DAY 5: Feeling HOT Hot Hatches

They’re small. They’re quick. They’re easy to drive, easy to live with and a ton of fun. Today, in the fifth installment of Carsmas, is all about HOT hot hatches.

The Volkswagen GTI has been the king of hot hatches ever since the first generation was released back in 1976. We’re at the seventh generation (the 8th Gen is set to release next year) of the hot hatch and it’s still just as incredible as the first. 

Every other manufacturer has since tried to dethrone the GTI. Until now. 

We’ve already spoken about the Hyundai i30N and Veloster N in the second post of Carsmas. Hot hatches that give the GTI a run for its money but not quite there yet, The first blow from the Koreans was good, but not enough to bring down the mighty VW. 

But Hyundai is not the only one to take a swing this decade. The biggest blow was given by these two – the Ford Focus RS, the Honda Civic Type R.

We start with what we cannot have in the UAE (boo). Ford has made a proper hot hatch – the RS and they refuse to sell one here.

The RS is the ST’s bigger brother. It has a 2.3L “Ecoboost” inline-4, the same from the Mustang, giving the hatch back 350hp. All of that power goes to ALL four wheels through a manual gearbox. We got to love how Ford has stuck to manual gearboxes for their performance models (it’s a shame that’s about to change). 

The RS takes only 4.5 seconds to 60 mph and does the quarter mile in 13.3 seconds at 103.3 mph. The real party trick is “drift” mode – a mode that induces over-steer, on a hatchback. 

While Ford finally put together a car that is miles ahead of the king, it couldn’t claim the throne. That one goes to another. Another we can’t have here in middle east.

This one goes on to take the Nurburgring record for fastest front-wheel drive car. It did it in 7 minutes and 43 seconds. It is the Honda Civic Type-R.

It is probably the wildest looking one too. It’s got angles – a lot of them. It’s got 3 exhaust tips – not one, not two and not four like most other cars. 

The honda, like the RS is a 4 pot powerhouse that makes 310hp. Again, like the RS, its manual only – row it yourself or go home. While 310hp sure sounds less, it’s the way the Type-R puts it down.  

These two are the best hatches of the decade. 

Hatches have gone on to break the 300hp barrier with cars like the Mercedes AMG 45 even coming close to 400 ponies. We cannot wait to see what new barrier the 2020s break with everything going electric or hybrid. Go go hot hatches.

12 Days of Carsmas

Check in daily as we post a new car for every day of carsmas.

You can see the entire list here: https://mikaniki.com/news/2019/12/the-12-days-of-carsmas/