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People will argue forever which was the first.
Some might even say it was the Aston Martin DB2/4 of 1953. That car was undeniably hot and had a hatchback. But for those who think it must have been the original Volkswagen Golf GTI in 1975, I must now disabuse them of that notion. Cars like the Autobianchi 112 Abarth and Simca 1100Ti were way ahead of it.
Autocar Awards Readers' Champion: Click here to vote for your favourite hot hatch
It was the Golf that popularised the breed and spawned an entire industry of wannabe pretenders to its crown, but it would be 1984 before the Peugeot 205 GTi advanced the art significantly and 1988 before the Lancia Delta Integrale took the genre to an altogether different place with rallying pedigree and four-wheel drive.
The 1990s were a tough time for the hot hatch, but by the turn of the century, a renaissance was under way, led by the likes of the Ford Focus RS and then the brilliant fifth-generation Volkswagen Golf GTI. And in the past few years, hot hatchbacks have found yet another a new lease of life, where engine outputs of 300bhp are the new norm. One wonders when, or even if, it might ever end.
Autocar loves its cars to be fast, agile and affordable – and the hot-hatch category has it all. We take a look at the finest there’s ever been, and took our Top 5 to the wilds of Wales to have a proper shoot-out.
Autocar Awards Readers' Champion: Click here to vote for your favourite hot hatch
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31: Ford Fiesta ST (2015)
The ST is fast, visceral and exciting; it's also practical & usable, too. Editor's note: Due to an administrative oversight the ST was not originally featured in this round-up. It should be in this feature, and almost certainly very much higher in the list than number 31...
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30: ALFA ROMEO 147 GTA (2000)
It is not known who decided to fill the Alfa Romeo 147’s engine bay with 3.2 litres of snarling 247bhp V6, nor how the hell they managed to do it , but the result was to turn a quite likeable Alfa hatch into something very quick and quite special . The result was Alfa’s best fast hatch since the ’Sud.
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29: MG MAESTRO TURBO (1988)
The Maestro was never a good car and already long in the tooth when the Turbo appeared in 1988. It shouldn’t have worked, and yet… it was far faster than most rivals and handled surprisingly well. It turns out they’d saved the best for last.
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28: SUZUKI SWIFT SPORT (2012)
Proof that you don’t need power to have fun – just a lightweight car with a characterful engine and carefully chosen chassis settings. The 130bhp Swift Sport f rom 2012 had all three, combined with the usual Suzuki build quality, too.
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27: CITROEN VISA GTI (1985)
One of the least likely hot hatches, the Visa was a l ready elderly by 1985 but few things were more likely to give it a new lease of life than the powertrain from the Peugeot 205 GTi. They looked terrible and rotted to pieces but were a hoot to drive.
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26: AUDI S3 (1999)
Surprised to see this here? You wouldn’t be i f you’d driven one. No surprises that Audi’s first four-cylinder ‘S’ model from 1999 was fast – 210bhp saw to that – but it was also fun, not to mention beautifully built and well equipped.
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25: HONDA CIVIC VTI (1995)
Its spec read like a racing car’s, with a 158bhp 1.6 -litre twin-cam engine and double-wishbone suspension at every corner. It drove superbly, too, thanks to one of Honda’s most characterful VTEC engines. This 1995 rocket is a bit cramped but otherwise sorely underrated today.
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24: FORD FIESTA XR2 (1981)
How could you not love this early 1980s hot hatch, with its big round eyes and pepper-pot wheels? Its 1.6-litre Kent engine had only a double-digit power output but it came brimming with not just charm but ability, too, thanks to better handling than you’d ever imagine.
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23: TOYOTA COROLLA GT (1983)
Known by the cognoscenti by its internal code – AE86 – if ever there was a hatchback (it came as a coupé, too) with a cult following, this is it. Why? That it had the twin-cam 1.6-litre motor from the MR2 at one end helped, but it was the fact that it directed its power to the other end that made its name. A rear-drive hot hatch that would drift all day: it’s as good as it sounds.
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22: SEAT LEON CUPRA R (2017)
An extremely serious hot hatch from a brand that’s still trying to find its feet in this market. But it has been thoroughly made over relative to the previous hot Leon, the Cupra 300, with more power, different suspension and quicker steering. And it shows: this is Seat’s best fast hatch yet and can hold its head high among uncommonly able opposition.
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21: NISSAN SUNNY GTI-R (1990)
This was a rally car homologation special in 1990 and Japan’s answer to the Lancia Delta Integrale, and although not as good, it was closer than you’d think, given its humble underpinnings. It came with 227bhp from a 2.0-litre turbo four, all-wheel drive and an enormous and clearly quite necessary bonnet scoop.
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20: RENAULT 5 GT TURBO (1985)
If this wasn’t the car that coined the phrase ‘rocketpowered roller skate’, it certainly should have been. Lighter and more powerful at its launch than the Peugeot 205 GTI, it was anything but an R5 with a turbo attached. Renault made profound changes to the front and rear suspension to ensure the car could handle its 115bhp.
And it could, resulting in a car both lightning quick and great fun to drive. It was, however, undone by an unwillingness to start when hot and simply dreadful build quality.
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19: VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI MK2 (1984)
Even better built and easier to live with than the Mk1, the Mk2 Golf GTI proved it was possible to build an utterly sensible hatch without boring its driver to death. Yes, it was a little less fun than the Mk1 and slower until the 16-valve version arrived, but to a certain constituency of customer – none more so than London-based Sloane Rangers – it could do little wrong. For once, they were right.
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18: PEUGEOT 306 GTI-6 (1996)
There are those who will insist it’s not a 205 that represents Peugeot’s finest hour but this 306, and although we may not agree, we can see where they are coming from. The 306 GTi-6 from 1996 was the last of the truly great Peugeot hatches, a tempting blend of power, agility, good looks and driver involvement offered up with decent practicality. A deft six-speed ’box rounds out an enticing picture.
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17: FIAT STRADA 130TC (1983)
Five. That’s the number of Fiat Strada 130TCs still registered in the UK. For what was, briefly, the most powerful and entertaining hot hatch on sale , this seems an unfair fate. The Strada was light, spacious, handled superbly, had perhaps the best seats of any fast hatch and was powered by a twincarb, twin-cam 2.0-litre motor. What did it lack? Only the build quality and cachet of a VW Golf.
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16: ALFA ROMEO ALFASUD (1971)
Actually, it wasn’t a hatchback for most of its life and the best to drive are the last 1.5-litre cars before it gained the fifth door. But even the hatchbacks were utterly gorgeous, thanks to Rudi Hruska’s inimitable flat four motor and the snake-belly centre of gravity it conferred on the car. Pity that almost all have dissolved away to dust. Driving a ’Sud, any ’Sud, is an automotive education all by itself.
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15: MINI COOPER GP (2006)
Yes, we’re talking the 2006 original here, not its slightly lukewarm 2013 successor. Of course, the car is mad and hard to justify, as is any hatchback with only two seats, but this is probably the closest to the original Mini Cooper spirit that the company has so far come, not least because it is light, based on the Mini Challenge race car and has a brilliant limited slip differential that makes it as chuckable as a pair of leaky boots at a wellie-wanging competition. They’re rare, too: fewer than 500 were sold in the UK when it was new.
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14: PEUGEOT 205 RALLYE (1988)
If the excellence of a hot hatch could be measured in entertainment value alone, there’d be an argument to say it should be this and not the 205 GTi representing Peugeot in the top-five shootout. Really, it was another rally homologation special , hence its bespoke carb-fed 1294cc engine.
But the real magic came from its weight, or lack thereof. At just 794kg, it made 100bhp go further than you could imagine and came with handling so responsive that there was a genuine danger you could laugh yourself off the road. The 1294cc variant is left-hand drive only and hard to find a good one now so expect to pay when you do.
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13: TALBOT SUNBEAM LOTUS (1979)
Drive one of these and you’ll never forget it . The reason a 2.2-litre Lotus engine was squeezed into the rear-wheel-drive Chrysler (and soon to be Talbot) Sunbeam hatch had l it t le to do with wanting to create a hot hatch and ever y thing to do with winning the manufacturer’s t it le in the World Rally Championship (which it duly did in 1981).
Even so, the result was a riot . Its 150bhp was really far too much for its crude chassis, terrible tyres and short wheelbase, but it responded well to careful tuning and could be turned into an astonishingly rapid and entertaining road warrior. A true great and already a rare and appreciating classic.
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12: BMW M140i (2017)
Another brand-new car creeps into the upper echelons, and deservedly so. In a class populated by front-drive, four-cylinder cars, here comes one with a creamy straight six motor, directing 335bhp through a manual gearbox to the rear wheels.
With a stirring soundtrack, a sub-5.0sec 0-62mph time and terrific handling, there is very little here not to like. Remember, it is only 30bhp less powerful than the brilliant M2, a lot more practical and £12,000 cheaper. When people think of BMW hot hatches, it’s the old 318Ti Compact they tend to get all misty eyed over, but this is in a different league and is available to buy right now.
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11: RENAULT CLIO WILLIAMS (1993)
No apologies for another Renault reaching so high up this list or, indeed, another Clio. The Williams is a rare and special thing. The formula that placed a 2.0-lit re engine in the nose of a Clio with a chassis tuned to suit proved so successful that Renault used it again and again in successive generations until it adopted turbocharging and paddle-shift gears to few people’s very great delight.
Of course, the Williams carries the name of the Formula 1 team whose car Renault was powering at the time but it had no need to bathe in that reflected glory. At the time and for those who really appreciated how fine a hatch could be to drive, there was nothing else to touch it.
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10: VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI MK5 (2005)
This is the one we all forget about. Look at the prices you can buy them for and it seems the market has forgot ten, too. And yet this is such an important car, the one that restored dignity to one of the greatest sub-brands of all time after the ignominy of the Mk3 GTI and the almost total nonevent that was the Mk4.
And all VW did was look at the original, understand what made it great and apply the same principles but using the latest technology. The result was and remains a hoot to drive, with strong performance and nicely balanced handling, but so, too, did it slip as easily into your life as any other Golf. One day people will realise how excellent these cars are. Until then, opportunity awaits…
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9: FORD FOCUS RS MK3 (2016)
In the right circumstances, this is a hot hatch that can feel more like a supercar. The fact that it has the power (345bhp from its turbocharged 2.3-litre engine) is only half the point. What matters more is that it also possesses the means to deploy it in circumstances where all reason says you should be doing all you can to lose speed, not gain it .
You can drive it smoothly on a track and it will reward with stellar lap times, or you can hurl it about and it will show you a level of agility and an ability to extricate itself from seemingly hopeless angles that, at times, beggars belief. It could be better still if it lost a couple of hundred kilograms but this is still a superb hot hatch, and in the finest Ford traditions.
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8: VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI MK1 (1975)
Not the first hot hatch, but the first to perfect the formula and thereby realise the potential of the genre. VW understood that by heating up the Golf, its essential functionality could not be compromised. And by fitting a torquey, smooth and powerful fuel-injected engine, it actually made the car even easier to live with as well as much better to drive.
Yet despite the revolution it caused, there was nothing ground breaking about the design of the first Golf GTI: its upgrades were simple but extensive and, taken as a whole, transformative. It didn’t take long to realise a new class had been created and that, for its rivals, the choice was to try to follow suit, or simply be left behind.
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7: LANCIA DELTA INTEGRALE EVOLUTION 2 (1993)
Really, this could have been any Integrale, or indeed the Delta HF 4WD that preceded them. The point is that this is not just a genuinely very great hatchback, the greatest by far produced by Italy, but also the last decent car of any sort produced by what was once one of the world’s greatest manufacturers. The thing I think few people appreciate about these five-door fourwheel-drive turbocharged hatches is that they were never about going sideways. They did not make you feel like Juha Kankkunen.
They were just beautiful things to drive, still with arguably the best power steering ever f it ted to a car with front driveshafts. It felt like an inexactly constructed hatchback sprinkled with some Italian supercar magic. And, in many ways, that’s exactly what it was.
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6: RENAULT CLIO RENAULTSPORT 182 TROPHY (2005)
A simply incredible level of chassis sophistication from what started life as a cheap and cheerful shopping car. Rev-happy 2.0-lit re motor is cast in a purely supporting role to beautifully judged suspension settings and some extremely expensive (not just to buy but to maintain, too) competition-spec Sachs dampers complete with remote oil reservoirs. Startlingly rapid point to point even by the standards of today, largely because you very rarely have to slow down for anything.
Even if you think you’ve overcooked it, few cars ever responded better to the ‘chuck it in and sort it out’ approach. A little noisy and quite stiff, it nevertheless missed the top-five shootout by nanometers.
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5: Renaultsport Megane Trophy R (2014)
The Megane Trophy R feels quick on a difficult road courtesy of the insane level of detail Renault has foisted upon it from its composite front springs to Ohlins dampers that can be adjusted through 40 clicks. Make no mistake, as a thing to just get in and drive, it is the most special car here. No, not even Renaultsport’s obsessive approach to mass reduction ( leading to the deletion of the rear seats among other items) can bring its weight down even to Focus level let alone anywhere near the 205, but the decision to engineer what is essentially a racing car dial led back only as far as required for it to be road legal has a devastating effect .
It’s the only one of the five whose adhesion limit actually takes some finding and, while its back end is less happy to play as fast and loose as the Peugeot (or even the Honda), you can drive it with a precision not even the free-spirited 205 can muster. For all its looks, this is not a hooligan car at all but an incredible ground coverer whose sheer pace will render you breathless and whose eagerness will elicit great gales of laughter from within.
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5: RENAULTSPORT MÉGANE TROPHY R (2014)
Want one?
The Trophy R is an incredibly rare bird. Just 30 made their way to the UK and they now command prices north of £30,000. But do not despair: half that money will buy an immaculate, far more usable and only slightly less fun standard Renaultsport Mégane 275. Pay £30,000 for a Trophy R, or £15,000 for a Mégane 275.
Renaultsport Mégane Trophy R
Engine: 4 cyls, 1998cc, petrol
Power: 271bhp at 5500rpm
Torque: 266lb ft at 3000rpm
Power-weight: 209bhp per tonne
Gearbox: 6-spd manual
Weight: 1297kg (2853lb)
0-60: 5.8sec
Top speed: 162mph
Economy: 37.7mpg
CO2: 174g/km
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4: Ford Focus RS Mk1(2002)
On paper, the Focus looks heavy and not quite as quick as some of the modern cars here, but, while the former is true, the latter is entirely deceptive. Compared with the moderns, the Focus is still compact but it comes from an era (and a company) that was starting to get serious about such cars and happy to use trick differentials and sophisticated suspension to cope with what would have been an unimaginable amount of power to put through the front wheels of a hatchback back in the 205 days.
Fifteen years ago, I can remember how easily one stuck to the tail of an exceptionally well-driven Aston Martin Vanquish and, because it is so compact, accurate and predictable, I reckon it could still scare some supercars today on a tricky road. You only really notice its age in its appearance – particularly inside – and the fact that for half of its rev range the engine is fast asleep: really, you need to be at the 3500rpm torque peak or above before it will do its enchanting thing.
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4: Ford Focus RS Mk1(2002)
Want one?
With cars available from as little as £10,000 and nice examples retailing for around £14,000, we’d be surprised if a Mk1 RS did not turn out to be a useful long-term investment. But condition is all, and pay more than usual attention to telltale signs of abuse. Aim to pay £14,000.
Engine: 4 cyls, 1988cc, turbocharged, petrol
Power: 212bhp at 5500rpm
Torque: 229lb ft at 3500rpm
Power-weight: 166bhp per tonne
Gearbox: 5-spd manual
Weight: 1278kg (2812 lb)
0-60: 6.7sec
Top speed: 144mph
Economy: 28.0mpg
CO2: 237g/km
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3: Honda Civic Type R (2017)
Of the modern troupe, it is the Civic that most closely mirrors the approach of the Ford. Neither is interested in providing a premium feel, but both recognise it is imperative still to be able to do the boring stuff. But the difference made by a decade-and-a-half of engine development is more than 100bhp.
So what’s so commendable about this generation of Civic Type R is its engineers have not just provided that power and a front-drive chassis that can take it (no mean feat in its own right), clapped themselves on the back and moved onto the next project. Instead, this is a car with a chassis that feels like it’s been honed by a team of rest less perfectionists who kept going back to it until they simply couldn’t make it any better.
The way it rides, the way its back axle provides stability when needed and agility when not is textbook stuff. I’d not call the result so much fun as thrilling: it is not a belly laugh kind of experience it offers, but one where you park up at the end of road and relive the journey in your mind while waiting for your pulse rate to recover.
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3: Honda Civic Type R (2017)
Want one?
The car has only just gone on sale; prices start at £30,995.
Engine: 4 cyls, 1996cc, petrol
Power: 316bhp at 6500rpm
Torque: 295lb ft at 2500rpm
Power-weight: 229bhp per tonne
Gearbox: 6-spd manual
Weight: 1380kg (2036 lb)
0-60: 5.7sec
Top speed: 169mph
Economy: 36.5mpg
CO2: 176g/km
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2: Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9 (1986)
My instinct suggested the state of the hot hatch art had advanced so far that while both eras would have their strengths and weaknesses, the upstart newcomers could pack more than enough ta lent to not only take the fight to the best of the old school, but possibly march right through them.
And I accept my pursuit of this point is likely to cause some consternation, particularly regarding the five cars selected here. Where’s an original Golf GTI, a Lancia Delta Integrale or any kind of Renault Clio, for that matter? But I’d back the 205 to represent the old school, enough to have put my own money where my mouth is, and the two new cars, the Civic Type R and Golf GTI, are here to represent both the Jekyll and Hyde of the contemporary scene.
We’ll let the Peugeot set the scene, flashing across Wales to our mountain rendezvous, still making mincemeat of ever y thing it comes across. I want to dwell for a moment on what it does poorly because I feel so much hagiographical stuff has been writ ten about them of late (including plenty by me), a little balance is in order. First, one look at those toothpick A-pillars will tell you how much you really don’t want to crash one. Second, the interior is even more flimsy than it looks.
It doesn’t feel that fast in a straight line anymore and I’d rank its brakes as adequate for the performance but no more. In fact, it only really does two things unusually well: it’s exceptionally spacious and therefore practical for a car of its size and it’s not possible to go anywhere in it without emerging a happier person. It has an indefatigable enthusiasm manifesting itself as a relentless, preternatural charm. If slicing it through quick curves, hoofing the back on the throttle and savouring the kind of feel you only get from a car weighing the same as a family bag of Twiglets doesn’t win you over, you’re not in the wrong car or on the wrong road, you’ve got the wrong hobby.
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2: Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9 (1986)
Want one?
Excluding wrecks and show cars, there’s still a £20,000 spread among ‘normal’ 205s, starting at £5000. A 1.9 is nice but not essential and late cars have catalytic converters and less power. Condition is far more important and really good, unmodded cars are hard to find. Aim to pay around £10,000.
Engine: 4 cyls, 1905cc, petrol
Power: 130bhp at 6000rpm
Torque: 119lb ft at 4750rpm
Power-weight: 149bhp per tonne
Gearbox: 5-spd manual
Weight: 875kg (1925 lb)
0-60: 7.9sec
Top speed: 129mph
Economy: n/a
CO2: n/a
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1: Volkswagen Golf GTI (2017)
And the winner is... the current Volkswagen Golf GTI.
l remember the almost weekly occasions the two greatest hot hatches – Golf GTI and 205 GTIs - fought it out on pages like this on an almost weekly basis, but that was a quarter-of-a century ago or more and it seems incongruous that it should come to this all over again. I know I should not be surprised – they are, after all, the two greatest hot hatches from the two greatest eras of hot hatches we have so far seen – but I am.
Bluntly, I never expected the Golf to get anywhere near the front of this crowd – early in the day, I’d told the photographers to bung the Golf at the back because it was clearly the one that wasn’t going to come anywhere. How wrong I was.
Don't agree? Well, you can have your say by voting for your favourite hot hatch for this year's Autocar Awards Readers' Champion.
Autocar Awards Readers' Champion: Click here to vote for your favourite hot hatch
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1: Volkswagen Golf GTI (2017)
The car that has topped hot hatch polls time and again? You bet it should. I won’t have to look back in 20 years’ time to know we’re living in a golden era for the hot hatchback because I know it right now. And after one day in a common or garden base-spec Volkswagen Golf GTI, you’d know it too.
Don't agree? Well, you can have your say by voting for your favourite hot hatch for this year's Autocar Awards Readers' Champion.
Autocar Awards Readers' Champion: Click here to vote for your favourite hot hatch
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1: Volkswagen Golf GTI (2017)
Engine: 4 cyls, 1984cc, petrol
Power: 227bhp at 4700rpm
Torque: 258lb ft at 1500rpm
Power-weight: 166bhp per tonne
Gearbox: 6-spd manual
Weight: 1364kg (3001 lb)
0-60: 6.4sec
Top speed: 155mph
Economy: 44.1mpg
CO2: 148g/km
Price: £29,115
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The debate
Do you agree or disagree with our choices? Cast your vote for your favourite hot-hatch of all time - the winner will be announced at the Autocar awards in May.
Scroll through for some more photos from our hot-hatch photoshoot in Wales.
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Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 & Honda Civic Type R
Autocar Awards Readers' Champion: Click here to vote for your favourite hot hatch
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Renaultsport Mégane Trophy R & Ford Focus RS Mk1
Autocar Awards Readers' Champion: Click here to vote for your favourite hot hatch
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Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 & Volkswagen Golf GTi
Autocar Awards Readers' Champion: Click here to vote for your favourite hot hatch
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Honda Civic Type R & Volkswagen Golf GTi
Autocar Awards Readers' Champion: Click here to vote for your favourite hot hatch
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Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 & sheep
Autocar Awards Readers' Champion: Click here to vote for your favourite hot hatch
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Honda Civic Type R, Volkswagen Golf GTi & Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9
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Honda Civic Type R, Volkswagen Golf GTi & Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9
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Renaultsport Mégane Trophy R
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