Which of todays hot hatches would you have?

[Tallbut Buxomly]

Mazda 3 for me. But would rather spend the money on an alfa 147 gta.

[Marf]

Out of those the Subaru. The rear lights would have to be smoked though. The stock lexus style lights are nasty.

[snuffle]

voted for the megane, but in truth I cant think of a single new hatch that I would consider buying with my own money.
but there again Im a misserable old git.

[Twincam16]

davepoth said:

None of the above. It would probably be the Fiat Panda 100 or 500 Abarth, mainly because they are narrow cars and so much easier to drive quickly down country lanes. No point having something fast if you have to drive it slowly.

Quite. The cars getting called 'hot hatches' these days seem more like GT cars hidden away in family-car bodywork to me. The latest Astra VXR has the power of a Ferrari 308 GTB thundering through the front wheels. Fantastic stuff, and a great looker to boot, but it's more about tearing around racetracks or spearing across continents (what you'd expect from a GT really). Pit one on a tight country lane against its little Corsa VXR brother, and I think it'd struggle.

As far as I'm concerned, a proper 'hot hatch', according to the original Golf GTI/205 GTi/5GT Turbo recipe, is all about adding sharp handling to a small hatchback, exploiting its lightweight nature, and fitting an engine that gives just enough power to be entertaining, but crucially, without overwhelming the limits of the chassis, so it can be enjoyed on any road at any time (not something you could say of all these 200bhp-plus monsters). They're 'fun cars', rather than being about winning some kind of Clarksonite numbers-game.

Plucked from the back pages of Autocar: Alfa Romeo Mito 155 Veloce, Citroen C2 1.6i VTS, Fiat 500 Abarth and Panda 100HP, Mazda 2 1.5 Sport, Peugoet 207 GTi, Proton Satria Neo Sport, Renault Sport Twingo 1.6 Cup, Seat Ibiza 1.4 TSI Cupra, Suzuki Swift Sport and Vauxhall Corsa VXR.

Ironically, I reckon the 'real' new Golf GTI is actually the Polo GTI. 150bhp from a turbocharged 1.8 in a car the size and shape of the original Golf GTI.

Because names 'travel upwards' in the car world, today's Polo effectively takes the place of the old Golf, with the Fox moving in to replace the old Polo.

The hot hatches in that list are the modern equivalents of the likes of the Scimitar GTE and Lancia Beta HPE - as I said, entry-level GT cars rather than hot hatches in the true sense of the world.

The ones breaking that mould, I suppose, are Renault, but only because they're endearingly bonkers and the Clio Renaultsport 197 has a huge pair of shoes vacated by the likes of the 5 Turbo 2 and Clio V6 to fill.

[aqualung666]

the scoob, because you get 4 wheel drive and a lot better platefrom to tune from than the others, because they will be limmited by there FWD set up. also liveing in england where it rains most of the time and you cant beat 4x4 in the wet

[r1ch]

Megane please Tough to pick between the focus and megane though. Love my frenchies though.

[pbirkett]

Out of that lot, RS for me, although I wouldnt really buy any of those cars for that amount; I'd rather have a s/hand E46 M3 or a Nissan 370Z.

The RS for me is the best looking out of that selection, and has the most charismatic engine. The others are just bland 4 pots. The Scooby is too ugly. The Ford has a decent interior too (but a poor driving position according to reviews).

[Daniel1]

i said the impreza if i had to choose just one car for everything, but id choose the R26-R if i had to have one in my ten car garage

[300bhp/ton]

kambites said:

300bhp/ton said:

kambites said:

300bhp/ton said:

noble3r said:

Scirocco R gets my vote

None on the list. MINI Cooper S JCW weighs less than all of these. Although would probably prefer an R53 or DC5. Does an RX8 count?

The MINI is a class smaller and utterly impractical.

Smaller class surely makes it lighter and more
nimble surely? Also I didn't see the op specified anything for practicality.

No but he didn't include any of the smaller class of hot hatches so it's not unreasonable to infer that he was talking about the bigger ones that you can actually get four people in.

Maybe, have no idea as it could just be they didn't include it. A well specced one is certainly similar money and with 208bhp stock has similar (or better) performance and power to weight.

Think I'd still say RX8 though, I know its not strictly a hatch but seems capable of doing most of the things a hatch does but is RWD and unless doing huge mileages I can't even see it costing much more to run.

The Alfa Brera does look good though and I don't mind the current STI Impreza although I do think its a departure from the previous one.

[kambites]

I'd have a 5 year old M3, but that wasn't the question was it.

[Si 330]

What about one of those saxo's faster than a 320d you know.

[300bhp/ton]

kambites said:

I'd have a 5 year old M3, but that wasn't the question was it.

True, but that's not my point

[Jeffmaniac]

Only the Scirroco or Focus would tempt me although would probably prefer a used R32.

[obscene]

No Astra VXR ?

[havoc]

kambites said:

I'd have a 5 year old M3, but that wasn't the question was it.

to both. REALLY can't see the point on modern uber-hatches...too heavy to be truly chuckable, fwd so corrupted steering is a given at those power-levels, and COG far too high because it's based off a mundane platform. Purely badge/image engineering, for those people with more interest in "look at me" and traffic light scalps than actually learning how to drive properly...

[Park'O]

Honda Civic Type-R Mugen, im pretty sure it'll beat all the hatches mentioned around a track! Comes at a heavy price though - £38,599

[tybo]

Park'O said:

Honda Civic Type-R Mugen, im pretty sure it'll beat all the hatches mentioned around a track! Comes at a heavy price though - £38,599

I really wonder if those will sell at that price.

There are lots of cars in that price bracket that would beat the Civic around a track too.

[CatherineJ]

I think as there are only 20 cars they will all sell.

[Park'O]

tybo said:

Park'O said:

Honda Civic Type-R Mugen, im pretty sure it'll beat all the hatches mentioned around a track! Comes at a heavy price though - £38,599

I really wonder if those will sell at that price.

There are lots of cars in that price bracket that would beat the Civic around a track too.

I agree, but we're talking hatchbacks! Not any car.

[Twincam16]

hora said:

Twincam16- "Ironically, I reckon the 'real' new Golf GTI is actually the Polo GTI. 150bhp from a turbocharged 1.8 in a car the size and shape of the original Golf GTI."

I've thought that everytime Ive seen a Polo GTI on the road but then how do they handle? (genuine question).

I've driven the previous-generation Mk 5 versions, but not the latest ones. To be honest, thanks to VW's quality control, they're pretty similar to drive, but the Polo is obviously smaller, making it easier to 'place' on narrow roads, and 150bhp is easier to control on a B-road than 200bhp, which in some ways makes it more fun (ie less scary, thinking about all that power and extra weight you'd have to bring to a standstill if you flung it round a hedged-in hairpin and found yourself face-to-face with Farmer Giles' Massey-Ferguson).