The best hot hatches can be all things to all drivers. If you need a sensible commuting car they’ll step up. If you need a carryall with the practicality to take your family and all your luggage on holiday, they can (generally) manage it. And if you want a car to put a smile on your face and shake the cobwebs away on an empty country road or deliver some intense straight-line acceleration, then they’re more than capable of doing that, too.
When it comes to new hot hatches, some brands might have fallen by the wayside (there’s no longer a Ford Fiesta ST, for example, and you’ll not find either a Peugeot or Renault Megane or Clio in this list), but your choice has rarely been so broad. In fact, there’s everything from humble Hyundais or electric Cupras to four-wheel-drive Volkswagen Golf R turbo and 400bhp-plus Mercedes AMG monsters available to quench your practical performance car appetite.
Here are what we rate as the best of the best. And such is the breadth of quality in the market segment that even cars that don’t make our final list – such as the VW Golf GTI Clubsport, the Audi RS3 or the MINI Cooper – are still pretty darn good.
Best Hot Hatches 2024
- Volkswagen Golf R (2020-)
- Honda Civic Type R (2023-)
- Hyundai i30 N (2018-)
- Mercedes AMG A45 S (2019-)
- BMW 128ti (2019-)
- Cupra Leon (2020-)
- Cupra Born (2022-)
- Toyota GR Yaris (2020-)
- Hyundai i20 N (2021-)
- Skoda Octavia vRS iv (2020-)
Volkswagen Golf R (2020-)
The mk8 Volkswagen Golf R is an astonishingly capable all-rounder. With 316bhp it’s got as much power as the Honda Civic Type R, yet that’s coupled to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox and all-wheel drive, so it’s got sufficient performance and grip to see off plenty of more exotic-seeming sports cars. And yet it's also still a VW Golf, which means it’s got all the family-lugging capabilities you’d expect and even fairly reasonable running costs. On the downside, being a mk8 Golf, it’s a bit cursed with a buggy infotainment system that some find awkward to use, and fiddly touchpads instead of ordinary buttons.
Honda Civic Type R (2023-)
The previous Honda Civic Type R was a winner in the eyes of many owners and industry commentators, and one of the best cars Honda made. Fortunately, the latest car (known by the internal Honda codename FL5) very much follows in the footsteps of its predecessor. It’s only marginally more powerful, but 325bhp is quite enough power to drive through the front wheels. And besides, the FL5 improves marginally on its predecessor in almost every area – both subjective and objective.
The 0-62mph time, for example, has dropped from 5.8 seconds to 5.4 seconds, while the track is wider and the driver sits lower in the car for a more balanced feel to the handling. But it’s the subjective sensations that make the difference: the chassis feels stiffer and more agile – with even more poise than before – the gearshift is even sweeter than before and the steering delivers more feedback.
Honda Civic Type R review
Hyundai i30 N (2018-)
Not so long ago the idea of a high-performance Hyundai hot hatch would have caused more than a few sniggers and raised eyebrows – the Korean company made an affordable coupe, but that was it as far as appealing performance cars went. Then Hyundai hired the former head of the department at BMW M – the German maker’s performance car division. The result was the i30 N. And suddenly nobody was making fun of Hyundai anymore – they were having fun in one.
The 2.0-litre turbocharged engine in the i30 N gets 276bhp to drive the front wheels, there’s a mechanical limited-slip differential to help keep all that power in check, and the choice of a six-speed manual or eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. Best of all, though, it just feels like a proper hot hatch – eager, keen, and ready to encourage you to go for it whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Hyundai i30 N Review
Mercedes AMG A45 S (2019-)
How’s this for superlative performance: the Mercedes AMG A45 S has 415bhp. That makes its 2.0-litre engine the most powerful turbocharged production car with a four-cylinder engine there is. As a result (and mercifully in combination with four-wheel drive to help cope with the power), this Mercedes hyper-hatch can get from 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds. That’s basically supercar territory. The top speed of 167mph isn’t too shabby either.
It’s also got a super-clever differential on the rear axle, which means up to 100% of the power can be pushed to the rear wheels, but it can also push 100% of the engine’s power to whichever rear wheel has the most grip, resulting in some very agile handling.
BMW 128ti (2019-)
Aside from the MINIs created under its ownership, BMW doesn’t have a tradition of creating front-wheel drive hot hatches. In fact, the 261bhp BMW 128ti is its first one. Fortunately for BMW, they’ve got it right straight out of the box. In terms of layout, power and price point, the 128ti is almost a direct rival for the latest Volkswagen Golf GTI, yet it feels far more alert, exciting and incisive than the Golf, which is occasionally a little too sensible for its own good.
It’s livelier and more keen in corners – thanks to heavily revised suspension – than the more powerful, four-wheel drive BMW M135i, and significantly cheaper. And even though it doesn’t get the trick adaptive dampers of its more expensive sibling, it still handles brilliantly.
If you want a fast brand-new 1 Series, this is the one that’ll be the most fun. Sure, it’s no longer rear-wheel drive like the previous generation 1 Series, but we promise you that you’ll be enjoying yourself so much that you really won’t care.
Cupra Leon (2020-)
Cupra is the performance-focused brand spun-off from Seat and, although it makes some stand-alone models, the Leon is still a modified Seat. The Cupra Leon comes in several flavours, too, including a plug-in hybrid model, though the most hot-hatch-like is the 300hp petrol model.
This is capable of 0-62mph in 5.7 seconds, although there’s also an estate version with 306bhp and four-wheel drive that’ll get to 62mph in 4.9 seconds… but an estate isn’t quite a hot hatch, is it?
Cupra Leon Review
Cupra Born (2022-)
Electric cars still have a little way to go to deliver a full range of cars that will get enthusiasts’ pulse racing. But models like the Porsche Taycan are doing that at the upper end of the market, while in more affordable price brackets the Cupra Born can reasonably stake a claim as the first proper electric hot hatch (yes, there is the Abarth 500e, too, but that’s a more recent addition to the sporty electric hot hatch ranks).
Using the same platform, battery and motor as the unexciting Volkswagen ID.3 might not seem like an auspicious start, but its rear-motor, and rear-wheel-drive chassis are a good basis – and very unusual in a world where hot hatches are either front-wheel drive or four-wheel drive.
With 228bhp at best, the Born won’t blow your socks off, but its power delivery is punch enough, and the always-ready nature of an electric drivetrain makes it feel quicker than raw figures suggest.
Cupra Born Review
Toyota GR Yaris (2020-)
Created in part to help Toyota take on the World Rally Championship, the GR Yaris is the result of what happens when a car company’s engineering department is let off the leash to go and have a bit of fun. Although it shares a name and a dashboard design with the regular Toyota Yaris supermini, the similarities pretty much end there. There’s a lower roofline (made from carbon fibre), no rear doors, and doors, bonnet and tailgate made from aluminium. Oh, and a 256bhp turbocharged 1.6-litre three-cylinder engine combined with four-wheel drive to help the tearaway GR Yaris get from 0-60mph in just 5.5 seconds. If you want rally car thrills for the road, this is where your money needs to be going.
Hyundai i20 N (2021-)
If small hot hatches are the terriers of the automotive world, the i20 N is a Jack Russell after four cans of Red Bull. It’s just so eager to go, to whizz off down the road with you behind the wheel, grinning while holding on for dear life. It’s not all that powerful, with a 201hp 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine, but it’s small, and light, making it agile and responsive.
The i20 N's firm ride doesn’t make it the most comfortable of cars, but it’s such an entertaining, willing machine that you almost certainly won’t mind. You’ll have fun on the drive to the chiropractor’s, at least. Along with the i30 N, the fast i20 is proof that Hyundai now makes some of the best hot hatchbacks. And with the demise of the Ford Fiesta ST and its sonorous three-cylinder engine, the tearaway Hyundai has precious few direct rivals.
Hyundai i20 N Review
Skoda Octavia vRS iv (2020-)
A huge boot and plenty of room in the rear seats make a fast Skoda Octavia a thoroughly practical family hatchback. Traditionally, the diesel model was the Octavia vRS of choice for those after the best fuel economy, but these days the plug-in hybrid iv model is worth a look if you want to keep an eye on the fuel bills. You can get up to 38 miles of electric-only range out of it and, if you’re a company car driver, it’ll prove to be pretty tax-efficient, too.
On the other hand, it still delivers a combined 242bhp from its 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine and electric motor, so it’s definitely still a proper hot hatch.