 euros for the Polo GTI is shown by the fact that you have to pay extra for the mechanical limited slip differential. Actually no big disadvantage either, because there's still the electronic one. But they probably won't exceed 25,000 euros by any means.