3-door hot hatches are dead: Tell Me I'm Wrong
Get over it people, hot hatches of the future will have rear doors too
Out with the old...
Criticisms of the current Clio 200 when it launched were wide-ranging and, in the case of the dual-clutch only transmission and removal of dynamically important tech like the PerfoHub front suspension struts, entirely valid. Yet for many commentators the ultimate betrayal for the Clio 4 was its switch from a three- to a five-door platform, the very clear point being that no hot hatch worthy of the name could possibly have another set of doors. We've seen the same outpourings after photos of the next-gen Megane Renault Sport emerged, this car too apparently following the Clio's lead and switching from the coupe-like profile of the outgoing car and to a more generic five-door shape. See also the Civic Type R and Focus RS; both cars with passionate fanbases, a significant proportion of which cite extra doors as symbolic of plots being lost. Don't forget as well the reaction to spy shots of the next-gen Fiesta ST showing a five-door format.
I admire the purist streak. God knows I've wittered on about such things here myself, be it PDK-only GT3s, horrible variable-ratio steering on supercars or the over-complication of gimmicky driver modes. I love a hot hatch too, my personal rite of passage in this being ownership of a rather lovely Clio 172 Cup a few years back. Yes, a three-door hot hatch. But I just can't find myself getting worked up about the world going five-door.
... and in with the new. But is it a good thing?
Trouble is folk like James and I are now of an age and 'life stage' where such things DO matter and our age group is the one the manufacturers are more eager to please. Ergo when it comes to the product planning and budgeting stage of developing a new hatchback from which our hot versions are developed, it's little wonder a three-door version is considered expendable. From tooling to testing, a three-door shell is an expensive indulgence to cater for a proportionally tiny selection of the potential buyers. No wonder few are bothering.
Some still are though, VW among them. The MQB platform that underpins a huge range of vehicles across all its brands includes a three-door option for its C-segment hatchbacks and provides for this traditional layout on the Golf GTI (and R), SEAT Leon Cupra and Audi S3. In the junior hot hatch realm the Fiesta ST is three-door only and the option remains for the Polo GTI, SEAT Ibiza Cupra, Audi S1, Suzuki Swift Sport, Mini, Fiat 500 and others.
VW still catering to the purists - who'd have thought?
It's interesting that neither brand restricts its extreme versions - respectively GTI Clubsport Edition 40 and Sub8 Performance Pack Leon Cupra - to three-door versions only, one way you might think they might cater to the purists and set them apart from the all-rounders. Selfishly I'm glad about that!
What does this prove? If not an overwhelming case for Renault and others canning a three-door option then it's at least an indication of the market's direction of travel. And, if you were projecting ahead for an all-new generation of hot hatches and identifying significant cost savings, one area you might look at. That WRC cars are based on five-door shells only underlines that shift too.
Hang on, looks like another three-door ST...
Besides, there is hope. In one of those curious flukes of timing as I sat down to write this missive an email landed from our spy photo agency. The subject? A new batch of Fiesta ST testing photos showing, beyond doubt, Ford is working on a three-door variant too. Tell me I'm wrong? Looks like Ford might have spared you the job!
Bought a 5 door Clio Trophy after having a Megane 250 for years. The extra practicality is useful (and no, I don't have kids) and aside from the car maybe not look as sleep from the side profile, I can't see any downsides. It's a hot hatch afterall, it's meant to be fast and practical. If I only wanted two doors I'd buy a coupe.
If someone really is dead serious about the driving experience over everything else, and damn the consequences, then they aren't spending their money on a fundamentally compromised platform like a FWD hatchback designed to sell at a profit for £12k. In that context 5 doors makes a lot of sense.
I haven't got a problem when a 3/5 door option is offered but if I wanted practicality i'd simply buy a bigger car.
The simple solution is give the consumer the choice of 3 or 5 door, same as they have been for decades. Have manufacturers really hit on such hard times that they've had to reel back on the design and manufacturing costs of keeping this option?
Its not like the hot hatches with 3 door versions are the only 3 door versionf of the same car, for every Fiesta ST there are tens if not hundreds of 3-doors with a piddly sub 100hp lump and hubcaps on steelies.
I've never got the aesthetic of 3 v 5 door at all. I don't think 3 doors looks any better or any worse so why compromise on practicality if there's no other reason? Manufacturers such as Honda and Seat have become quite clever at hiding the rear door shut lines and handle as well.
makes.....sense???
The size of hatches these days - to not have a rear door and have a long slab of panel instead jut looks crap to me.
I think the 3 door hatch looks best on the supermini cars, as these are now the size of a conventional hatch from a decade ago
Then those crafty Germans will find a niche that is a 3 door hatch coupe !! And sell bucketloads of them. It will be priced higher even though costing less to make due to lack of doors. Then the convertible version comes along .....
PS Odd and even numbers will by that time have all been used up for marking out the various versions, so Germany will start selling cars with a complex number to denote the model
I don't think that 3 door cars will die or are dying out. Many of the 3 door variant of hatchbacks, hot or not, are being called coupes. A prime example being the new Leon range having the hatchback and SC (sport coupe) models.
Coupes on the other hand are in fact dying out. The main reason being is that they're not actually coupes anymore at all, they're just the 3 door version of the normal 5 door hatchback. All a marketing exercise really to sell more.
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