RE: Hot hatches for £20k | Six of the Best

[CG2020UK]

M140i is ridiculously overpriced especially with its flaws! If you’re going down the BMW route my advice is find £2-3k more and get yourself into an M2. It’s just levels above and no image problem. Get OG car and running costs are the same so a no brainer.

The Peugeot 308GTI is my favourite of the list it’s brilliant.

RS Megane is 10/10.

Type R in the comments is great and find the stiff suspension over played in reviews.

Cupra is great.

Golf GTI and R missing strange.

Astra GTC VXR also worth a nosey.

Happily have them all except the M140i.

[nismo48]

Good bunch of hot hatches, each one good in their own right.
I'd take the Megane all day long

[jezb1]

Each to their own and all that, but what a crap list.

[mooseracer]

Dombilano said:

mooseracer said:

It is very similar. I can only assume people arguing a 140 doesn't need one have never driven one, or spend their time on dual carriageways doing "pulls"

I've owned 4 since 2017. It doesn't need one.

My comment was a reply to suspension, I should have quoted.

Do you think it needs better suspension?

[Don Roque]

Dombilano said:

I've owned 4 since 2017. It doesn't need one.

None of them ever driven in anger either

[Nik Gnashers]

CG2020UK said:

M140i is ridiculously overpriced especially with its flaws! If you’re going down the BMW route my advice is find £2-3k more and get yourself into an M2. It’s just levels above and no image problem. Get OG car and running costs are the same so a no brainer.

The Peugeot 308GTI is my favourite of the list it’s brilliant.

RS Megane is 10/10.

Type R in the comments is great and find the stiff suspension over played in reviews.

Cupra is great.

Golf GTI and R missing strange.

Astra GTC VXR also worth a nosey.

Happily have them all except the M140i.

I'd like to respond.
I owned an M140i for 4 years, it was 2 years old when I bought it, 14k miles and standard, and I took it to 455bhp/634nm, and upgraded a few bits including the brakes which I felt were a little lacking, but didn't fit a Limited Slip Diff.
With 120bhp over standard, , 0-60 times were no different because I couldn't get any traction to make use of the extra power. But, that kinda defeated the whole point of the car, it wasn't bought as a 0-60 traffic light racing pleb-machine.
Once rolling, it was a straight line missile, and when RS3's, A45S's, Tesla dual motors, RR SVR's, base 911's, and dozens of other much more expensive cars tried to pull on me, I left them all in my mirror. For the money they are so easy to tune to ridiculous levels, if that is your thing.
It was great at doing that, and I accepted it's flaws because it was still very comfortable, very practical, returned 42+mpg on a run, even if the damping was lacking (yes it did pogo over repeating bumps), the steering wasn't the best (but no worse than dozens of other modern cars), and the rear end wiggle thing, which felt like neither rear tyre really knew what the other one was doing (PS4S fitted all round) !
It was never designed to be a track weapon, and you don't buy one thinking it will be. It is a unique format, a mega engine and gearbox, in a RWD, practical, comfortable hatch. None of the other rivals have that combination, and THAT is why you buy one.

I had 4 great years with it, but like many others, I wanted something which felt a little more 'special' and ended up in an OG M2.
The M2 is slower in a straight line, but levels above in almost every other performance-related way, steering, damping, cornering, looks, .....
I don't regret owning the M140i, it was a fantastic car. But I love the OG M2 more, every journey feels like an occasion.

I'd like the Megane out of this list though, I feel like it would be a different experience totally, and one I'd love to try.

Edited by Nik Gnashers on Saturday 25th May 20:34

[oceanview]

mooseracer said:

Dombilano said:

mooseracer said:

It is very similar. I can only assume people arguing a 140 doesn't need one have never driven one, or spend their time on dual carriageways doing "pulls"

I've owned 4 since 2017. It doesn't need one.

My comment was a reply to suspension, I should have quoted.

Do you think it needs better suspension?

On track? Yes.

On the road? No

I am looking to get one and have driven a couple.. I drive a "stop gap* Swift Sport at the moment and, although its great fun and probably more so across the right roads than an M140I, it ultimately isnt quick enough for other roads and even my old Glalaxy 2.0 TDCI would be glued to it on the straights.

The M140I has an epic engine , and yes, it might be a bit twitchy on the bends and wet roads but, you would have to be doing licence losing stuff to really unsettle it and that's not my bag.

Something like a Hyundai i30N , might be more fun but when i am looking for an overtake on the local DC, the M140I will piss all over it.

[Dombilano]

mooseracer said:

Dombilano said:

mooseracer said:

It is very similar. I can only assume people arguing a 140 doesn't need one have never driven one, or spend their time on dual carriageways doing "pulls"

I've owned 4 since 2017. It doesn't need one.

My comment was a reply to suspension, I should have quoted.

Do you think it needs better suspension?

Ahhh, well yes, the suspension is the weakest point, too floaty at speed and bouncy over bumpy b roads when pushing hard

[Dombilano]

Don Roque said:

Dombilano said:

I've owned 4 since 2017. It doesn't need one.

None of them ever driven in anger either

Eeeeeeey, they've all been driven hard when not on family duty. Harder than the 308gti, a corner I'd take at 90mph felt fine in the beemer, the pug was feeling nervous at 70mph, on fresh goodyear f1 tyres

[TheMilkyBarKid]

Megane for me from this list, a mate round the corner from me I go to the football with has one and they really are special for something with such humble beginnings. The Focus would be next for me, and then the i30N, but the others just don’t float my boat unfortunately. For me personally there’s more to a good hot hatch than how fast it goes in a straight line - it’s how a car feels in the corners that really matters.

[oceanview]

Dombilano said:

Don Roque said:

Dombilano said:

I've owned 4 since 2017. It doesn't need one.

None of them ever driven in anger either

Eeeeeeey, they've all been driven hard when not on family duty. Harder than the 308gti, a corner I'd take at 90mph felt fine in the beemer, the pug was feeling nervous at 70mph, on fresh goodyear f1 tyres

Exactly- the i30N or 308GTI hasn't got the power elsewhere- even the 2007 Z4C i had would be glued to its arse on the straights, and the one i had with uprated suspension, would give it a run for its money across country.

An M140I would easily leave it on the most roads.

Edited by oceanview on Saturday 25th May 21:13

[davyvee]

yme402 said:

Where is the daddy of them all….Golf GTI?
The Mk7 was probably the greatest of them all, and it’s not here? Quite a lazy article. Come on PH you can do better than this.

The daddy?

I forgot i used to own a mk7 R recently. The 275 trophy on the other hand..i’d have another in a hearbeat.

[Mr Tidy]

As I refer RWD, manual gearboxes and am a serial BMW owner it would have to be the M140i for me!

I'm surprised the Golf GTi was omitted though as it seems to be a great all rounder, although the only ones I've had were a MK1 and a MK2 16V but I really liked them.

I had a 2000 Leon Cupra and liked that too, but pushing on there was a lot of front wheel scrabble and applying power in corners it felt like the inside wheel was bouncing up and down. Maybe newer ones are a bit more controlled!

To be fair there probably isn't a bad car on that list but it could do with a Golf and Civic Type R.

[Moss Feen]

CUPRA all day long

[Zarco]

Andy86GT said:

Arguably the Megan isn't a 'hot hatch' as it's a dedicated coupe body.
I agree though, the best of these options

You're the first I've heard trying that argument with the Megane. Usually reserved for the Integra (which I kind of agree with).

One thing I don't agree with is calling a M140i a hot hatch.

[Patio]

A friend had the hyundai and raved about it

Lots af bang for your buck

[Mr Tidy]

Zarco said:

One thing I don't agree with is calling a M140i a hot hatch.

I've read that sort of comment about E46 325tis and 130is too, but never understood why!

They're hatches with enough performance to be called hot, so why aren't they hot hatches?

Do hat hatches have to be FWD? Does that mean the MK3 Focus RS and Audi RS3 aren't hot hatches because they have 4WD?

[Baldchap]

For fun as a road car it's the Mk8 Fiesta ST, for a hot hatch to enjoy *and* live with, it's the Mk7 Golf GTI PP.

[pb8g09]

The M-Lites don’t ‘need’ an LSD if you aren’t tracking it. Anyone who says they do and doesn’t track it either doesn’t own one or are driving in a manner far beyond what they should socially on a road.

I will agree that the suspension set up is poor however and the car is a bit unstable at motorway speeds on an A road.

[DanE34M5]

Sad that even automotive journalists can't spell harman/kardon correctly.

By the way, FK8 Civic Type-Rs will be knocking about for £20k soon.