An Appreciation of the Classic 3dr Hot Hatch

Being that GRM forums are mostly USA-based I'd reckon it'd be somewhat difficult to come up with a TOP 50 hitlist of hot hatches, although the Canadian members are a bit more lucky in that department I think.

I greatly lament the demise and extinction of the classic 3dr hot hatch and I'm just not a fan at all of their 5dr replacements for the most part, am I the only one? Whenever I oldman cloudyell on forums about this I get lotsa BuT PrAcTiCaLiTy! arguments plus otherwise conptemptuous remarks regarding my curmudgeonly viewpoint. Maybe it's a Gen X thing? I mean the classic 3dr hatch was at its peak during my generation (cue The Who) stutter stutter stroke sum up to say it's my alltime favorite bodyform and just sad to see them unalive.

I have many opinions on this subject and would love to hear yours too, like could you come up with a TOP 50?

I'd struggle to do that, mostly because we in the USA were denied so many of the greats, or I mean were they really great? Or am I just gullibly prone to naïveté by believing UK-based auto journalists who have continually sang the high praises of the French hot hatch?

I think the USA did get the Starlet?

That'd be on my list!

Three door hatch, the perfect automotive layout

I'm a fan of the 3 door hatch as well. Shame we didn't even get the Fiesta 3 door that was offered overseas.

Volvo C30 was the last one we got, unless the Veloster is counted with the weird 4th door.

The Toyota Starlet and Mazda GLC were perfect sleeper cars.

Yup. Owned many 3dr hatches including one now. Big fan of the hatch in general. 

I am a sucker for a classic 3 door hatch. My Focus still entertains. A MK7 GTI may be in my future some day, I would love a 3 but would probably end up with a five door so my kids can open windows. 

ID.GTI anyone? Yes, please!

My brother bought a VW Rabbit in 1975.  It was a revelation compared to what else was available at the time.

My BMW is technically a hot hatch. I stand by it. One of the only RWD hot hatches I may ad. It's pretty damn cool

I've owned several 3-door hatches over the years, FWD Mazda GLC, four A2 VW GTIs, and currently three R53 MINI Coopers. They are a great layout for anyone who doesn't have a great need for the rear seat.

I'm glad that the year 1975 has been mentioned because that's like the origin story of hot hatchdom according to most people because VW debuted the Golf GTI at the Frankfurt International Motor Show in September of that year.

Sadly couldn't find any photos from that event though, but here is a snippet from a late 1974 homologation paper:

As contrarian as I am, have accepted this general notion of hot hatch birth, although I'd strongly argue that the Morris Mini despite not being a hatchback proper, actually set the classic template of both form & function, that classic look in combination with spiritual mission of rip-snorting fun (even moreso of the latter after Cooper Garages hotted it up).

If to get overly anorak pedantic, we could point to the 1953 Aston Martin DB2/4, and although it may be technically correct, I think it's trying to fit a square block into a round hole to say it was the first hot hatch just because of our definition of such and how we've come to know the dominant form.

Another early oddball not often invoked in the discussion is the Simca 1204 which fits the bill pretty damn good.

https://bringatrailer.com/2017/11/01/ex-works-rally-project-1969-simca-1204-in-virginia/

Still a pretty big stretch though to say it was the first hot hatch and popular lore has given that crown to the VW GTI, but my dreamcar list is full of those oddballs we rarely, if ever, got to see, like a Fiat 127 Sport for example...

We’ve owned and lived with several over the years: CRX, GTI, Civic Si, 240SX, AE86, 318ti, Mini and probably a few others I’m forgetting at the moment. 

@David S. Wallens

I was totally jealous of those Challenge-spec bits on the GRM R53...

...the JCM stuff is so scarce 'n rare on this side of the pond!

Whatever became of that car?

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars/2005-mini-cooper-s-club-racer/

Is it still around?

 also *nudge nudge* perhaps those calipers are in a dusty box in storage somewhere? I'd love to get my hands on them!

That Mini is gone–all of them went back to the mother ship, in fact. No parts left, either. Good times, though. 

This is my kind of thread!!!

Lets throw in some of my faves

the A112 Abarth.

Perfection out of the box

Fiesta!!

A friend briefly had a Starlet race car with a Formula Atlantic spec 4AG in it...................it was mega but the engine was worth 5 times what the car was.

OH YES!

A112 is deffo on my TOP TEN list!

Would desperately love to own one dammit!

I have watched this Davide Cironi video more than once...

Gabe, who worked for us way back in the day, had a round-headlight Mazda GLC. Old school. 

^

Firefly pic above reminds me of the Cultus via Swift via Ignis...

...was  once reading a thread on a UK-based forum titled "most fun car you've ever owned" and someone responded with Suzuki Ignis along with this pic which gives good glimpse at quintessential atmospheric British B-road, love it.

"Iggy in these twisties is like bringing a gun to a knife fight"

The question of 'most fun car' will inevitably have some hot hatches in the mix, that aspect of easily exploitable maximum potential just makes them so fun to wring out every little last ounce.

My current hot hatch is my 88 Scirocco with a built 2.0l 16v. I daily a Mazda 2. I don't mind the extra doors as the design hides them well. I started my driving career with an 83 1200 Auto Honda Civic, then a 79 1200 with 4 speed, then an 88 Festiva, then a large number of VW's finest hot hatches for nearly two decades. I just love them small cars. If I ever grow up and get a C6 Corvette will that keep me in the hot hatch family?

On the frozen surface of Lake Champlain.

I love hatchbacks. I have had a bunch of them over the years, some lukewarm and some hotter than it seemed.

• 1987 Saab 900 Turbo -Hot hatch
• 1988 Hyundai Excel -the gazpacho soup of hatches with a paltry 60hp
• 1991 Saab 900 S -warm hatch with 140hp
• 1996 BMW 318ti -140hp, but RWD made up for a lot of sins
• 1996 Saab 900 Turbo -GM model, it liked to boost into the nearest kerb
• 1999 Hyundai Tiburon -another 140hp car, but FWD for lukewarm status
• 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth -160hp may seem "meh" but light weight makes it hot.

I loved my Starlet. 

I've had three Rabbits, and i miss them all. Especially the actual GTI.

 That A112, tho...

I've owned around 80 cars and trucks. Still my favorite, and would love another.

Life goal:

Big hits on the like button for everybody!

Thanks for all your responses!

Since the term "warm hatch" has been brought up, it's interesting to note the phraseology itself I reckon...

...the etymology of the term "hot hatch" dates to 1984 according to the OED and they are a very trusted source who usually get it right.

Nowadays we have "hyper hatches".

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/big-reads/hyper-hatch-showdown-audi-rs3-sportback-vs-mercedes-amg-a45s

Entertaining excerpt from that TG article:

.

"Join me for a moment in 1985. You’re walking down the high street in your brand new Air Jordans, stepping in time to the bassline of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Relax’ hissing from your Sony Walkman headphones. It’s been out a while, but it’s still catchy.

You don’t hear the blare of the approaching 4.9-litre flat-12 engine over your right shoulder, but you’re stopped dead in your tracks as one of the very first Ferrari Testarossas in the country growls past you at hip height, all strakes, girth and pungent fumes.

‘How does it feel’, you think to yourself, ‘to drive a car which develops a claimed 385 horsepower?’ Perhaps only astronauts and stockbrokers will ever know potency like it.

Shrugging off the fantasy, you clamber into your Mk2 Golf GTI, and as its eight-valve 1.8-litre engine thrums into life, chuckle at the idea of a car developing almost four times the power of your petite hatchback.

Welcome back to 2021. Your headphones are no longer a tangle of wires, Frankie’s entire discography is a touchscreen tap away, and factory hatchbacks routinely have four hundred horsepower.

Hatchbacks can go from 0-60 at least two seconds faster than the healthiest Testarossa Maranello ever built. The Eighties taught us ‘greed is good’. The Twenties seems to be the decade of 'be careful what you wish for'..."

.

But if you click the link and see what cars they're talking about, it's a pair of 5dr hatches which almost look like station wagons which negatively reinforces my prejudice against them LOL because I prefer stubby little things that're wristflick tossable.

The Focus RS that we finally got in the USA was like a miraculous event, but it was also sadly the first time a Focus RS was a 5dr and that aspect greatly saddened me because I'm a rather shallow dumb git who thinks that rear seat deletes are de rigueur on a hot hatch and that just don't make much sense on a 5dr --- even though yes it's still done like with the Morizo GR Corolla, but I still don't grok it too good and would much prefer the GR Yaris over the consolation prize variant that they pity-gifted us with.

Apologies for the grumbling rambles.

Anyway, I've read that the mk2 Ford Focus RS is the frontrunner for origin of the term "hyper hatch".

And like YOWZA! does this thing look bananas or what?

Speaking of apeshid crazy,

the M-Sport Fiesta R5 is totally bonkers & utterly mindblowing!