What's the best-looking hatchback ever?

[white_goodman]

So, excluding coupes that happen to have hatchbacks, what in your opinion is the best-looking (workaday) hatchback ever? To try and keep it broad, I have tried to go for fairly standard versions of the car rather than the hot versions, which tend to look pretty good anyway! As a general rule, I tend to find that the 3 door version (where available) tends to have a more pure look about it than the 5 door version.

1970s



1980s



1990s



but this deserves an honourable mention because it still looks so right (although I don't believe that the bread and butter version has dated nearly so well).



2000s



but a 3 door mk1 Focus still looks sharp, especially in ST spec



2010s



but the current Fiesta and Polo also look inherently "right".

The mk1 Golf and 205 still have an inherent rightness to their designs, which in my opinion is timeless but it would probably have to be the Alfa, especially in GTA spec (but even a standard 2.0 TS still looks great) and much nicer looking than Alfas current hatchback efforts.

So, what in your opinion is the best-looking hatchback ever (try to keep it broad, ie one that still looks good in base spec, as well as "GTi" spec)?

[white_goodman]

C70R said:

Well, that lasted approximately two pictures into your post... I can't think boggo mk2 Golfs, 306s and 147 have quite the same appeal as the bespoilered and alloyed versions you've posted.

I did make a disclaimer that the ordinary mk2 Golf hasn't aged particularly well. "Hot" 306s were always pretty understated. An XS or D Turbo doesn't look dissimilar to an XSi/S16/GTi. That 147 isn't a GTA, just a fairly standard 2.0 TS model by the looks of it. All, apart from the Golf GTi are all pretty representative of what the base model looks like. Not many basic wheel-trimmed versions on Google images to be honest. I just wanted to avoid people posting pics of Escort Cosworths and Delta Integrales, when the more humble versions that they are based on look a bit s***!

[white_goodman]

darren9 said:

I like the 306 and the mk1 focus. The rs is a particularly good looking car imo.

Is the Ferrari FF a hatchback??

Haha. Technically yes but not really in the spirit of the thread, as it has little in common with a Ford/Peugeot/VW hatchback. It may be better-looking than many hatchbacks but I'm not even sure if it's a great-looking Ferrari!

[white_goodman]

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

I like the Golf, it was styled by Giorgetto Giugaro but yes, the mk1 Polo was OK (but not better looking than the Golf in my opinion).

You've kind of bent the rules a bit with that mk1 XR2, which yes, looks pretty sharp but how about it's more humble sibling?



Surely the Renault 5 offered more style in base form?



I'm not really seeing the Astra either. I always found it a little bland and generic but quite a looker in VXR form. If you had said this Astra, then yes, it looked pretty sleek and modern in the 80s compared to the competition.



Many big car manufacturers have gone in-house for design now rather than using the big design studios (Giugiaro, Pininfarina, Bertone). The Pininfarina styled Peugeots were so pretty but now they have completely lost the plot stylistically. This wasn't bad for an in-house effort though.



Like you say though, it's an opinion based thread, so we don't have to agree.

[white_goodman]

Were you thinking?





I might be alone in this but my uncle had a mk1 Laguna like the one below for several years and I always thought it looked pretty smart.



Probably helped by this...

[white_goodman]

caelite said:

I was more thinking:




Atleast its not another grey german software salesmans runaround.

Oh right. These too then.



Unfortunately, French car design seems to have largely lost its individualism (C4 Cactus I know but that's just weird) and just deliver us something else that looks German.

[white_goodman]

Agree on the awesomeness of the Integrale but when you consider the base car, really???

[white_goodman]

It's not going to win but of the large hatches, I always thought the 1st gen Mazda 6 was very handsome.

[white_goodman]

blueg33 said:

You could get a hatchback conversion for the cx

My bad. I knew that the early 1970s ones weren't but assumed that the later 1980s cars were (they certainly look like they should be). The XM was?...but that doesn't really belong in this thread.

[white_goodman]

I think a 1.9 on OEM wheels still has presence. When I got one, it had been around 15 years in the making and I still had to go out and look at it sometimes just to reassure myself that I owned one!

By it's very nature, a hatchback with it's short wheelbase and truncated rear probably isn't going to have much of a "wow" factor but it doesn't mean that it can't be a good, pure design and/or good looking. That Citroen SM is gorgeous but it's not really a hatchback in the truest sense of the word.