Advice on which new hot hatch

matthab · 17 Oct 2018 at 15:31

Axeboy said:
The Leon Cupra 300 (or 310) might be worth a shout?

Relatively understated, fwd or 4wd although many who have had both prefer the lighter fwd.

Doesn't have a fancy badge but well equipped, lightweight, decent on fuel and maybe cheaper to buy

Second this, I chose one over a Golf R.

Robi · 17 Oct 2018 at 15:36

M140i
Automatic
Adaptive M suspension
Professional media package

Plus the Motech performance package - if you don't mind using non-BMW parts. If you mind and wish to retain the BMW warranty, go for the MPE with carbon tips.

Fantastic performance hatch with a few thousand left over in your bank.

Axeboy · 17 Oct 2018 at 15:44

matthab said:
Second this, I chose one over a Golf R.

It also comes with the virtual cockpit

matthab · 17 Oct 2018 at 15:59

Axeboy said:
It also comes with the virtual cockpit

I don't have that in my 280

, looks lovely in the 300. No adaptive suspension as standard in the Golf either.

Axeboy · 17 Oct 2018 at 16:10

The adaptive dampers are an option in the Golf too iirc

wingman · 17 Oct 2018 at 16:46

Does it have to be a hatchback? I'd cry into my cornflakes every morning if I dropped £30k on a hot hatch. I dropped £20k on an M135i and that was a fugly car at the best of times, but at least it had suffered a fair chunk of depreciation.

Robi · 17 Oct 2018 at 16:59

wingman said:
Does it have to be a hatchback? I'd cry into my cornflakes every morning if I dropped £30k on a hot hatch. I dropped £20k on an M135i and that was a fugly car at the best of times, but at least it had suffered a fair chunk of depreciation.

Was your M135i a pre-LCI?

It's probably rich coming from an owner (looks only a mother could love and all that), but I do genuinely believe that the LCI M1XXi looks great from most angles - I don't understand the hate it gets

ScoobyDoo69 · 17 Oct 2018 at 17:17

Housey said:
To drive I don't think any of those would compare well to the Civic Type R. If you can get past the looks of the thing (I just couldn't in the end) then for smiles per miles it would, in my opinion, top all of those cars, some of them by a country mile. I get to drive many many nice cars, the Type R is one of the most impressive I have driven in the last 10 years.

Go drive one on some proper roads.

I think I have to echo this a bit, when I drove one I was genuinely surprised at how good it was, and how fast it felt. Great seats, good bit of kit included. Very good cars.

Unfortunately I drove it on a mildly damp day, which ruined the experience a bit for me. Whenever accelerating hard pulling out of a junction, or doing 2nd/3rd gear pulls on anything that was under cover of trees then it just couldn't put down the power, fighting against its traction control.

If you can live with the FWD'ness at times, then they're awesome.

Housey · 17 Oct 2018 at 17:48

4WD spoils us come traction time and as a road car in the UK there is pretty much zero argument of worth against it when you have signifcant power.

But on a dry trip to the Evo Triangle I struggle to think of any car on the twistes that would get away from a good driver in one or frankly most of the modern hot hatches. However the Civic owner would be having more fun than all the other hot hatch owners. The Golf R felt like a bread knife to the Type R scalpel in my view.

chaparral · 18 Oct 2018 at 06:15

It bit different

But how about a Audi Q3 RS ?
https://www.audi.com/en/models/rs-r8/rs-q3.html

Princey · 18 Oct 2018 at 08:27

Thanks for the responses so far.

I'm certainly not keen on the looks of the Type 'R, however reading people's opinions in here and reviews on the web it would be silly to dismiss it outright and I will certainly see if I can get an extended drive in one.

It doesn't have to be a hatchback, it's just I think the current crop of top-end hot hatches offer such a well rounded package. I'll be honest I've been looking at M4s too as they seem to have crept under £30,000, same with F10 M5s, however I'd image the latter to have running costs way above what I'd be willing to pay, probably the same for the M4 too but I'll investigate.

The only car I'm 100% ruling out is the RS, boring, outdated interior and the exterior styling doesn't do anything at all for me, plus the ride is bone-shaking hard, even in comfort.

Princey · 18 Oct 2018 at 08:29

chaparral said:
It bit different

But how about a Audi Q3 RS ?
https://www.audi.com/en/models/rs-r8/rs-q3.html

Hmmm, not sure these are under £30,000? I'll have a look because they are very handsome and I'd imagine very capable.

[TW]Fox · 18 Oct 2018 at 08:45

Why not drive them and buy the one you like best?

Princey · 18 Oct 2018 at 08:50

Princey said:
I’ve yet to drive any of these cars and will be doing that over the next few months in as many different guises as possible. I’m just interested in other people’s opinions on the above cars.

I may have missed some cars that I could potentially look at so I am asking for opinions on these cars and others I could also potentially like.

Drollic · 18 Oct 2018 at 12:56

I disliked the latest type r on looks alone when it came out but it's growing on me, certainly in the dark grey. The worst thing is that triple exhaust although aftermarket can probably address that easily.

chaparral · 18 Oct 2018 at 18:11

Princey said:
Hmmm, not sure these are under £30,000? I'll have a look because they are very handsome and I'd imagine very capable.

When I looked at the second hand prices of them around 6 to 10 months ago they were going from around 27k (private sales)

I just had a look on pistonheads
27k https://www.pistonheads.com/classif...i-q3-2-5-tfsi-quattro-310-ps-s-tronic/9088064 Year 2014
33k https://www.pistonheads.com/classif...-q3-2-5-tfsi-quattro-340-ps-s-tronic/9091663# Year 2016

I Don't know how much main dealers are selling them for

Housey · 18 Oct 2018 at 20:29

chaparral said:
When I looked at the second hand prices of them around 6 to 10 months ago they were going from around 27k (private sales)

I just had a look on pistonheads
27k https://www.pistonheads.com/classif...i-q3-2-5-tfsi-quattro-310-ps-s-tronic/9088064 Year 2014
33k https://www.pistonheads.com/classif...-q3-2-5-tfsi-quattro-340-ps-s-tronic/9091663# Year 2016

I Don't know how much main dealers are selling them for

And TERRIBLE

The closest I have come to a proper crash in last few years was in a small RS Q thing at Oulton Park on an Audi RS day. I turned, it didn't at a pace all the other cars there had gobbled up. It was near understeer death and the embarrassment that goes with that and I was not alone in my conclusion about how garbage these are. The Audi Germans all agreed too....allegedly.

iwrox · 19 Oct 2018 at 10:17

Another vote for the M140 here! Had mine a few weeks now and hands down the best hot hatch I personally have owned.

But as mentioned by others I would get behind the wheel of a few and see what suits you best.... I did not take my own advice and got into the BMW blind.

I do not regret it for a moment though!

Jamesyboyjim · 19 Oct 2018 at 10:22

Princey said:
Thanks for the responses so far.

I'm certainly not keen on the looks of the Type 'R, however reading people's opinions in here and reviews on the web it would be silly to dismiss it outright and I will certainly see if I can get an extended drive in one.

If you do test drive the new Type R and can get past its interesting exterior style, have a good play with the infotainment system too, its supposed to be dire. That's a big thing nowadays.

LiE · 19 Oct 2018 at 10:25

iwrox said:
Another vote for the M140 here! Had mine a few weeks now and hands down the best hot hatch I personally have owned.

But as mentioned by others I would get behind the wheel of a few and see what suits you best.... I did not take my own advice and got into the BMW blind.

I do not regret it for a moment though!

Definitely try the M240i as well, looks much better than the 1 series.