The hot hatch is back! Yeah, yeah. I know – there’s no big exhausts and pops and crackles, this time. But that’s not to say that the electric hot hatch isn’t raucous and fun. In fact, Alpine and Vauxhall are here to prove that it is.

The Alpine A290 has already established itself as something of a benchmark for small electric performance cars. It’s a proper driver’s car, for proper drivers, and I will have nobody say otherwise.

Now, Vauxhall wants a piece of the action with the new, electric Corsa GSE. And on paper, it arrives swinging. With 281hp, 345Nm and a 0–62mph time of 5.5 seconds, it comfortably outguns the 220hp Alpine A290 GTS+ that we have in this test.

But anyone who remembers the great hot hatches of old - or anyone who just loves to drive fun cars on public roads! - will know that power isn’t everything. Character, handling and that slightly childish desire to take the long way home matter just as much. In fact, I reckon it matters much, much more.

So, which of these two electric hot hatches does it best?

Alpine A290 GTS+

Price: £37,995 / £34,245 incl. UK electric car grant​

Power: 220hp

Torque: 300Nm

0–62mph: 6.4sec

Battery: 52kWh NMC (usable)

WLTP range: 224 miles

Max charging: 100kW

Boot capacity: 326 litres (300 litres with subwoofer)

Weight: 1,479kg

Vauxhall Corsa GSE

Price: £34,495 / £32,995 incl. UK electric car grant​

Power: 281hp

Torque: 345Nm

0–62mph: 5.5sec

Battery: 51kWh NMC (usable) 

WLTP range: 220 miles on Michelin tyres / 232 miles on Hankook tyres

Max charging: 100kW

Boot capacity: 267 litres

Weight: 1,554kg

Real-world range and charging

Right, range first - and neither of these fast hatchbacks has been given an enormous battery.

The Vauxhall Corsa GSE gets a 51kWh usable NMC battery and, on its standard Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres, has an official WLTP range of 220 miles. Interestingly, there’s the no-cost option of choosing more efficiency-focussed Hankook tyres, which increases that range to 232 miles.

The Alpine gets a 52kWh usable NMC battery which, in this GTS+ version that we're testing, manages 224 miles of WLTP range. It's worth mentioning that cheaper and less powerful but still excellent A290 GT+ stretches that to 234 miles, so do check that out if you fancy the Alpine but want to keep costs down and efficiency up.

Alpine A290 vs Vauxhall Corsa GSE

As for real-world range on the new Vauxhall Corsa GSE and Alpine A290? Well, Nicki and I found that both were a bit underwhelming. Maybe the problem is that you always want to drive them quickly! But even in everyday summer driving, with mostly motorway and a bit of town stuff thrown in, we found that both of these electric hot hatches managed real-world range of around 180 miles. I haven’t tried these cars in winter yet, so I'll have to report back on that, but I’d estimate that you’ll see a real-world range in cold weather of around 150 miles.

Rapid charging peaks at 100kW in both the Alpine and Vauxhall, and both also have vehicle-to-load (V2L) functionality so you can use the battery to power external electrical equipment. You can power your speakers for when you want to play slightly obnoxious music at hot hatch gatherings in Lidl car park! Or, you can use it to power your strimmer down at the allotment, and top-up your e-bike for that nice country bike ride. Which, I suspect, is just as likely (or even more likely) to be on the cards for those people considering the Alpine A290 or Vauxhall Corsa GSE. These are the thinking person’s performance EV, aren’t they?! 

Anyway, with this sort of real world range I don't think you're going to be hammering across Europe too often, and that's fine. These are hot hatches that are designed to make ordinary journeys considerably less ordinary. Speaking of which… 

Which one is best to drive?

Let's get to the important bit, then! The Corsa is properly quick. Its front-mounted motor produces 281hp and 345Nm, getting it from 0–62mph in 5.5 seconds. More importantly, Vauxhall hasn’t simply dialled up the power on the electric Corsa, and then gone for lunch. There’s a Torsen limited-slip differential, the ride height has been dropped by 24mm at the front and 11mm at the rear, and the track is wider for better stability and stance. It also gets stiffer springs, new dampers and a revised rear axle. 

Vauxhall isn't messing about, here, and you can feel all of those changes before you leave the car park. The steering is quicker and more precise, while the differential does an impressive job of getting all that power onto the road. You really do feel the nose bite as you swing into a corner, and you can push hard through corners and it just seems to get grippier and more urgent. It’s fizzy and engaged, and just loads of fun.

There is a catch, though: the ride is VERY firm. On the right road, the firm damping feels completely appropriate for a proper hot hatch. On a miserable commute over broken tarmac, you might be less enthusiastic as you feel it bobbing restlessly and crashing into potholes.

The Alpine takes a different approach. Its 220hp and 300Nm look almost modest alongside the Vauxhall, and its 6.4-second 0–62mph time is nearly a second slower.

But it weighs 1,479kg – around 75kg less than the Corsa – and that does seem to translate to a slightly more tippy-toes attitude. The throttle response is progressive rather than brutally instant, and the steering is quick without becoming nervous. It immediately feels quite natural in the way it responds. You don’t have to think about driving the A290 fast, it just seems to flows really nicely down the road. And it also shows how you can have a lovely, taut ride comfort without sacrificing the daily zen that lots of us enjoy in an EV – even a fast one! The A290’s suspension manages to feel perky, and body roll is kept nicely tied down, but it also softens the worst of the roads bumps. 

Obviously, there’s loads of front-end grip, and this is just a really playful, really fun little car. That’s the clever bit! The A290 doesn’t rely on huge power output to entertain - it behaves much more like an old-school hot hatch, encouraging you to get involved. Although, that big red button that makes the dash graphics go all whooshy like you’ve just got a power up in a computer game is modern EV through-and-through, and I love that, too.

Basically, the Corsa gives you more blunt, outright performance while the Alpine puts more emphasis on adjustability and interaction. They’re surprisingly different interpretations of the same idea, and both are great fun, but I’d definitely say that the Alpine is the better car to drive.

Interior and infotainment

The Corsa certainly tries hard in this area. Its enormous sports seats get Alcantara and cloth upholstery with a wonderfully lairy yellow chequered pattern. There’s yellow stitching, GSE logos and even bright yellow seatbelts. If yellow seatbelts don’t add at least a little imaginary horsepower, what’s the point? Although they do look a bit like hi-viz clothing… 

The problem is that everything surrounding all of that is recognisably Vauxhall Corsa. The displays gain performance information including g-force, but the dashboard and infotainment will be familiar to anyone who’s sat in the regular car.

On the plus side, that also means proper physical climate controls. Hurrah!

The Alpine feels more characterful. There are sports seats, a lovely three-spoke steering wheel and dedicated controls for the regenerative braking and driving modes. Then there’s the big red OV – or ‘Overtake’, if you hadn’t guessed that – button, which gives you maximum power and torque for 10 seconds. It is essentially a big red button marked GO!!! And I'm a big fan of that.

The Alpine’s touchscreen has Google Maps built in, while physical climate buttons sit underneath. GTS models also get suitably nerdy telemetry toys such as a lap timer and g-force display.

Basically, the Corsa feels like a dressed up version of an everyday supermini, and the Alpine feels more bespoke - like a little performance car rather than an expensive hatchback.

Space and practicality

Neither of these cars is best in class for daily practicality. Rear space in the Corsa is fairly tight and those substantial front seats make things feel a bit claustrophobic in the back, even if they aren’t necessarily stealing much more legroom.

But, it’s still roomier in the back of the Vauxhall than it is in the A290. The Alpine's chunky sports seats really eat into legroom and even average-height adults will have their knees pressed into the front seats. Smaller kids should be absolutely fine, but taller adults won’t be volunteering for a long journey in the back – and chunky car seats could be an issue in either of these cars, so make sure that you try your car seat out before committing to either of these hatches.

The Alpine claws a bit of honour back with its boot capacity. It gets 326-litres with the seats up, but that drops to 300 litres if you have the fancy Devialet subwoofer. The Corsa GSE gets 267 litres, which is pretty paltry, to be honest. 

But I have to say that the boots look – on a basic visual inspection – really similar! I’d say both will be fine for light everyday use; your supermarket shop, or a couple of soft bags for the school run. If boot space is a priority, neither of our twin test cars can compete with the much bigger boots that you get in the Cupra Raval VZ and VW ID.Polo GTI, so do have a look at those if you want a compact hot hatch that’s also a really usable family car.

Neither of our two twin test cars has a frunk, so you’ll have to find space for the charging cables in those rather modest boots! 

Which one is best value?

Our Alpine A290 GTS+ test car is pricier than the Corsa GSE, but it’s worth noting that you can get a lower spec A290 for the same price as the Corsa – and it’s well worth checking out. 

As it stands, our A290 GTS+ costs a punchy £37,995, while the Corsa GSE comes in at £34,495. Both are eligible for the UK’s plug-in car grant (PiCG), with the Vauxhall getting £1,500 to bring it down to £32,995, while the Alpine A290 is built in France and gets the full £3,750 to bring price after the PiCG down to £34,245. 

Which EVs are eligible for the UK's electric car grant?

As for monthly PCP finance and leasing, we found various monthly deals that brought the Alpine in at around £400 per month with a deposit of £5,000 on a 36 month contract, but the Corsa's monthly finance details aren't out yet so we'll have to wait and see how it stacks up. We're expecting it to be a very similar price to the Alpine, if not a touch cheaper.

Now, look… There are quite a few other hot hatches in this price area, too, including the raucous Abarth 600e, Peugeot E-208 GTi, Cupra Raval VZ and MINI John Cooper Works Electric. And the VW ID.Polo GTI is incoming later in 2026, too. So, can I just say how blooming delighted I am that we’ve now got this kind of variety and interest in the fun EV class? I mean, how awesome that there’s so much competition to choose from, and all with their own characters. EVs are boring, did you say? All of these cars beg to differ.

Which one is better – the Alpine A290 GTS+ or Vauxhall Corsa GSE?

The Corsa GSE is the muscle car of this pair. With 281hp and that 5.5-second sprint to 62mph, it definitely feels more muscular and aggressive on the road, and that has its own appeal. Plus, the limited-slip differential and chassis changes mean that it is a properly serious little hot hatch. But that firm ride may be a compromise too far for some potential owners, and the cabin never quite escapes its ordinary Corsa origins despite the liberal application of hi-viz yellow.

The Alpine A290 has less power, but its playful chassis and more delicate steering response give it bags of character. There’s just a bit more feedback to its controls. More sense of a fingertip-sensitive engagement to it. It floats like a butterfly, and all that! It also rides a little more sympathetically and its cabin feels more special. In fact, the whole thing just feels a bit more special, if I'm honest, so it’ll come as no surprise that the Alpine is the winner of our twin test. 

But I’ll say it again… What’s really spectacular right now is that fun, characterful, vivid little electric hot hatches are now everywhere, and I couldn't be happier about it. We never thought EVs were boring, at Electrifying. But if you still need persuading on that front, get yourself into the A290 and have a go with that ‘OV’ button. You won’t regret it.