GRAVITY’S RAINBOW
Hot hatches work to a proven formula. The whole point of them is to blend practicality and day-to-day usability with tactile agility and amusing levels of firepower. It’s a concept that has endured for generations; when manufacturers started dipping their toes into these fragrant waters back in the 1970s, it became immediately apparent that they were on to a winner, and enthusiasts have been scooping up and cherishing these things ever since.
Where things get a little more peculiar is when car-makers start to distort the fun/practicality balance. The idea of making a fuel-efficient hot hatch, for instance, is one that’s kept designers and engineers scratching their heads for a while; today such things are easily achievable with the likes of Ford’s three-pot EcoBoost motor with cylinder deactivation and what-have-you. But back in the 1990s and early 2000s, it was diesel power that kept popping its head over the parapet. And yes, there were diesel hot hatches before the Skoda Fabia vRS of 2003, but this was
