America has somehow failed to embrace the hot hatchback. Spearheaded five Golf generations ago by the original Volkswagen Golf GTI, the market gradually grew to include offerings from Honda, Ford, Renault, Seat, etc. The idea is: take your average smallish hatchback - replete with all manner of convenience features, technology, and a dollop of practicality - plop a powerful engine in, and make assorted engineering and aesthetic modifications that make it exciting (possibly dangerous). The product is a pocket rocket, a jack of all trades...all things to all men. And to top off the brilliance, proper hot hatches don't break the wallet. They're incredible - the best kind of car there is.
Let me explain. There are more flashy, flamboyant, and extreme cars, and most are hugely expensive. People that can afford them generally want to show off and be oogled by the masses. So they're shallow. Admittedly, some want them for a heightened level of driving excitement. But for the enormous price and considering the limitations of public roads, there's no justification for their purchase. So they're stupid.
The best of the hot hatch breed are fantastically exciting. They're powerful, well-equipped, good-looking, and unique from each other. Consider the VW Golf GTI, a turbocharged and FWD German with reasonable engineering in a reasonable and conservative package. Or consider the GTI-on-steroids Golf R32, which packs a V6 with a mighty wallop, four-wheel drive, and a properly meaty vocal range. Or the new Ford Focus ST with its curvy angle-ness and turbocharged inline-five. Or it's Creatine-chugging sibing, the Focus RS, which throws three-hundred turbo-manaical horses at its front wheels. Or the Honda Civic Type-R or even the watered-down-for-Americans Civic Si, both with screaming, rev happy powerplants and snappy, short-throw gearboxes. And these are just a few. There are so many more. Some genuinely good and some terrible but great.
The excitement is there. As is the attitude, the character, and the pedigree. Only now the cars are also pleasingly practical, prudently priced, properly equipped, and possibly reliable. I'm sold. I'm all for them.
Focus RS in its most ridiculous color.
Golf R32 in its best color.
Let me explain. There are more flashy, flamboyant, and extreme cars, and most are hugely expensive. People that can afford them generally want to show off and be oogled by the masses. So they're shallow. Admittedly, some want them for a heightened level of driving excitement. But for the enormous price and considering the limitations of public roads, there's no justification for their purchase. So they're stupid.
The best of the hot hatch breed are fantastically exciting. They're powerful, well-equipped, good-looking, and unique from each other. Consider the VW Golf GTI, a turbocharged and FWD German with reasonable engineering in a reasonable and conservative package. Or consider the GTI-on-steroids Golf R32, which packs a V6 with a mighty wallop, four-wheel drive, and a properly meaty vocal range. Or the new Ford Focus ST with its curvy angle-ness and turbocharged inline-five. Or it's Creatine-chugging sibing, the Focus RS, which throws three-hundred turbo-manaical horses at its front wheels. Or the Honda Civic Type-R or even the watered-down-for-Americans Civic Si, both with screaming, rev happy powerplants and snappy, short-throw gearboxes. And these are just a few. There are so many more. Some genuinely good and some terrible but great.
The excitement is there. As is the attitude, the character, and the pedigree. Only now the cars are also pleasingly practical, prudently priced, properly equipped, and possibly reliable. I'm sold. I'm all for them.
Focus RS in its most ridiculous color.
Golf R32 in its best color.
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