Left-Field – Looking Back at 5 Forgotten Hot Hatch Gems
The hot hatch genre has changed beyond recognition since VW popularised the sector with its Mk1 Golf GTI over 4 decades ago, with modern offerings boasting the kind of advanced technology and power figures which would’ve been simply unheard of in the mid ’70s. Along the way we’ve been treated to a number of true hot hatch icons, the kind of cars which have gone onto carve themselves a place in automotive history – the Golf GTI, Peugeot 205 GTi, Alfa Romeo Alfasud, Clio Williams and Civic Type R to name but five.
Not every hot hatch can go down in history as a great though, and for every 205 GTi there are half a dozen Uno Turbos, Daihatsu Charade GTtis and Rover 200 BRMs. With this in mind, and aware that there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of grabbing an automotive bargain, here are 5 of the best left-field hot hatch choices – and the Powerflex product we recommend fitting to them.
1) Suzuki Ignis Sport
We thought we’d kick-start this list with one of the more contentious entries – the Suzuki Ignis Sport! No, it isn’t a car we imagine many of you lusted after when it was new, and no it can’t claim to have garnered the same cult following as the likes of the Golf GTI, but there’s no escaping the value of the Sport’s basic makeup; small, lightweight and with a wheel at all four corners, the Ignis has all the makings of a classic, mid ’80s hot hatch! There’s also the fact that it’s powered by a rev-happy 1.5 twink, plus its oft-overlooked success on the rally stages of the world as a Super 1600 car. Cheap, chuckable and wonderfully old-school – a good mix in our book!
There’s much to be said for swapping the Ignis’ standard bushes for offerings from our range, if only as the OEM products are likely to have seen better days! We’d suggest plumping for a set of front anti-roll bar bushes, guaranteed to restore some handling order: https://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-series/product-details/Front+Roll+Bar+Mount+Bush/414.html
2) Fiat Panda 100HP
The Fiat Panda 100HP is proof that it often doesn’t matter how fast you can go, what matters is how fast it feels, and in the case of the diddy Fiat, that’s very fast indeed! 100Bhp wasn’t something to shout about when the hot variant of the Panda was launched, but it was a refreshingly honest take on the hot hatch from Fiat, one which eschewed massive power figures and forced induction for the timeless charms of a manic, NA engine with bags of character and a fizzy exhaust note. It also looked great, was affordable and handled like it was on rails, making it something of a spiritual successor to icons from the early ’90s.
Another of those models that’s very well catered to by the Powerflex range, we’d suggest plumping for our Poweralign camber bolt kit, available in either 10mm or 12mm versions: https://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-series/product-details/PowerAlign+Camber+Bolt+Kit+%2812mm%29/11194.html
3) Skoda Fabia VRS
The first commercially available hot hatch with diesel power, the Fabia VRS was a seriously groundbreaking car when it was unveiled back in 2003, and it took a fair amount of time before buyers were willing to overlook its unconventional fuel type. Those that did found that they’d bought themselves something of a diamond in the rough, a left-field hot hatch with a hefty mid-range punch of DERV-based torque, not to mention fuel economy to make owners of conventionally fueled hot hatches green with envy!
The Fabia’s Polo underpinnings ensure that there’s no shortage of Powerflex hardware from which to pick from, but we’d suggest our Front Wishbone Rear Bush with +1 degree of inbuilt caster offset: https://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-series/product-details/Front+Wishbone+Rear+Bush+Caster+Offset+/12666.html
4) Citroen AX GT/GTI
Plenty of the cars on this list hark back to the late ’80s and early ’90s, the hot hatch’s ‘Golden Era,’ yet the AX GT and GTi were actually there, on sale and available in an era when ‘the net’ was a device used for landing trout and nothing else. Power was never the GT’s strong suit (it was pulled along by a basic 1.4 making a heady 85bhp), but what it lacked in outright grunt it more than made up for in good old-fashioned mass – or lack of it, the AX tipped the scales at just 722kg! The AX’s lightweight and flimsy build quality might have rendered it a terrifying prospect in all but the most minor of accidents, but they gave the Citroen hatch a respectable power to weight ratio, not to mention sublime, ‘chuckable’ handling.
Similarly to many of the cars on this list, there’s no point owning an AX GT if its handling has been compromised by failing bushes, which is why we’d make installing some Powerflex front wishbone and ARB bushes our first port of call: https://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-series/products/AX+Mk1+%26+2+%281986-1998%29-106/1.html
5) Ford Fiesta Zetec S
This is probably the least capable car here, certainly ‘right out of the box,’ but there can be no denying its smart good looks, cheeky character or the fact that a decent Zetec S can still be picked up for very little money. The Zetec S was launched when Ford was on something of a roll chassis-wise, which explains why it remains an utter hoot to drive, well able to use every last shred of its modest power output as and when required! It doesn’t have the sophistication or the out-and-out capability of more modern offerings, true, but then that can be a good thing – the Zetec S offers the kind of analogue driving experience that’s sadly missing from all modern hot hatches.
This is a car that lives and dies on its ability to corner, hence why we’d undertake a comprehensive Powerflex-fitting session – there’s no end of choice and you’ll thank us for it, honest. https://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-series/products/Fiesta+Mk4+%281995+-+1999%29+%26+Mk5+%281999+-+2002%29-1310/1.html
