Which "classic" hot hatch would you most like to own?

[p4cks]

Having been a bit lucky I've owned many a hot hatch in my time:

AX GT mk2: made of paper, asthmatic but pokey.
19 16V mk2: fking unreliable, dangerously understeery, sttily built piece of fking st
Ibiza 2.0 GTI 16V: Bloody loved that car. Same engine as the Golf GTI but weighed less. It handled like it was on rails, especially compared to that fking awful 19 16V I'd just got rid of. fk me that was bad.
Clio Williams: as amazing as everyone will ever tell you they were. They rotted from the inside out yes but jeez louise they're good
172 Cup: wheelspin city
Micra Super S: I'm assuming 'S' stood for 'slow'.
Punto 1.2 Sporting: the engine head gaskets used to hate until the K series came into the fold
205 GTI 1.6: awful. these are so overrated I couldn't even begin to explain how bad they were. find one that can fking idle properly and I'll buy you a house

Almost modern ones:
350Z: not a hatch back, granted. but just as fat and boring as ken from accounts who also likes to drink too much
MK5 Golf GTI: jack of all trades, master of none
996 911: again not a hatch back but I wouldn't wish one of these chocolate engines on my worst enemy. I'd rather have my 19 16V back and that's fking saying something

[V8RX7]

white_goodman said:

but the ones that I remember most fondly were the hatches from my youth (the 80s and early 90s).

So which one would you most like to own today? Let's make 1995 the cut-off point.

Having owned many 90's hot hatches including many modified (Mi16 engined 205, 2.0 16v 190bhp MK2 Golf GTi etc) I thought I'd like to own another and having been fond of Golf GTi MK2 I went out and found a cracker - modified to 180bhp, 3 door in grey, big bumper model that was visually standard.

Whilst I loved the light weight, thin A posts etc I couldn't put up with the lack of power and particularly low down torque and I sold it within weeks.

My daughter recently bought an EP3 Civic and I am considering buying a Type R but I suspect it won't last long as I've spoiled myself with powerful RWD cars for too long.

[tonyb1968]

p4cks said:

Having been a bit lucky I've owned many a hot hatch in my time:

AX GT mk2: made of paper, asthmatic but pokey.
19 16V mk2: fking unreliable, dangerously understeery, sttily built piece of fking st
Ibiza 2.0 GTI 16V: Bloody loved that car. Same engine as the Golf GTI but weighed less. It handled like it was on rails, especially compared to that fking awful 19 16V I'd just got rid of. fk me that was bad.
Clio Williams: as amazing as everyone will ever tell you they were. They rotted from the inside out yes but jeez louise they're good
172 Cup: wheelspin city
Micra Super S: I'm assuming 'S' stood for 'slow'.
Punto 1.2 Sporting: the engine head gaskets used to hate until the K series came into the fold
205 GTI 1.6: awful. these are so overrated I couldn't even begin to explain how bad they were. find one that can fking idle properly and I'll buy you a house

Almost modern ones:
350Z: not a hatch back, granted. but just as fat and boring as ken from accounts who also likes to drink too much
MK5 Golf GTI: jack of all trades, master of none
996 911: again not a hatch back but I wouldn't wish one of these chocolate engines on my worst enemy. I'd rather have my 19 16V back and that's fking saying something

You must have had a compmetely different R19 16v to the rest of us, it handled like it was on rails, its handling was sublime for its time, even the motoring press agreed with that, mine was very reliable, I covered 48k miles before trading her in for a 306 GTi-6 demonstrator.
The Goodyear Eagle tyres were a great match for the chassis, it had great feedback through the steering and loved to be revved.
The only issue I had with my 19 16v was the Renault garage not tightening up the sump plug after a service, good job i noticed the oil on the drive or it would have been expensive for them....

[Pothole]

ikarl said:

Pothole said:

Always fancied a Clio Williams or a Sunny (Pulsar) GTI, if only for the ridiculously vented bonnet.

The Pulsar GTI-R would be my choice - that's the one with the ridiculous bonnet vent

I had one in 2009 but managed to melt the engine after 300 miles - digging deeper on the paperwork I found a lot of it had been fabricated by the seller. If I bought one again, I would want it stock

That's the one!

[J4CKO]

p4cks said:

Having been a bit lucky I've owned many a hot hatch in my time:

AX GT mk2: made of paper, asthmatic but pokey.
19 16V mk2: fking unreliable, dangerously understeery, sttily built piece of fking st
Ibiza 2.0 GTI 16V: Bloody loved that car. Same engine as the Golf GTI but weighed less. It handled like it was on rails, especially compared to that fking awful 19 16V I'd just got rid of. fk me that was bad.
Clio Williams: as amazing as everyone will ever tell you they were. They rotted from the inside out yes but jeez louise they're good
172 Cup: wheelspin city
Micra Super S: I'm assuming 'S' stood for 'slow'.
Punto 1.2 Sporting: the engine head gaskets used to hate until the K series came into the fold
205 GTI 1.6: awful. these are so overrated I couldn't even begin to explain how bad they were. find one that can fking idle properly and I'll buy you a house

Almost modern ones:
350Z: not a hatch back, granted. but just as fat and boring as ken from accounts who also likes to drink too much
MK5 Golf GTI: jack of all trades, master of none
996 911: again not a hatch back but I wouldn't wish one of these chocolate engines on my worst enemy. I'd rather have my 19 16V back and that's fking saying something

350Z boring, drive one properly, wring its neck and then tell me it is boring !

Not the fastest bt boring ? nope.

[p4cks]

J4CKO said:

350Z boring, drive one properly, wring its neck and then tell me it is boring !

Not the fastest bt boring ? nope.

The fact you had to wring its neck to get it to go anywhere was another off-putter for me so thanks for bringing that up actually.

Anyway I did own one and unless you were on a wet roundabout with the TC turned off it was boring as fk.

[Meridius]

Has it really taken this long?

[Pothole]

Meridius said:

Has it really taken this long?

For you to answer the question?

[g7jhp]

See you and raise you.

The King's big brother.

[Simes205]

p4cks said:

Having been a bit lucky I've owned many a hot hatch in my time:
205 GTI 1.6: awful. these are so overrated I couldn't even begin to explain how bad they were. find one that can fking idle properly and I'll buy you a house

I'll have a house then.
It's very easy to fix the idle issue.

[Sticks.]

Simes205 said:

p4cks said:

Having been a bit lucky I've owned many a hot hatch in my time:
205 GTI 1.6: awful. these are so overrated I couldn't even begin to explain how bad they were. find one that can fking idle properly and I'll buy you a house

I'll have a house then.
It's very easy to fix the idle issue.

Ha, beat me to it. It is a recurring problem though, to be fair. Clutch was v heavy too iirc.

[SidewaysSi]

Sticks. said:

Simes205 said:

p4cks said:

Having been a bit lucky I've owned many a hot hatch in my time:
205 GTI 1.6: awful. these are so overrated I couldn't even begin to explain how bad they were. find one that can fking idle properly and I'll buy you a house

I'll have a house then.
It's very easy to fix the idle issue.

Ha, beat me to it. It is a recurring problem though, to be fair. Clutch was v heavy too iirc.

The 205 is perfectly fine at idle. My Elise Sport 160 without the driveability pack on the other hand...:-)

[s m]

[anonymous-user]

Meridius said:

Has it really taken this long?

Nope, I mentioned it on page 2

[ZX10R NIN]

It'd have to be an Italian pairing of the Uno Turbo ie & the Fiat Tipo 16v

[danzman1991]

All wrong.

It's the S1 106 Rallye.

[lucido grigio]

white_goodman said:

the rally reps (Integrales, Evos, Imprezas and Escort Cosworth

These cars are NOT "rally reps".

Without the 5000 road cars,there would be no group A rally cars.

[anonymous-user]

p4cks said:

Having been a bit lucky I've owned many a hot hatch in my time:

AX GT mk2: made of paper, asthmatic but pokey.
19 16V mk2: fking unreliable, dangerously understeery, sttily built piece of fking st
Ibiza 2.0 GTI 16V: Bloody loved that car. Same engine as the Golf GTI but weighed less. It handled like it was on rails, especially compared to that fking awful 19 16V I'd just got rid of. fk me that was bad.
Clio Williams: as amazing as everyone will ever tell you they were. They rotted from the inside out yes but jeez louise they're good
172 Cup: wheelspin city
Micra Super S: I'm assuming 'S' stood for 'slow'.
Punto 1.2 Sporting: the engine head gaskets used to hate until the K series came into the fold
205 GTI 1.6: awful. these are so overrated I couldn't even begin to explain how bad they were. find one that can fking idle properly and I'll buy you a house

Almost modern ones:
350Z: not a hatch back, granted. but just as fat and boring as ken from accounts who also likes to drink too much
MK5 Golf GTI: jack of all trades, master of none
996 911: again not a hatch back but I wouldn't wish one of these chocolate engines on my worst enemy. I'd rather have my 19 16V back and that's fking saying something

You can't drive

[Vitorio]

ZX10R NIN said:

It'd have to be an Italian pairing of the Uno Turbo ie & the Fiat Tipo 16v

If id been born twenty years earlier i would have wasted sooooo much time and money on an Uno turbo

[generationx]

I've had
Fiesta Supersport (more warm hatch really)
Mk3 XR3i
Series 1 RS Turbo
3dr Sierra Cosworth

and now have a Mk2 GTI 8v

Also drove mum's Series 2 RS Turbo, a Renault 5T and many other hot Fords, plus more modern VW stuff.

I'd have my 200bhp S1 RS Turbo back in a heartbeat. Enjoyed that so much for its (at the time) giant-killing performance. When I sold it to buy the Sierra I missed it like mad.