As we seem to be entering 'Round 2' of the Hyper-hatch revolution, I was wondering if something might happen to bring this all to an end?  RS3, new A45, R400, M2 etc. I mean, it's got to end somewhere and as the manufacturers seem to be in a perpetual frenzy of Top Trumps, either the government will step in, with a limit of some kind, either as a pre-emptive strike or as the result of a witch hunt following a particularly awful accident involving one of these machines (lead of course by the Daily Mail), or we will have the option to buy 900bhp carbon fibre Twingo rocket sleds with 8 airbags and cup holders front and back.

 

I think the reason I was pondering this, is now that I have a 'Round 1' hyper hatch, I've noticed how many manically driven similar vehicles there are around and how easy it seems for anyone to acquire one. When these vehicle become second hand, the Yoof market will get a hold of them (and possibly tweak them up), then there are going to be quite a few seriously quick cars screaming around fuelled by a lot of young racers and their dreams of winning the F1 championship. When I was a yoof, a naturally aspirated car with 130+bhp was considered pretty racy, but the youngsters growing up now, may well have access to 300-400bhp cars. Ok they will have vastly superior ESP etc, but reaction times wont change and trying to lose the amount of energy contained in the speed these vehicles can quickly reach, may well lead to some terrible accidents. 

 

Ok I am getting old, but there might be something to think about here?

An article from ancient history, all of 8 years ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6410061.stm

Edited 27 June, 201510 yr by goneoffSKi

For me, the thing that I wonder about most on this performance topic, is the fact that young people will have the same 'lets go fast' attitude that many young people throughout time have had, but they may well soon have access to what would be considered supercar humbling performance 20 years ago. Instead of having a relatively low speed accident in a Saxo GT or some such, they will have a crash in a 300-400 bhp missile. The results  of which will be much more widely felt I think :( It could therefore impact on these cars having some sort of 'capping' on them

As was said about Motor Cycles back when,

and the Manufacturers went with a, 'we will police our selves'. That went nowhere.

 

Car Manufacturers went with 155 mph limits, (on paper)  just pay more you can have it un-restricted.

Audi, Merc, BMW will happily take £2,000 off you to release the speed in a car you already bought the performance of, 

but with it restricted.

 

Scoobies & Evo's, M3 / M5's have been cheap enough for enough years now, and those who want to drive fast cars they can not afford or do not even have a licence have been stealing fast cars and even Supercars for many years now.

http://dailyrecord.co.uk/news/crime/gone-60-seconds-teenage-car-3617496

Edited 27 June, 201510 yr by goneoffSKi

My first Scooby was sold to a young thruster and he killed himself and his passenger in a 'man vs tree' incident.

Plenty of choice currently, new, hot, fast, handle,  and under £25,000 and coming to anyone that ones one used and much cheaper in 3 years time. Maybe even in under a year they will be 5 Grand less.

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/body-hot-hatch

I've noticed more and more reports in the press of young people involved in fatal or horrific accidents. What I worry is that not only are cars becoming much more powerful, but also, they have a lot more torque due to turbos and overall performance has come on leaps and bounds. Like I said 300-400 bhp cars will become readily available in the not too distant future and those 400BHP cars will no doubt be open to further tweaking. Some people will be able to handle them, but I suspect many wont, especially those very short young men that currently drive Scoobys  and wear baseball caps that were once owned by a giant headed race. Give it 5 years and I figure the Daily Mail will launch it's panic strewn front page headline and then some sort of cap will follow. Only an opinion and one I suspect you would never agree with in a million years anyway

I've noticed more and more reports in the press of young people involved in fatal or horrific accidents. What I worry is that not only are cars becoming much more powerful, but also, they have a lot more torque due to turbos and overall performance has come on leaps and bounds. Like I said 300-400 bhp cars will become readily available in the not too distant future and those 400BHP cars will no doubt be open to further tweaking. Some people will be able to handle them, but I suspect many wont, especially those very short young men that currently drive Scoobys and wear baseball caps that were once owned by a giant headed race. Give it 5 years and I figure the Daily Mail will launch it's panic strewn front page headline and then some sort of cap will follow. Only an opinion and one I suspect you would never agree with in a million years anyway

Insurance costs and power are an issue, I struggle to insure anything myself over a 1.5

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Insurance costs and power are an issue, I struggle to insure anything myself over a 1.5

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I'm amazed at how much car some young drivers seem to be able to insured for. Perhaps they are on Mummy and Daddy's insurance. My M135 is the first quick car that I have been able to get reasonably priced insurance for in many many years. Dread to think how much I have spent on cover over the years :(

I'm amazed at how much car some young drivers seem to be able to insured for. Perhaps they are on Mummy and Daddy's insurance. My M135 is the first quick car that I have been able to get reasonably priced insurance for in many many years. Dread to think how much I have spent on cover over the years :(

I was at one stage a named on the 3.2 Jag and paid my way on that, was still cheaper than my daily but, the excess if I had a crash rather than the owner (my dad) I had to pay the much higher excess.

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As was said about Motor Cycles back when,

and the Manufacturers went with a, 'we will police our selves'. That went nowhere.

 

Car Manufacturers went with 155 mph limits, (on paper)  just pay more you can have it un-restricted.

Audi, Merc, BMW will happily take £2,000 off you to release the speed in a car you already bought the performance of, 

but with it restricted.

 

Scoobies & Evo's, M3 / M5's have been cheap enough for enough years now, and those who want to drive fast cars they can not afford or do not even have a licence have been stealing fast cars and even Supercars for many years now.

http://dailyrecord.co.uk/news/crime/gone-60-seconds-teenage-car-3617496

This arbitrary limit was imposed by the manufacturers to appease the Greens in Germany, which are lobbying to have speed limits imposed on autobahns for environmental emissions reasons, not safety.

I was at one stage a named on the 3.2 Jag and paid my way on that, was still cheaper than my daily but, the excess if I had a crash rather than the owner (my dad) I had to pay the much higher excess.

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My premium is the same, mapped or un-mapped. Same with the previous Octy too.

My premium is the same, mapped or un-mapped. Same with the previous Octy too.

Presumably quite a whack older than my 18 years of age

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Presumably quite a whack older than my 18 years of age

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nearly threefold!

The future ? :http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/peugeot/308/91165/493bhp-peugeot-308-r-hybrid-readying-for-production

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/493bhp-peugeot-308-r-hybrid-could-make-production

So Focus ST gets Mountune package. http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/ford/focus/92652/ford-focus-st-mountune-review

Where would you put your vote for 2015?

 

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/volkswagen/poll-which-hot-hatch-of-2015-excites-you-most/

Edited 29 August, 201510 yr by vrskeith

Odd that Announced but not on sale or even released in 2015 Hot hatches can be in the poll.

ie Ford Focus RS / & 'Rumoured but not yet confirmed' VW Golf R 400 or even the 420 (they can not get that bit right in the poll)

Or are these now available?

 

So it is a 'what do you get most excited about poll'.

 

If its pages in Briskoda on a car not yet Confirmed, the VW Golf R 400 must win by a mile.

If its a car available that very few Briskoda Members have bought but there are pages of posts about,

it will be the Audi RS3.

Interesting package?

 

http://www.evo.co.uk/renault/megane-coupe/16578/renaultsport-launches-focused-megane-275-cup-s-and-tech-loaded-275-nav

 

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/renaultsport-megane-gets-power-boost-2016

Edited 1 September, 201510 yr by vrskeith

Interesting package?

http://www.evo.co.uk/renault/megane-coupe/16578/renaultsport-launches-focused-megane-275-cup-s-and-tech-loaded-275-nav

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/renaultsport-megane-gets-power-boost-2016

Cup-S looks abit of a (relative) bargain!

http://bridgetogantry.com/vw-golf-gti-clubsport-nearly-ready-for-production

 

The VW Golf GTI Clubsport looks good IMO and having 290ps seems to be right,  

how VW will have the pricing against the AWD Golf R / Focus RS and the other hot FWD cars

like the Honda, Renault and Seat will be interesting. .

http://bridgetogantry.com/vw-golf-gti-clubsport-nearly-ready-for-production

The VW Golf GTI Clubsport looks good IMO and having 290ps seems to be right,

how VW will have the pricing against the AWD Golf R / Focus RS and the other hot FWD cars

like the Honda, Renault and Seat will be interesting. .

I guess the cupra must have been pinching too many higher margin standard golf gti sales. On paper it looks identical mechanically (and most likely is) to the leon, but will have a higher sales price and thus margin. I still prefer the looks of the seat.

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