[deebee]

Focus RS does look awesome, wander if you'll be able to get one without the big spoiler thats the only bit I'm not sure on.

My fave hot hatch was my clio 172, awesome!

Also remapped a scirocco GT TSI to 275bhp and that was very fun too

Big fan of hot hatches

[F30AM]

OK Hot hatches:
I have one. For me the R hits the sweet spot.

Driven:
A45 AMG: Shocking ride, badly made, slow downshifts, huge turbo lag. Hated it. Overpriced.

S3 Sportback: Love it. Nearly as good as the R to drive, fab interior, beautifully made. Would be perfectly happy with this car.

M135i: Challenging looks which I like, a bit cramped, amazing engine and sport auto box, ugly dash, skittish handling in the wet, a bit noisy. Prefer the R and S3.

Seat Leon Cupra: Looks good on the outside, vile interior, lousy Sat Nav, major wheel spin in the wet and wheel scrabble in the dry, massive turbo lag, tiresome to drive, noisy.

Not driven:
Honda Type R: Vile looking, no auto box hence no good for me.

Ford RS: Looks ok, no auto box, so no good for me.

RS3: Looks great, overpriced IMO, rather Revo the R or get an R400.

R400: The one to have from all the above. Probably be the fastest with 400 bhp. A bit pricey, though less costly than the RS3 or A45 AMG.


Can't be bothered with any others.

[Chompers]

It doesn't seem that long a go that 'Hot Hatches" were the kiss of death, they either got stolen or tossed you of the road into a tree. I had quite a few Astra GTE 16v's back in the day, great fun for what it was and always brought similar cars in p/x that we could 'smoke'

If I had to chose 3 of the current offerings, they'd be:

1, Focus RS
2, M135i
3, RS3 / Golf R

[JD6]

Having started out with a Mk1 GTI (actually a 1.1 with GTI badges on (where is the blushing emoticon when you need one?))

Moved on to a couple of Mk2 GTIs

Had a Mk3 VR6

And a Mk4 V6

I would be slightly tempted by a Golf R or an M135i. If it was to be the R, I would have to get it delivered at night so I could remove at least two of the surplus exhaust pipes before being seen in it

I think I would be more likely to go for the M135i. There won't be many more opportunities to have a 3 litre 6 cylinder engine in a hatchback...

[davyk31]

I would like to try the RS3, great engine with the 5 pot warble

[ipilcher]

Oh sure, rub it in!

[dopper99]

Originally Posted by Chompers

It doesn't seem that long a go that 'Hot Hatches" were the kiss of death, they either got stolen or tossed you of the road into a tree. I had quite a few Astra GTE 16v's back in the day, great fun for what it was and always brought similar cars in p/x that we could 'smoke'

+1

Had 2 Astra GTE 16V's.

Great engine back in the day but dangerous if wanting to go around the corners.

[Occean]

My first car was a Golf Rallye - I was a little late on learning as I was into motorbikes before. Which made the insurance affordable, absolutely loved the car!

Was a strange day passing my test and getting out of a generic test car and into a LHD hatch tuned to 215hp!

Do like a good hatch I must admit - always loved the Clio V6.

[DickieGibbo]

Originally Posted by dopper99

+1

Had 2 Astra GTE 16V's.

Great engine back in the day but dangerous if wanting to go around the corners.

Lol. Yes I had an Astra GTE 16v in metallic aubergine! Great cars in the dry but handled like a bar of soap in the wet.

I had a few hot hatches over the years but the two most fun motors that I had included the Ultimate hot hatch of the late 80's being the Ford Sierra Cosworth. I was 21 yrs old and owned one. Good days they were!

Also had a Renault 5gt turbo raider which was like driving a go kart!

Think I would consider in this order:

Ford Focus RS excluding whale tail!
Audi RS3
Golf R400


Dickie

[....,,,,..,,..]

One of the few times found myself in a police station was due to parking incident with an XR2.

I parked it in a bus shelter....

Sideways...

On its roof

In my defence it was about -20c

[Chris Peacock]

I have owned quite a few hot hatches over the years including XR2's, 1.9 205 GTI, Clio Williams 1 (the daddy), Civic & Integra Type R and we currently have a new Fiesta ST.

My top 3 at the moment of interest...

1. Focus RS
2. Megane Trophy R
3. Civic Type R (the looks are challenging but dynamically I have not doubt it will be fun to drive)

In fairness though and having just been out for a drive in our Fiesta ST, I think I have all I need from a hot hatch. Its plenty fast enough, has a great 'fun' chassis and is cheap as chips to run.

I know it doesn't have 'soft touch interior plastics' and a badge to make Mr & Mrs Jones next door envious but then that was never the point of a hot hatch.

[AndyTo]

I have had a few hot hatches over the last 12 years, my last a heavily modified Mazda 3 MPS that would do 60-100 in under 5 seconds, it has more toys than BMW even offer and they were all standard. After 4.5 years and 110k miles i needed a new car and started looking at another hot hatch. I found them all borefests.
The M135i sounded good, just felt limp, maybe unfair as i had just got out of the MPS, while the MPS i laughed like a 10 year old child the BMW was a let down, same for the S3 and the Golf R just felt like a 250bhp car, i put that down to the lack of torque, 280lb/ft in a heavy awd just isn't enough.
I would like to try the Focus RS but i can't wait until 2016 and you won't be getting one for £30k, the MK2 FRS was advertised at £26k but that was with no paint and the only standard bit of kit was the air inside!
The civic just looks rediculous, now i'm a powerful company director ;-) I couldn't attend tender interviews in a car with a big stupid wing. With the Type R GT costing £33k, i think it's a bit expensive.

IMO, all hot hatches on sale have got fat and boring, while still very quick none have the excitement of hot hatches from previous generations. That's when i started looking at diesels, for the extra ££'s in running one 25k miles it just wasn't worth it (i get HMRC fuel rates) so a petrol under 2l would cost me a fortune. That's how I ended up with the F31, i'm considering a weekend toy like a Honda Integra or old civic type R, while they're 15 years old and not hugely quick, they're much more fun that anything on offer today.

[Bricktrix]

Originally Posted by DickieGibbo

Lol. Yes I had an Astra GTE 16v in metallic aubergine! Great cars in the dry but handled like a bar of soap in the wet.

I had a few hot hatches over the years but the two most fun motors that I had included the Ultimate hot hatch of the late 80's being the Ford Sierra Cosworth.
Dickie

+2 on the 16v 2.0 astra engine, put one in a mk1 gte along with digital dash and many other performance mods. Torque steer city, but brilliant / blinding fun.

Sierra Cosworth?
Back in my day that was never classified as a hot hatch by "hot hatch owners", but I see now some EU thing has!
Yes it has a hatch back, but it was a touring car size i.e. mid family saloon.

Wonder where the Escort Cossie stands in this status, I dont see it being mentioned.
A mate of mine back then had a new Suzuki Swift GTI, (the 1st design), that was quite a wicked little thing in its day.

[JustChris]

R400?

[Ross_T_Boss]

I think this is the era of the ultimate performance hot-hatch! Low/mid 4's to 60 was supercar territory 15-20 years ago. But they are a fair bit heavier - but then that's the case for every class of car.

I really think the Golf R is excellent value for money - with the cheap lease deals a great 'wifes car' that you can steal on Fridays and weekends

However, I would prefer to have the RS3; mostly for the 5-pot which sounds fantastic but the interior is a clear notch up as well. I think the Golf is OK for a 4-pot but it wouldn't go as far as to say it sounds 'good'. However cost of ownership is significantly more than the Golf, which IMO is better value. But I do like that 5-pot sound

[....,,,,..,,..]

Likely the most 'fun' for your cash are the baby brothers to these lot.

The RenaultSport Clio's, the Fiesta ST, Peugeot 208 GTI,

Also you get a lot of toys in as standard with some of them

[dopper99]

Originally Posted by Brigand

Likely the most 'fun' for your cash are the baby brothers to these lot.

The RenaultSport Clio's, the Fiesta ST, Peugeot 208 GTI,

Also you get a lot of toys in as standard with some of them

The baby brothers were traditionally known as "warm hatches" rather than hot hatches, but still quickish car in their own rights.

[....,,,,..,,..]

Originally Posted by dopper99

The baby brothers were traditionally known as "warm hatches" rather than hot hatches, but still quickish car in their own rights.

Warm is obviously now 208bhp lol.

Life just gets more embarrassing for the 320i

[Bricktrix]

Originally Posted by Brigand

Warm is obviously now 208bhp lol.

Life just gets more embarrassing for the 320i

I'd say its still pretty much the same as it was 20-25 years ago. XR3i's were pretty much on parr to 320i's back then

[....,,,,..,,..]

Originally Posted by Bricktrix

I'd say its still pretty much the same as it was 20-25 years ago. XR3i's were pretty much on parr to 320i's back then

Yes, however it was the Escort XR3i, not a Fiesta XR2 that was similar back then. Escort being replaced by Focus.

Now it's a Fiesta ST that is better than a 320i and the top end 3 series going against the likes of Focus RS, Audi RS3, somewhere back then no hatchback would have even dared to go.

I know it's all apples and bananas..

It's amusing that the likes of Fiesta and Pugeot 208, Renault Clio are going to BMW....sir hier ist dein Arsch.

While at the top end of things Jaguar are doing the same thing...




..

[DaveA]

I must admit, I am completely out of touch when it comes to hot hatches now, although being a petrolhead coming from just the right generation for them, I did used have a fondness for them that verged on a fetish... Mostly reading about them, though, as I never really had the £££ to run one when I was younger... Fast Lane, Performance Car, Car...

When I had my 1100cc Mark 1 Golf, I always hankered after the 1.8 GTi... To be honest, I'd have taken the Mk.1 Scirocco version, though, over the Golf, because I thought it looked nicer...

In the mid to late 80's I hankered after a Renault 5 GT Turbo... Although the aforementioned Punto would have been a fun option... I actually drove a 1.3 polo and then a 1.6 16v Honda Integra (fantastic engine, slightly oddball car)...

When I saved up enough money and got a few promotions, I skipped over the hot hatches I had been looking at and bought my E30 M3... a car I had long-desired since I first stared reading about them in late '86 and '87...

The only serious hot hatch I ever contemplated was the original Integra Type R (after the M3) and had I have had the finances at the time I would have done that, but I didn't, and ended up in a 1.4 16v Polo instead (don't ask)... The one odd thing about the Polo, though, is that when it was running up near the top of its rev range it did sound sort of like the S14 motor in the M3... weird... It had more oil leaks than the Exxon Valdez...

After that, I ended up in the Seat Cupra R, with the 1.8 VW turbo... That was about 190hp, so was quick without being mental... and was cheap to run... build quality was naff, though....

I then went off down the Porsche route (upswing in circumstances) and then back to BMW's for 3-ers....

Not sure I would be tempted by a hot hatch now... If I did, I agree with the people above who have mentioned M235i, and think I would default to that... although I would be interested to see what the new Honda is like..? I looked at the AMG Merc whilst in the showroom and just wasn't taken by it...

I was sitting next to a Fiesta (ST? STR?) in the queue at Calais coming back from Le Mans and, I must admit, I did wonder what it might be like as a fun little second car..????

ps -I did try an Audi S3 out the other year and nearly lost all the fillings out of my teeth. The car I was selling at the time was the GT3 and the salesperson tried to explain to me that the S3's ride was because it was a sportscar... yeah, right...

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by Brigand

Likely the most 'fun' for your cash are the baby brothers to these lot.

The RenaultSport Clio's, the Fiesta ST, Peugeot 208 GTI,

Also you get a lot of toys in as standard with some of them

Do you recall when Vauxhall and Peugeot did lightweight 1.3 litre versions of the Nova and the 106 (?) (wasn't a 208, wasn't the car I am thinking of a bit smaller?.. white with peugeotsport striping)... They were kind of marketed as base rally car types..?