Quite a broad question, and sorry if its been discussed before, but been thinking about this today after reading that many class the fabia as a "warm" hatch. At what point would the fabia be classed as a hot one? Its it just speed? Or handling and being useful as a everyday car too? If the focus st is a hot hatch, whats the focus rs?

Matt

Didn't it only ever relate to Golf GTI, Astra 16v and all Fords, purely on the basis that they where all usually stolen at least once from any owner and hence 'hot'

id say the focus is warm, the ST is hot, the GTi is now also warm in my eyes and the likes of the golf R32/golf R are now hot

I wouldn't class the Golf R as Hot. It is blisteringly fast but not exactly a car for all uses.

Aren't Hot hatches meant to be fast, practical and refined to use everyday but sporty and agile, sylish and not that expensive?

Current hot hatches are the likes of Panda 100, Clio 197 etc imho.

Hot hatches are supposed to be SMALL.

Broken Air Con?! i'll get my coat.

On a serious note probably a mixture of speed and handling that means it can "mix it" with the bigger boys on a twisty section of B roads

Desirablilty and affordablility also have something to do with it in my opinion

Which is why Golf GTI and Focus ST are "Hot" and the new Golf R and a Focus RS are someting entirely different!!

Golf R and Focus RS are uber hatches.

Golf GTI, Focus ST, Astray VXR etc are hot hatches.

Panda 100, Fiat 500 Abarth etc are junior hot hatches.

In the past i would regard a hot hatch as small car - big engine.. raw and a handful to drive. seems the goalposts have moved somewhat these days..

For me a hot hatch is almost something from the past. Modern fast hatchbacks are a bit too removed from the originals to be considered to be the same kind of car. A Peugeot 205 GTi, Mk1 Golf GTi and even MK1/2 Astra GTE were new and exciting at the time. They were indeed hot hatches, raw, exciting and so radical in their day. Nowadays, even the most involving hatches such as the Renault Cup cars are very grown up in comparison, with so many safety features that some of the out and out danger has been removed.

There was a certain kind of thrill when hooning down a B road in a fast version of a mundane car, knowing that one mistake and you'd be shaking hands with St Peter very quickly. An old Pug or VW GTi had the same crash protection as a biscuit tin. Even my trusty old vRS, which is an old design seems to fare well in crashes - see some recent posts by members on here.

We almost need a new name for them nowadays. A lot of us on here will have driven the Hot Hatches of old and no matter how we try, we can't get the same thrill from our modern cars. Remapping etc injects a bit of excitement, but reaching triple figures to feel excited is both illegal and excessive. If you redline a vRS in second, you're exceeding the motorway speed limit for example.

One of the last hot hatches for me was the Civic Type R, as it was still a bit different. Most other new hatches are just too easy to drive quickly and therefore are missing the X factor. I don't consider the new Focus RS or the Golf R to be hot at all, just very fast.

Sorry to go on a bit, but as an old bloke, I know what I mean.

Edited 9 March, 201016 yr by skinnyman

the only cars i would deem liable to be hot htaches are made by renault.

the clio 172/182/197 in cup and trophy guise.

and the meganne R26 and the R26R.

renault are so far ahead in how to make a drivers car. but why is it so ugly!!!

IMO all the VAG stable from Cupra, Gti, R32 through to the S3 are definately no hot hatches. they are quick hatches and they are good to drive, but i think the honda and renault options are more fun, just not as grown up.

205GTi, MK I Golf GTi

Hot hatch = small family car with a powerful engine and FWD. Usually accompanied by large amounts of lift off over-steer.

A diesel engine?

A diesel engine?

:no:

:no:

so very :no:

What does that make my Gold V6 4Motion then?

Gold? More expensive than a silver one I guess. :p

9n3 polo gti a hot hatch? basically a 1.8t powered fabia

Gold? More expensive than a silver one I guess. :p

DOH!!!!

Everyone knows I meant GOLF...........Hopefully! Anyway! Does the 4Motion qualify as a "HOT" hatch? Cos the performance is pretty good, but the ride isn't as sporty as some and being 4 wheel drive maybe the handling isn't as twitchy as some "HOT" hatches? Therefore some might argue that a little of the "fun" has been taken out of it. But I would say that it is still a HotHatch! What do you lot reckon?

Sorry, I posted that after a few beers last night.

I'm not sure the Golf qualifies as a hot hatch as I'm not classing my vRS as one either. They're too big and comfortable really. In a straight line, your Golf is reasonably quick, but as you said it isn't so hot in the corners. I have the original road test somewhere in the loft for the 4motion as featured in a VW magazine. Even they said the handling was 'comfortable' as they had to be polite I guess.

So nope, I'd class yours as a quick cruiser, good at covering ground quickly, but not a hot hatch.

What does that make my Gold V6 4Motion then?

A tick tick tick tick rattle hatch?

Did you get that fixed in the end?

Edited 14 March, 201016 yr by cheezemonkhai

the original idea was to take a standard medium? sized family hatch and breath some fun into it, which is why we had the likes of the golf gti, 205gti, escort(got exciting with the rst)

A tick tick tick tick rattle hatch?

Did you get that fixed in the end?

Nope! But when you reset it, you must have improved it A LOT! Because it is very very quiet now, sometimes I cant hear it at all! So thanks again for that!