Affordable hot hatches are few and far between these days, especially if said car made its name in the ’80s or ’90s. As more weight and complexity crept in during the next decade, it was the city car class that kept the hot hatch formula intact. But there were precious few cars to choose from: Volkswagen’s Lupo GTI, MINI’s Cooper and Cooper S, and Fiat’s 500 Abarth were as good as it got.
Said bloat scuppered VW’s beloved Golf, too; reviewers may have swooned at the Mk4’s soft