Am I the only one really not seeing the issue with spending 12k-14k on a hot hatch?
Seems like there's a bit of bandwagon jumping in here - fox made an amusing comment about it so lets all agree to be cool. I can see the perspective that some wouldn't want to spend that sort of money on a hatch, but I don't think it's a big issue if that's what he wants. There probably are better cars for the money but they would be older with higher running costs. He's buying at 50% of the original price and they're mostly considered very good cars so not seeing why it's a huge problem. Yes he could spend less on the same car, but that applies to 90% of the people in this thread - I'm sure you could have all spent less on the same car that was just a bit older
The only one I'd avoid is the Mazda 3, which is a shame because its the one I'd most like to own - I say avoid it because of the depreciation. Other than that, none of these are going to be a poor choice technically.
Saying all that, if you've driven them and are struggling to hand over the cash then maybe a hot hatch isn't what you want or you don't want to hand over that much money. If this is the right decision, one of them would have grabbed you and you'd really want to pay 12-14k of your hard earned... The fact you're so unsure makes me think it might be the wrong direction. You seem to have decided you really want a hot hatch, but none of them are actually giving you what you've built up as a mental picture.
If I had that much cash, in your situation I'd buy a similarly powered small saloon for 10k (330i for example) and chuck the remaining 4 into a savings account - that's half a deposit for a house.