The greatest hot hatch?

[Volksy]

http://theamazoeffect.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... rizon.html

[richardthestag]

Pug 205gti 1.9 tried to kill me every time I drove it, too fragile also. Not my idea of fun, wouldnt own one and have no intention of getting into another.

 

I had both 8v GTE and Golf Mk2 GTIs and they were both IMHO better than the 16v variants which I borrowed at various times from the car pool. The mk2 Golf 16v was spoiled with ugly phat bumpers, to my mind the 8v seems to get places quicker and be a whole lot more fun to drive. I used to get good economy out of it when my foot wasnt burried in the carpet. When I sold my tidy, unmodified one owner black 3door 89 GTI Golf a few years back it lasted barely a year before some mong slammed it to the deck (i saw the poor thing one day) and then into something very hard probably, rotton shame it was a really tidy clean car.

 

The 16v GTE was great at chewing up front tyres while the front suspension when thumpa thumpa thumpa in traffic light burnouts but was useless at beating anything except maybe another 16v GTE driven by a bigger mong than me. The 8v by comparison could get away pretty sharpish and i remember baiting the 16v at every opportunity

 

Mate of mine was well into the Sunbeam Lotus, he had at least a couple of them and both were blessed with epic acceleration and handling but fuck me could those cars rust! Made the Alfasud seem quite well rustproofed by comparison. Them was thirsty buggers too.

 

Another chump loved his R5 Turbo, nice enough and quick but I never saw the appeal, almost certainly my loss!

 

Correct me but in the 80's I seem to recall the Metro Turbo was a bit of a joke. I am sure now that the boost monsters and A series tuners have made them something special but out of the box you needed to be a bit special to have one. Just an opinion

 

Wouldnt do the whole hothatch thing again really, the above all have excessive scene tax applied and a modern Astra Diesel would probably piss over the lot of them and still do eleventy mpg

 

Comfy barge is the way to go for me

[Guest]

'Ang on - the Sera, Puma and Scirocco are coupes, not hot hatches. I was going to nominate the 480 Turbo, but that's Dutch. And a Volvo.

 

You could argue for the 440 Turbo, as it meets all the requirements, but the above points apply. Sack it, I'm going for the Volvo 363 CS.

 

[eddyramrod]

Comfy barge is the way to go for me

 

Yes, me too. In which case, I think we start with these and go up...

[Guest]

Neither of those are hot hatches. The Monza is a coupe and the SD1 a large family car.

[eddyramrod]

Can't agree Jon! I've had an SD1 and my mate had a Monza. Both, from experience, are clearly hatchbacks. Large, yes, family-swallowing, yes, luxurious, yes, but still blatantly hatchy. There is no suggestion of a distinct, defined boot on either; rear seats fold, rear screen lifts when you open the "boot." Just because they're not shopping-trolley-based, doesn't make them any less of a hatchback. Besides, they're RWD and entertainingly powerful. Two attributes that landed the Lotus Sunbeam on this list. They're just.... bigger. I like big.

[meggersdog]

I've not owned many hot hatches.

A 2.0 litre MG Meastro with terrible torque steer (might have been the budget tyres).

A couple of mk2 Golf Gti's both 8 valvers, handled well though.

A Fiesta XR2i which tried to kill me

and a mk2 Astra GTE 16V which would be my favourite although the floor rotted out.

Mate of mine at the time (early 90's) had an XR3i mk2 which was ok.

Another mate had an RS turbo mk1 which was scarey

Back in the mid 80's one of our friends had a Kadett SR but I think a W.reg had a boot although hatchback shaped

and another had a couple of AlfaSud Ti cloverleaf's and they did have hatches.

Personal experience my vote goes to the Astra GTE

[Albert Ross]

Ahem..... Hot. Check. Hatch. Check. Nuff Sed.

[ProgRocker]

1983 MG Maestro 1600 with the R series engine?

[Lacquer Peel]

Vector W12, it has a hatch covering its engine.

[willswitchengage]

 

ZX Volcane TD? Added a degree of sensibleness to the formula.

[retrogeezer]

Mk1 XR2:

 

 

Mk1 Astra GTE:

 

 

The Prairie yellow Mk3 XR3 is one of my faves already mentioned.

 

and I'd love one of these, preferably in yellow with a 2.0 twin cam fitted!

 

[trigger]

Mk1 XR2's are great, I still kick myself over the one I turned down about 10 years ago, A reg, in black, 40k, totally original and immaculate and it was only £500, I couldn't afford the insurance at the time so didn't buy it, what a mug!

[eddyramrod]

Glad to see this getting some votes, having had one... this one in fact!

I did love this, it was a bit of a wrench to part with it. Even more so when I was offered it back at a bargain price, but couldn't spare the cash! Still would, even (especially) the same one.

[Albert Ross]

This too.... I've driven one. Bucket list car, well out of my price range.

[ProgRocker]

Glad to see this getting some votes, having had one... this one in fact!

I did love this, it was a bit of a wrench to part with it. Even more so when I was offered it back at a bargain price, but couldn't spare the cash! Still would, even (especially) the same one.

 

Nice 2.0i. Were ARG cost cutting a bit in the late 1980s Plastic trims in place of alloys - I assume alloys were a cost option for a time. Same for the non-turbo MG Montego and Metro iirc.

[Guest]

The Maestro I can buy as being a hot hatch. The SD 1 and Monza.........no. They had hatchback bootlids certainly, but they weren't small enough to qualify as a hot hatchback.

[retrogeezer]

 

 

[Stanky]

to add my n00b two penneth here, I'll add a +1 for the volvo 360 GLT.

 

I never owned one (I had a squalid 1.4 DL with bigger wheels on the back than the front and which you had to get in via the boot because the doors only opened from inside) but I still used to mock my friends who all had fiestas and k10 micras with my RWD POWERRRRR!

 

used to powerslide at the drop of a jaw in the wet, but that might have had something to do with the rear tyres which cost me £6 for the pair from a scrapyard, including the wheels.

 

great forum, much mirth from the excellent posters on here

[J-T]

May I add this to the proceedings for some shite points:

 

 

That's the 3rd one I've had. 99% of people have forgotten about them or never knew about them in the 1st place but they have a very loyal following from pretty much anyone who had one. One of the 1st 16 valve hot hatches as well with a cracking engine lovely raspy exhaust note. Also had strut brace, discs all round and independent suspension all round which wasn't bad for 1985.

 

I've also had a mk2 Golf 16v (big bumper) which was nice but left me a bit cold, 306 GTI-6 which was lovely but tried to kill me several times, Civic Type R and a megane R26. The Toyota's my fav. I'd still very much like to make room for a 205 GTI 1.9, a clio williams, strada 130 abarth someday.

[AnthonyG]

Along the same lines as the Sunbeam Lotus, how about the Chevette HS? My mate didn't have a real one, but a ordinary one with a 2 litre out of a Cavalier, was a fun car!

I'd love a 205, but good ones are increasingly rare and have already started soaring in value.

[Shep Shepherd]

I used to get quite excited when I saw those Corollas in the mid-1980s, owing to their 'TWIN CAM 16' decals, which made them far more interesting in my book than XR3is and the like

[RichardMoss]

I had a Mk1 Storm, it was great, I'd say better than the Golf, certainly prettier and in a way more practical, bigger boot for example.

I had a mk1 Scirocco Storm and a mk1 Golf GTI - the Golf was bland, anodyne, uninspiring and plain boring. The Storm wasn't

[Wilko220]

The Maestro I can buy as being a hot hatch. The SD 1 and Monza.........no. They had hatchback bootlids certainly, but they weren't small enough to qualify as a hot hatchback.

 

If Eddie can have the SD1, then I can have this:

 

[retrogeezer]

that reminds me, these are awesome little things:

 

 

[trigger]

I'm not sure if I class many of these as hot hatches!

 

I'd fancy a Swift GTi in this shape, I worked on one years back and remember it being a fun little thing to drive.

 

[retrogeezer]

The Sbarro Picasso and the Supervan 3 were posted in jest Mike!

[Pillock]

 

There was a time when these were the weapon of choice for yooves with a penchant for exhaust pipes you could lose a golden retriever in. I presume they were popular because of the automotive equivalent of a gold tooth which is a massive intercooler..... Coinciding with the boom in imported Japanese cars, there were probably ten times as many Pulsars as Sunnys around.

[Pete-M]

I was tempted by one of those Sunny GTiR things when I bought my second Integrale. Tried both, back to back, couldn't bring myself to buy a Sunny.

 

Another fun little hot hatch was the Charade GTti. Those things were surprisingly good.

 

SD1 was never a hot hatch... neither was the Monza. They were just big cars.

[mk1_4dr]

Some suggestions via the medium of my spotted folder.