What's the best-looking hatchback ever?

[Lester H]

ch108 said:

The Fiesta has to be up there, especially the ones before they grafted the Aston Martin grille onto them.


Suzuki Swift


I always preferred the look of the Nova compared to the equivalent Fiesta of the time.



And I thought the Opel Manta was a good looking car in its day too.
de

The Manta was a class act in the looks dept! Capri, eat your heart out!

[oilspill]

Lancia Delta and Golf MK2.

The Mk1 Nova ( above post) was also ok as was the MK1 Astra (boxyish taste then) . The Manta was and still is nasty. It would look good underwater though. I also think the new Fiesta has a horrendous stance.
I think the MK3 Capri looks better with age.

[Lester H]

oilspill said:

Lancia Delta and Golf MK2.

The Mk1 Nova ( above post) was also ok as was the MK1 Astra (boxyish taste then) . The Manta was and still is nasty. It would look good underwater though. I also think the new Fiesta has a horrendous stance.
I think the MK3 Capri looks better with age.

Delta, yes but Manta better than you think IMO. Golf 2 is clean industrial design, but hardly a stunner, again my subjective view. Nova with " blistered" arches was sexy at the time!

[oilspill]

Lester H said:

Delta, yes but Manta better than you think IMO. Golf 2 is clean industrial design, but hardly a stunner, again my subjective view. Nova with " blistered" arches was sexy at the time!

The Manta body is ok, but it looks like its on the wrong wheel base or something, seems to overhang too much. It would have suited a Bond under water car though with closed off wheels

[Lester H]

oilspill said:

Lester H said:

Delta, yes but Manta better than you think IMO. Golf 2 is clean industrial design, but hardly a stunner, again my subjective view. Nova with " blistered" arches was sexy at the time!

The Manta body is ok, but it looks like its on the wrong wheel base or something, seems to overhang too much. It would have suited a Bond under water car though with closed off wheels

Fair enough. A bit like the Final Sunbeam Rapier, then. that was built on Hunter Estate floor pan and designed by Roy Axe but had small wheels and too much overhang, so I concede your point. Golf a bit boring tho!

[TurboFan]

These looked great when they first came out in the mid 90'season. Still look good now imo

[oilspill]

Lester H said:

Fair enough. A bit like the Final Sunbeam Rapier, then. that was built on Hunter Estate floor pan and designed by Roy Axe but had small wheels and too much overhang, so I concede your point. Golf a bit boring tho!

I don't think the Golf MK2 is too dissimilar to the Lancia Delta.
Standard Golf is too high, but once they're lowered a bit (not silly) with some subtle plastic arch and bumper/skirt trim ( so GTi G60 then) I like the look from most angles in the right colour that shows off the black bits. So silver, Red, White, not oak green! The front grill is too narrow and the only bit I dont like, but if you remove the coloured trim at bottom (the only bit that rusts ) they look better.

[Iva Barchetta]

MarshPhantom said:

The earlier 128 coupe was better looking than the 3P.

IMO.

[Lester H]

TurboFan said:

These looked great when they first came out in the mid 90'season. Still look good now imo

Didn't Steve Cropley, of Autocar fame bang on about his love of a Yellow/gold one when they were introduced? Actually, a good design and the tail-lights later became a design cliche. In retrospct, were they decent cars but bought on a budget by non PH types? Drove new Punto recently and it was much better than general pub bore image would suggest ( price taken into consideration.)

[anonymous-user]

Jimmy Recard said:

r11co said:

Just no.

I know this is an opinion piece, but the Mk1 Golf is as bland and unstyled as they come. Even it's stablemate the Audi 50/VW Polo is a more deserving candidate...



Although TBH the MK1 Fiesta sets the '70's benchmark.



Best looking hatchback ever (so far) though?! I'm going to stick my neck out and say previous generation Astra...



There is just something very cohesive about it (that has been very noticeably lost with the latest iteration) that makes even base models look 'good'.

Edited by r11co on Thursday 15th September 17:29

It's rare that I agree with people on this, but I'm with you on the Golf.

Not so much the Astra. It's not a bad looking car but I wouldn't put it at the top. The best looking Astra (in my opinion) is the generation before that one. I'm trying to decide what I'd put at the top for me. Probably not a Vauxhall but there have been some good looking Astras.

Jimmy's biased again

[Artey]

This



closely followed by this



Nothing beats these two.

[AndrewCrown]

Marsh...
Depending on which model you had one could make a bed in a Renault 16...
I had one of these when I was 17.... the Maxi could do it too...

MarshPhantom said:

And the Maxi

[Mr Tidy]

LuS1fer said:

In fairness, when Ford launched the Capri II, it was very much as a hatchback and it had 4 seats and plenty of boot, probably the equal of the decade later XR3i.

I drove both back in the day - Crapi II wasn't even close to being the equal of an XR3i (unless it was a 3.0S)!

So having had a test drive in an XR3i I went and bought a Capri Injection!! :laugh!

Edited by Mr Tidy on Monday 26th September 00:19

[Mr Tidy]

For me, 70s was this:-

http://allfotocars.com/data_images/gallery/03/fiat...

80s was this:-

http://www.1stchoicecars.uk.com/files/2914/6763/03...

90s was this:-

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6e/...

00s (given that a Ferrari is apparently acceptable):-

[briang9]

One of the best looking hatchbcks of all time IMHO, now over 10 years old and still looks better than any curent offerings

Edited by briang9 on Monday 26th September 15:14

[ReaperCushions]

SWoll said:

Tiny boot and no rear seats but very definitely still a hatch back, especially compared to some of the suggestions on the thread...



Which of course reminds me..

Edited by SWoll on Saturday 17th September 08:21

Ding ding ding!! We have a winner ladies and gentlemen!!

[AH33]

Biased



Although I geniunely think its the latest Civic Type R. Most hot hatches are a bit subtle for me.

ETA - thats what I get for not reading the thread title properly!

I withdraw my claim, the standard Corsa D is not the best of anything, looks or otherwise!

Edited by AH33 on Monday 26th September 13:38

[bigmuzzie]

Well I believe this is a classic hatch, even the lesser ones were a design revolution at launch.



Some choices on here are poor to say the least.

[giveablondeabone]

I'm biased but.............





Look very ordinary without the btcc kit though

[SturdyHSV]

My votes would go for the 5 GT Turbo 2 trying to keep vaguely in the spirit of the thread.

If the lower spec models are the judging point, then I'd agree with the Alfa 147.

It's a great looking car even in the lower spec options