Ive voted "its quick, but no hot hatch!"

To me, a hot hatch is smaller and more nimble; being entertaining to drive and producing a big grin - then again that would describe an Elise to me also and that isnt a hot hatch.

Alot of this depends on what you are used to also ie what performance levels you have experienced from previous cars too.

If the Golf Mk V is considered the best hot hatch currently then to me, the Octavia is a bigger, slightly softer alternative (in terms of steering feel and handling composure) better value version of that car.

No doubt in my mind that its a bargain for what it is but Im not sure Id ever call it a hot hatch in the traditional sense of the word.

Lee

Evo magazine class the octavia as a sports saloon, along with the likes of the old style scooby, mondeos, and something they refer to as a bmw m3

hot hatches get a separate class.

Billy

I was reading through the posts and just reaching for my copy of Evo; when I read this. Your quite right.

IMHO the Octy is a bit, how shall I say, Grown Up to be a 'Hot Hatch'. I would rate current Hot Hatches as the likes of Clio, Megane, Golf, Focus, Gande Punto, Mini et al ....

Sorry it's too heavy.

I don't think many cars these days can be considered truly hot.

The MK II Golf was probably one of the last along with the 205 GTI, maybe the 306GTI-6 and other similar cars.

The extra safety equipment and toys makes the new cars too heavy to just flick around. They might well be massively fast in a straight line but I just don't think they are properly hot.

I had a Vectra 3.2 V6 - That was a hatch and it did about 160mph (as one policeman found out, if you remember the press coverage at the time) and a 0-60 time which was quite quick.

Was that a hot hatch?

I really do think of it as a Hot Hatch, but in reality, it is more in the class of GT or Saloon (even though it's not) due to it's sheer size IMO.

It is definitely a very well done package, and i haven't gotten bored of it atall, nowhere near; But, it just doesn't fully cut it with the likes of the Focus ST and Astra VXR etc etc...