Serious Hot Hatch Contender.

[shakespeare]

Going back to the topic of, "Serious Hot Hatch Contender"

It doesn't really matter what configuration of driving wheels, engine size or what cost is at play here. What should really matter is, is the car in question a serious hot hatch and does it fit your criteria for ownership! So far I would have to say that all the cars mentioned fit the "Hot Hatch" criteria, but really only one will be the right one for you. However there have been some omissions here, that shouldn't be overlooked (and are or will be avail in Aust soon), anyway some additional food for thought...

Renaultsport Clio Cup (I'd get one if I didn't have a family or have to use it for work!)



Renaultsport Megane RS250

Imprezza STI (I know, but it fits the criteria)

Alfa Guilietta GTA (Maybe for Aus)

Top Gear UK - Hot hatch test (Read the mag and was quite interesting)

The Stig v hot hatches - BBC Top Gear

[blackbetty]

The Alfa is sexy

[Grajy]

They made one, MPS Extreme, wish it was released.

The extreme wasn't extreme enough for me.
I'm thinking 19 inch wheels, 310hp, multi-piston Brembo's, AWD, a car that could compete with previously mentioned $60,000+ vehicles.
And maybe even be a rally car too...
The Mazdaspeed/MPS R4... maybe

[heath_303]

top gear always leaves out the MPS in their hot hatch reviews...

[gotboost]

went down the other day to vw burwood finally saw the R in the flesh, at first I thought 60k for this? it is very understated with just the wheels and dual exhaust imo screaming attention over a gti, the interior is just beautiful but its very much a cousin to the s3. The dealer was stressing that "I better be quick" as they had already "pre sold" most of there allocated stock. Might be interesting to see if the vw clan ditch there v6 r32's over this one, just feels a bit of a less engaging driver experience over the R32 and going for tick all the boxes (power, fuel economy,0-60 best time) sometimes its not all numbers just weather it puts a smile on your face over and over again, and that's just going to do a milk run ...my 2 cents

[LILZLR]

mmmm White with black 19" wheels that sounds like pure sex !

[YOU LOSE]

They made one, MPS Extreme, wish it was released.

Brad you need to read the road test on the mps extreme in Tarmac Magazine , the motoring media canned the one & only prototype it was apparently a pig to drive & was actually slower than the MPS ( see times in back page of any Tarmac Mag ) having said that there are probably far better EXTREME MPS'S in the OZMPSClub with the after market mod's that are now available . One of the biggest mistakes was to fit 19" wheels with ultra low profile tyres which magnifided torque steer & made the car tramline excesively making it almost impossable to drive . I,m possitive our mps club collectively could come up with the ultimate MPS 3 EXTREME . Now there's an idea a OZMPSClub progect car !!!!!!!

Col

[Doug_MPS6]

Given the rapid value decay in almost any new car bought, it makes keeping your MPS6 and tweaking it to produce a sub-6 second, pretty, four-door, five seat Q-ship bloody attractive. You can do a lot of tweaks for ~$60K, which will cost more like $75-100K depending on finance and amortization issues forgetting, of course, that it is all after-tax dollars too, so add another 30% or so...

My tweaks have cost around $6K and I'm almost done and happy with the results, even though I haven't dressed the car up externally at all. I might add some minor embellishments when done with the mechanicals, adding a second BOV to deal with low level compressor stall on the pressure side of the FMIC and some electronics I'm installing. I don't want to mess with the current ride which is a good compromise, so I'm not putting in coil-overs, though I might put in suspension tower stiffening struts. And I might put in a short shifter if I can find a good one that works and doesn't mess up the present shift which I don't mind, and upgrade the lights.

I doubt I'll spend $10K total. I don't want wide wheel and rolled guards. I'm delighted with the tyres it has now and you'd have to drive like a madman or hit black ice to lose this car on a corner. I'm not driving on race tracks; I do long distance touring and the handling is far and way more than adequate for that. I don't want to draw attention to the car at all. No spoilers, flares, arches, black-outs, custom plates or look-at-me glitz.

Q-ships rool!!