| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
VW Golf Mk.1 ( convertible variant shown)
A hot hatch is an informal or slang term for a performance derivative of a small hatchback car. Vehicles of this class are typically based on a budget, family orientated car, and equipped with improved suspension and a more powerful engine. Front mounted engines and front wheel drive is the most common layout.
The design most often considered to have started the hot hatch genre is the 1977 Volkswagen Golf GTI. The original 1974 version of the Golf was in mass production at this point, and the addition of a 1.8 litre fuel injected engine, sharp handling, and sharper marketing found a huge market for enjoyable yet practical cars.
The Golf GTI enjoyed a short run of almost unparalleled success, but by the early 1980s car manufacturers worldwide were racing to market with their own alternatives. Notable big-sellers in the early days were the Ford Escort XR3 and Vauxhall Astra GTE.
By the end of the 1980s the hot hatch had taken its place across the UK and EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se, and was pushing into other worldwide markets. The brief heyday of Group B rallying pushed the hot hatch genre to its limits, and small numbers of ultra-high performance variants were manufactured to comply with the rally rules. These enthusiasts vehicles represented a brief, extreme branch of the hot hatch, and included such notable vehicles as the Peugeot 205The Peugeot 205 is a small supermini hatchback sold by Peugeot between 1983 and 1996, in 3 or 5-door bodies. Engines ranged from 950cc to 1905cc in Petrol and Diesel versions. Widely regarded as a modern classic, the 205 is often credited as the car which T-16 and MG Metro 6R4.
Until 1980 the VW Golf had the market largely to itself. Competition was limited to non-hatchbacks such as the MiniAlternative meanings: mini (with lower-case 'm') is also colloquial for miniskirt and, less commonly, for miniature figure. The Mini is the name of a well known small car produced from 1959- 2000 and newer one (known as "New MINI"), launched in 2001., and race-inspired enthusiasts vehicles such as the Vauxhall ChevetteThe Chevette is a model of car manufactured by Vauxhall in the UK from 1975 to 1983. It was Vauxhall's version of GM's family of small T-Cars', which included the Opel Kadett in Germany, the Isuzu Gemini in Japan, the Holden Gemini in Australia, and the C HS. However, sub-compacts and superminis had adopted a two-body design ever since the Mini, and, in spite of their small engines, had been adopted by young racing enthusiasts with little money because of their low weight. Thus, even though the Golf was one of the few cars with engines larger than 1.4 liters and with more than 100 bhp, other hatches were on their way to becoming "hot". Also, cars such as the Hillman Imp or the Simca Rallye, while having sedan bodies, were small enough to be considered direct ancestors of the hot hatch.