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Are we living in the greatest era of the hot hatch?

7K views 45 replies 32 participants last post by  Grommit 
#1 ·
Who remembers the era of the 1980's when we had the Escort Cosworth, Peugeot 205 GTI, VW's Golf GTI to name but a few. That's until the insurance industry pretty much killed them off because cars like these were a magnet for joy riders. But now we can take a step back and look at how good the hot hatch market is right now. You see;hot hatch lovers on this forum have never had things as good as they are right now, that's as long as we all live in Europe because other markets don't really cater for hot hatches with the exception of the latest Focus RS and new Civic Type R both selling in the USA. So now we have just about every car maker going about building a go faster, louder version of their regular, practical hatch back. We have Seat,Ford,VW and Renault who have perfected the way of a hot hatch and now even Mercedes,BMW and Audi have stormed in to the hot hatch market and lets not forget Skoda, Arbarth, and Vauxhall are still there in the mix and of course Peugeot and Honda- one time past masters of the genre are back in the groove. It seems only Mazda, Toyota and Volvo are holding back on their nutty turbo range toppers. Whether you prefer front or rear - drive, all-wheel drive, manual or paddles, four, five or six cylinders, you have to appreciate the sheer variety of hot hatches on the market today and long may it continue.

So these are the fastest accelerating hot hatches of the moment.


Arbarth 695 Biposto: 5.9 seconds to 60

Audi S1: 5.8 seconds to 60

VW Golf GTI: Clubsport S: 5.8 seconds to 60

Seat Leon Cupra SC 290: 5.7 seconds to 60

Honda Civic Type R: 5.7 seconds to 60

VW Golf R: 4.9 seconds to 60

BMW 140i; 4.8 seconds to 60

Focus RS Mounttune : 4.5 seconds to 60

Audi S3: 4.5 seconds to 60

Mercedes A45 AMG: 4.2 seconds to 60

Audi RS3: 4.1 seconds to 60

Now time to have your say and if you agree that this is a great era for hot hatches and can this really continue? Especially are we push towards E.V.
 
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#36 · (Edited)
I was born in 1988 so didn't start driving until 2005. I think I would've liked to have been driving in the late 80's early 90's hot hatch era, when the Rs turbos, Xr2&3i's, Renault 5GTT, Clio 1.8 16v, Nova & Astra GTE's were around.

As what's been said already about the newer hot hatches; they get up to silly speeds very quickly, and you have to treat them with respect. Ok you get a thill of the oomph they have, but I think that being able to use all of the power all of the time whilst going pretty quickly is far more exciting, especially when you've got a loud exhaust fitted that expresses just how hard you're driving it. Going by today's refinement you wouldn't be able to live with that, but at the time it would've been great fun (unless you were too old! :D)

I suppose the closest thing I had to an XR2i was a 2001 mk5 Fiesta Zetec s as it was essentially the same car underneath. It had a 1.7 Puma engine fitted, full miltek exhaust inc manifold, coilovers and a sound system (obviously) and it was great fun! But when I had this the newer generation of hot hatches were already around so it wasn't as cool. If it was back in the late 80's and early 90's when cars like this were the hot hatches to have, I feel I would've appreciated it a hell of a lot more
 
#37 ·
I think you youngsters (!) who weren't around in the 80's, would be impressed with the light weight and nimbleness of the hot hatches back then.

But i think you would probably be shocked by the internal noise and vibration, not just from the engine, but from the complete lack of sound insulation back then and the less substantial quality of internal fittings like dashboards and door cards.

They would feel quite basic compared to modern cars.

I think that is part of the reason that track day versions of sports cars are popular - take a modern car like an M3 or 911, then strip out a lot of the noise deadening and thicker materials and make it more involving at any speed.

I had a Mk1 Cavalier SRI as a company car for a while in the 80's and it was the dogs danglies !! :)
 
#38 ·
But i think you would probably be shocked by the internal noise and vibration, not just from the engine, but from the complete lack of sound insulation back then and the less substantial quality of internal fittings like dashboards and door cards.
A friend had a Citroen Ax GT and it pretty much meets all the criteria above lol. I went to buy a Cavalier Sri 8v back in 1995, drove it, loved it, but couldn't insure it. Boo. For 115bhp, it was pretty quick. I had planned to personalise it with a set of 16" alessio mondails. They looked immense on the saloon cavaliers.

Cooks

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#39 ·
Fastest era yes but best? I'm not so sure.

A hot hatch is meant to be accessible whether that be in terms of price and/or performance. I don't think todays hyper hatches are either really. Yes they are extremely quick and capable but they are also extremely high priced really. Golf/Focus/Megane etc aside the Mercedes and Audi are near £50k!

To me the current hot hatch that ticks the boxes is the Fiesta ST! Quick but not too quick, affordable and a car you could drive hard without ending up losing your licence in the first 5 minutes.
 
#41 · (Edited)
I've had a Few hot hatches; Mk2 XR2 was the first and at the time I thought it was so go-cart like, changed to a Toyota Corolla GTi 16v (fwd variant) which lost a bit in chuck ability but introduced me to a sweet sounding high revving engine (oh and reliability). I then had a deposit on a used Honda Civic VTi (talking early 90s, I think it had 150bhp) but my head was well and truly turned by the recently launched Clio 16v (1992) I didn't even notice the ropey interior (and this was brand new) it was a test drive on a B road and at the first corner I thought SOLD. I put 80k miles on it and there were numerous breakdowns in the first few years (clutch cables, fuel pump, brakes) but I was enthralled by B road blasts and thought it was probably the best hatch I'd ever had (I was wrong). But of a gap and sensible head came in, then in a moment of madness I traded in my E36 318i for a Nissan Pulsar GTiR. I loved the 'dog chewing a wasp' look with the bonnet vent and the big wing. It never put a foot wrong over the 2 years I owned it tho I kept it standard, probably the reason it still had the original clutch when I sold it with 75k to a great Welshman who then uprated numerous things and took it racing / hill climbing (I'll see if I can find a few YouTube clips). The next hatch (after an Impreza turbo estate) was the best hatch I've had to date, step forward the Honda Integra Type R. I bought a 3 year old car with 8k miles that had been stored in a multi-car garage set up. There followed 2 years of simply amazing ownership with nought going wrong, handling that was sublime and a genuine love of passing through 8k revs. The seats were amazing tho the interior was a tad 'taxi like' and out of VTEC in the wrong hear it would be passed by any 2ltr family car! Oh and finally the gear change is a thing you have to try, I judge all cars against it and they tend to fail miserably tho the closest to it came in the shape of my next hot hatch - step forward the Honda Civic Type R Premier. Back to high levels of chuck ability, high revs and a great gear change - cheap to run and great fun! I took a few years off again with having a growing family it made sense to get more traditional family cars. That was the case until just under two years ago when I thought lets dip my toe back in. I tested a Golf R, and Audi S3 and a BMW M135! I could've bought any and I know I would've been happy but I decided the days of a big engine small car driving the rear wheels were numbered so in went the order for the BMW. Nigh on 2 years down the road and I'm still loving the sound of the 6 cylinder and the pace is astounding. I tried the manual but it was not for me, after driving the Honda family BM are a fair way off of that quality however the 8sp ZF is in itself an amazing piece of kit. Where will I go next, not sure but I want to test drive the new Honda Civic Type R just to feel a quality gear change again tho I'm not sure I'd buy one, then again,... I'll close by saying that my 17 year old son is always confused when he asks which one I enjoyed most and I reply the Integra - like any 17 year old boy he's obsessed by power, he has much to learn but I fear the next generation may not be as inspiring,... apologies for the long post.
 
#45 ·
That Knockhill video always brings a smile to my face , with just unruly some of those cars were, totally bonkers and most would be red flagged on track day for half of that know:driver:

The last twice I have been karting I was on last strike :eek: the guys comments at the track was its always the older ones that give me the most trouble:lol:
 
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