Hot hatches....

Did they lose their way at the start of the 90s?….mk2 golf gti…replaced by the mk3, pug 205 gti….replaced by the 206 , mk2 astra gte….replaced by..not sure they even did a mk3 gte?….mk3/4 xr3i….replaced by the mk5, mk2 xr2……replaced by the mk3, in my opinion they were all worse for looks and and frumpy…..like to hear people's opinions..

Yes poor on the whole, they came good in the 00's tho

jellybelly said

Yes poor on the whole, they came good in the 00's tho

Very much so,

I think some of it is down to the insurance issues during the early 90's and the bad press that hot hatches had got from all the joy riding etc. all these later incarnations would have been planned/designed just at the height of all the issues, it would have taken a brave man to stick his neck out and go a against the trend.

Those in their early 20's when the Mk1 and Mk2 were for sale could afford the insurance then, later on you had to be in your 30's to make it realistic and by then and often different needs like families, comfort for longer business trips etc, so the driver profile changed as well.  Thankfully we have now gone full circle although I think cars such a the Golf must still have a higher age profile, but there are now a host of hot super-minis to take the place .

The mk3 Astra was a 2.0 16v gsi as I had one.

After that I went for jap cars with a nissan pulsar gtir, then the impreza p1.

But sportbikes is where the power was for me 

mk1 daz said

The mk3 Astra was a 2.0 16v gsi as I had one.

After that I went for jap cars with a nissan pulsar gtir, then the impreza p1.

But sportbikes is where the power was for me 

Same here, had a cpl of exups and a cpl of zx9r's once you've ridden plastic rocket ships, cars seem very tame  

The clio Williams was a cracker of a car too. But you wouldn't dare have one from where I live. At the time Middlesbrough had one of the highest car crime ratings in the country.

Yea, think the Jap Mitsubishi and Subaru 4x4 turbos did to hot hatches what hot hatches had done to the previous generation MGs and Triumphs sport cars.

I always fancied a Mitsubishi Starion, but there rare as now!