Why Hot Hatches are the most FUN
My opinion as to why Hot Hatches are the most fun and underestimated cars on the road.
I'm going to start this off with the 2010 Mugen Honda Civic Type R, not Hondas limited numbered Mugen M200 Civic but the actual Mugen Civic Type R...they're may of only sold 20 of them but let me show you why this civic opened my eyes to Hot Hatches and showed me just how impressive they can be.
The Mugen Civic Type R
If you don't know what i'm talking about let me introduce this hidden little gem, the Mugen Factory really worked their magic on this, it may look like the standard Type R with a bodykit but let me assure you, it is on a whole new level. They took the standard 2.0L Vtec engine usually producing 198BHP and made some minor changes, they bored out the cylinders, replaced the pistons with some high compression pistons, replaced con-rods and the crankshaft to increase the engines stroke to create an overall capacity of 2156cc, doesn't sound much but what that did for the figures was mega, 58BHP up from the standard 2.0L giving it a peak BHP of 256BHP which you need to remember the Engine is still Naturally Aspirated, no Turbochargers or Superchargers helping here.
You may me wondering, Who is Mugen and what do they do? Well Mugen is a tuning company in Japan, the Japanese tuning outfit specialise in making street-legal Hondas SAVAGE. The company was founded in 1973 by the one and only Hirotoshi Honda, yeah...Mr Honda's son. Mugen, in Japanese means 'Infinite' or 'unlimtied' incase you was wondering, they have a huge reputation in Japan, from 1991-2000 Mugen built and prepped race engines for a number of Formula One teams, including Tyrell, Prost, Ligier and Jordan. Despite such achievements, the Mugen name isn’t yet as well known as the likes of AMG, Mercedes-Benz's go fast division mainly because Mugen don't mass produce they're cars.
Mugen's factory Mugen Type R, one of one in Milano red.
As you can see there are a few changes from the Standard Civic Type R of its generation, these include a full aero kit but the performance upgrades to match the 2.2Mugen engine are the Big Mugen stoppers tucked behind the Lightweight Mugen forged alloys.
All of these modifications put together practically resemble a well specced Civic Type R, thats basically all it is and what amazed me with this Civic is the review and video that Autocar did on this car in 2010 if you haven't seen the video or read the review you can find them here:
That video shocked me, mainly because in 2010 I had only just started driving and I was a massive Honda Fanboy anyway but for the Mugen Civic to Perform like it did against a 'supercar' was just fantastic! That is what makes a Hot Hatch, yes a supercar would outperform a Hot Hatch on a racetrack but on the road where the cars spend most of their time and what they're designed for the Hot Hatch is so underestimated! Yes you might have 600BHP in your supercar but realistically where can you use all your power? On the M1 before the Average speed cameras? Sounds like fun...Hot hatches may not have the most power but they have power than can be used to its full potential on perfect British back roads and THAT is what makes a Hot Hatch great in my opinion!
I'm all for these new Hot Hatches pushing close to 400BHP but! A Hot Hatch for me should be Front Engine Front wheel drive, none of this Four wheel drive malarky, yes the likes of the Golf R and Focus RS need the four wheel drive because they have a lot power but again, realistically can they use all that power on the proper British B road? The answer is probably no, they would not be able to use every inch of the cars power to its full ability and that is what makes it fun! Take a back step down from the Golf R and you have the GTi and that would be my choice out of the two, if I was on the market for a Modern Day Hot Hatch though it would have to be the Hyundai i30N, what an absolute piece of Machinery and for like 4k less than all of its competitors? Its a no Brainer, I really want to review an i30N so until then I will leave a link on here of a i30N review from our pal Clarkson but it doesn't take much googling to see how much love there is for this Hyundai.
jeremy clarkson"Reasons why you would not consider the N? First, you’d have to tell people that you’d bought a Hyundai, which, despite its successes in rallying, is a bit like saying your bladder has broken"
Clarkson's Review sums up the i30N perfectly, yes its a Hyundai, but Hyundai have stepped up their game! 271BHP if purchased with the Performance pack, which is around the 27k mark? A lot cheaper than specced up competitors like the Civic Type R & the Golf GTi you may not have German quality or Japanese Reliability when purchasing the i30N but I have a lot of faith in this new Hot Hatch from Hyundai the amount of testing this car has gone through is drastic, it was tested round the Nurburgring for a good year and tested on European and UK Roads for a good year after Nurburgring testing to ensure that everything worked and worked well, I have no doubt that this Hyundai in years to come will prove its own Greatness, put any modern Hot Hatch up against a Modern R8 on any British B road and even after nearly a decade of technological advance's in the car manufacturing scene and I'm pretty sure the end result would be the R8 being embarrassed by each and every Hot Hatch and I can guarantee the Driver of the Hot Hatches have a bigger smile than these Super car drivers. Super cars are for showing off on the Road and performing on track, Hot Hatches are the underdog's of the road.
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Comments (10)
If I was to buy a hot hatch I think it has to be the car that started it all, the Golf GTI
A man after my own heart.
What bothers me, great article such as this one doesn’t get enough attention, but post a picture or just right something about any of the trios and you get thousands of reaction.
Great article mate.
Hahahah! Thanks mate it really is appreciated, I’ve been baffled by the views tbh yet like you say, total rubbish gets mega views, weird!
I think DT should introduce negative reaction to posts, then there will be paybacks
Great article mate! Out of those two, I’d pick the i30N 💪
Thanks man appreciate it!