Useable hot hatch how do you balance power and economy?

Barry walsh

Hi All, looking for opnions on what is the ideal new useable hot hatch/sports car on the market at present.
How do you balance power and economy? diesel or petrol? how much power is to much/enough?

If you had lets say 30k what would you buy?? Boot space is not important more driving experience or racing pedigree or luxury brand etc

For instance i would prefer a petrol ideally
At least Ford Focus size
low tax band with reasonable economy
with around 200bhp with decent torque around 250nm upwards (dont really think anymore is useable everyday
I think this at least half ticks all the boxes for what i look for.

What would you choose and what would your requirements be?

166man

Golf GTI.



/thread.

Barry walsh

An obvious answer but is that all thats out there at the moment is not great economy wise quite a high tax band also what else is out there. and its what you would choose not what you think i would choose

Bpmull

Renault Megane rs250 or rs265. I don't know if you would buy one for 30k new. But they are my favourite hot hatch. Seriously fast too. The older Megane 225 or r26r is nice too. I also like the Clio 197. They probably all have terrible economy though.

alexlyons

focus st? maybe at the less economical/higher tax end of the scale but i'd still see it as an option

bazz26

OP, I think you are missing the point of the hot hatch if economy and tax are your main concern. The likes of a Golf GTi are as sensible as hot hatches get.

And for me a hot hatch has to have the punch and smoothness of a petrol engine before anyone starts pointing at the Octavia vRS TDi.

Barry walsh

No I understand, there are different levels of economy for different people.
Just trying to find out what way it slants in terms of the tipical irish consumer
or company car driver etc hot hatch would be what the base level of BIK would afford or an underpowered bigger car.

Just a general question in terms of preferences on what there at present

I hear 1.6 turbo Manual petrols are now in band B1 with decent fuel consumption similar to older diesels

dar83

If Golf GTi tax is too "high" for you, then Hot hatches are not where you should be looking.

Neilw

bazz26 wrote: »

And for me a hot hatch has to have the punch and smoothness of a petrol engine before anyone starts pointing at the Octavia vRS TDi.

Exactly, a hot hatch shouldn't have a Diesel engine. Revs, power delivery and handling are all about hot hatches.

At that price a golf gti is hard to look past. As mentioned already Renault have been the king of hot hatches for the past few years.

bazz26

Hot hatches have pretty much died off here since the switch to Co2 based tax and VRT in 2008. The typical Irish consumer just wants a low tax diesel now.

kona

Renaultsports, Astra vxr , typeR,

MuppetCheck

Barry walsh wrote: »

Hi All, looking for opnions on what is the ideal new useable hot hatch/sports car on the market at present.
How do you balance power and economy? diesel or petrol? how much power is to much/enough?

If you had lets say 30k what would you buy?? Boot space is not important more driving experience or racing pedigree or luxury brand etc

For instance i would prefer a petrol ideally
At least Ford Focus size
low tax band with reasonable economy
with around 200bhp with decent torque around 250nm upwards (dont really think anymore is useable everyday
I think this at least half ticks all the boxes for what i look for.

What would you choose and what would your requirements be?

I've been looking at economical ish hot hatches at the moment and without going down the vrs/gtd route the only thing that came to mind was a GTI, FR Leon or a Civic Type R. And there are very slim pickings at around 2 years old, new I don't think there are any available to order in those.

The Focus ST or the RS Megane are the only choices. The diesels are only warm ish anyway, only if you can't realistically run the petrol. They are not as nice to drive as their petrol equivalents.

Supergurrier

Megane RS for pure performance

Golf GTI as safe option

Astra VXR/Focus ST if you wan't comething abit more manic

Barry walsh

Brings on another question whats warm and whats hot nowadays??
over 200hbp= hot?

djimi

Are you talking brand new? I dont think Id be bothered spending €30k on something new tbh; spend half that on the newest Type R Civic you can get and spend the rest on not having to worry about tax and economy.

If I had the money Id be getting a GT-86. No idea if they fall into the hot hatch bracket though, but I know there isnt a brand new car that I want more...

MuppetCheck

Barry walsh wrote: »

Brings on another question whats warm and whats hot nowadays??
over 200hbp= hot?

Depends on weight too, I like the idea of a small and lightweight hatches but they might be useless for any sort of commuting.

Supergurrier

New Clio hot hatch is pretty balls out tbh, would be a great little track car

Marcusm

If you're talking new then I'll propose the car which all Irish men seem to regard as a woman's car - Mini Cooper S or even better a proper JCW (more that EUR30k). Either 280 or 390 of motor tax (why should you care at 30k spend?) to meet your low tax. I'll wait for the sneers to come on now.......

Supergurrier

So on so forth, i know i enjoyed watching these types of videos when i was shopping and saving before that :pac:

Barry walsh

Yeah I know but its just an if you had the lump of money to begin with and you had to buy new but you also had to run it type thread

Supergurrier

Are you gonna modify or keep it standard ?

dar83

Well it's more than 30k, but the new Focus ST wouldn't be a bad shout if this thread is purely hypothetical.

dgt

Hot hatch? Forget everything else, this should do the trick

Matt Simis

Mark1 Audi S3 (ie not new but fits all other criteria) or current model if you can man up the to 2.0 tax.

MuppetCheck

Matt Simis wrote: »

Mark1 Audi S3 or current model if you can man up the to 2.0 tax.

Or the RS3s 70k price tag!

Henry Ford III

Anyone who drives a hot hatch and pays much attention to tax and fuel economy has probably bought the wrong car.

robertxxx

Type R.

Golf 2006 onwards.

Nissan pulsar gtr.

Tea 1000

Marcusm wrote: »

If you're talking new then I'll propose the car which all Irish men seem to regard as a woman's car - Mini Cooper S or even better a proper JCW (more that EUR30k). Either 280 or 390 of motor tax (why should you care at 30k spend?) to meet your low tax. I'll wait for the sneers to come on now.......

No sniggers, cause you're right... however the JCW is well over €40k, and while manic, I couldn't look past the GT86 at that price for sideways fun!
So Cooper S for around 30k, but add 10k and GT86 is the only job.
Or get a 3MPS and tune it...

Marcusm

Tea 1000 wrote: »

No sniggers, cause you're right... however the JCW is well over €40k, and while manic, I couldn't look past the GT86 at that price for sideways fun!
So Cooper S for around 30k, but add 10k and GT86 is the only job.
Or get a 3MPS and tune it...

Per Mini.ie, an MCS starts at EUR26,790 (184 bhp) and a JCW (211bhp) for under EUR35k. I agree the GT86 would be better but that's not really a hot hatch.

Tea 1000

Marcusm wrote: »

Per Mini.ie, an MCS starts at EUR26,790 (184 bhp) and a JCW (211bhp) for under EUR35k. I agree the GT86 would be better but that's not really a hot hatch.

Wow, the JCW really has dropped in price! It's probably 6 years since I was drooling on one in a showroom.