lozgti

The 306 GTI was great.The 205 GTI was great.Nothing girly about them at all

What happened to Peugot when the 206GTI was produced?

A few others have suffered the same thing.I can only thing the designers specifically had 'girly hot hatch' in mind .

Puts me off loads of them.One good reason why second car is the pig ugly chunky warm Fabia RS.

Are they specifically targeting young women?

Rabid

Most of them are based on econo-shopping boxes. What do you expect?

I wouldn't say the Focus ST looks all that girly, neither a Cupra R or Astra VXR. Or are you talking smaller cars only?

skoda_kid

The fact is the standard 205 was a 'econo-shopping box, however the 205GTi was an-alltime great, similar thing with the Clio Williams.

However lozgti's point is that Peugeot never built on this success with the 206. Yes the VXR, ST are exceptions, but certain GTi's are not worth the badge. Others that spring to mind are the Almera GTi, Golf MK4 GTi.

In answer to the original post, i think its not neccesarily the designers fault, in the case of the 206GTi, they were clearly told to try and appeal to a broader market. Which for us petrolheads is bad news.

I personally would love to see more companies taking risks again, and i think the VXR and ST's of the world are a good example of this happening.


Matt

Rabid

We already know this, I've owned 2 myself and they were great. The point was that a hotted up shopping trolley is always going to be effeminate because of it's origins.

ScoobyJawa

The Almera GTi was actually a very good car, and under-rated. Ok so it won't set the world alight with a 8ish sec 0-60, but it handled very well, and reliable as you like. Mate had one and I was impressed tbh, considering I've owned the 306GTi-6 and on my second 1.9 8v 205.........

prodriva

Sorry, but that statement is nonsense. You could say that about any car on the market today as the majority are based on volume selling standard models. To make my point take the VW Gold GTi MkI. The golf had been out for a number of years. The engineers thought it would be good to drop a large capacity engine in and fit it with injection, upgrade the running gear and see what happens. The Golf GTi MkI is what began the GTi model yet was itslef based on a run on the mill "shopping trolley".

To the best of my knowledge not one GTi has been designed and sold to the public from scratch and not been based on an existing model.

Just my 2p's worth

Mike123

Have you ever driven an Almera Gti or just basing your point on the looks of it?

Rabid

That statement is nonsense not my assertions. Most hot hatches are based on shoppinf trolleys and therefore have a whiff of the feminine about them. It doesn't matter what started the trend.

Although I would argue that Golf's aren't feminine at all whatever the model.

MPC-GTR

I had an Almera GTI- jet black, black leather interior and factory fitted body kit. The most reliable car I have ever owned and excellent handling to boot. It was underpowered though which limited the thrills somewhat. The japanese market had a turbocharged version if I remember correctly with about 185bhp as opposed to the 141/143bhp of the UK NA version.

EVOLUTION

the 306 Rallye was king though


john

Andrew Timmins

I think the Japanese market version you mention is the VZR. Not turbocharged but a variable valve timing engine similar to Hondas VTEC.

The Almera GTi is a great drive. Had mine nearly three years now and still enjoying the handling, straight line performance isn't bad either.

prodriva

Riiiiiiiiight, so a golf convertible isnt feminine? A Golf Rolling Stone Edition isnt feminine? Just a couple of examples that spring to mind

I fail to see what you getting at me 'ole mucka

prodriva

So your basically saying that after owning 2 of them your firmly in contact with your feminine side lol.

Rabid

I've had most of the classic hot hatches and being in contact with my 'feminine side' is what gets me all the hot chicks.

Bless them they love all that lovey dovey, I'll cook for you ****. Before you know it they're on their hands and knees with a mouthful.

gatecrasher3

The Golf GTI icononic hot hatch. Bollocks. Give me a MK1 Astra GTE any day of the week. Fantastic performers and very underrated.

prodriva

(Clarkson mode on) But, but but ITS A VAUXHALL (Clarkson mode off)

I was going to go on about the bancmange like chassis but then I realised your referring to the real early boxy style http://homepage.ntlworld.com/phil.do...es/NewHome.jpg
Indeed a very nice car as I like my retro hot hatches.

My all time favourite hot hatch is the Renault 5 GT Turbo (phase2). Had one in my youth and loved the thing.

lozgti

[quote=prodriva
My all time favourite hot hatch is the Renault 5 GT Turbo (phase2). Had one in my youth and loved the thing.[/quote]

I really liked those.Then they morphed into clios.

Same with the old mini cooper.Probably slow but certainly not girly.I know its only my opinion but the new one has gained so much in technology but lost so much in terms of image.Girls can't get enough of them.

Rabid

You can't argue that the Golf GTi isn't the iconic hot hatch because it's been universally recognised as first and most representative of breed. Doesn't mean it's the best or even that it was first IMO but may I suggest you find out what 'iconic' actually means?

As for the best and one of the earliest hot hatches this is the kiddie, I just wish mine hadn't died or I'd still have it.

gatecrasher3

The people that slate the MK2 chassis are the ones that couldn't drive it properly

5 Turbo is a cracking car though. Unfortunately I missed out on that one

Mike123

Spot on - 16v a great hot hatch!

RobEvo5

iTrader: (9)

Top car, had a TI sunbeam and loved it, but saying that I also had a GTIMK1 which was any bit as good. But the Lotus was a true supercar Hot hatch of its day.

RobEvo5

iTrader: (9)

You were probably the lucky one m8. Had one of these as well, and went like sh*t of a shovel, but was in the garage being repared every other week. Nightmare of a car, Turbo used to boil the petrol and evaporate and never wanted to start after a run either.

Vlad the Impaler

Nice.

I'd argue a chevette HSR was a better drive, though.

Mike123

Did the little fan work OK? There was also an anti-percolation kit you could add I recall? I'm sure Billgtt will provide the gen
A friend of mine had one and once he'd fixed that, it was fine. Only other prob was clutch cables snapping but we cured that as well after the third one. More maintenance intensive than some cars but if you looked after them they were cracking little cars

AllanB

I cannot agree the Gold was far from the definitive hot hatch having driven most of the hot hatches out there apart form the 5 Gt Turbo I have to say the Gold was good but not great. The Fiat Strada Abarth would destroy a standard gold 8v or 16V for everything apart form build quality. Handling, performance were all in another league.

I has left very disappointed by the 309 and 205, was just somehting missing.

I also have to agree the Mk1 Astra was a superb car what on earth did they do so wrong with the MKII onwards !

Now the hot hatch I favour was only loosley based on the shopping model, its the Charade GTti. It was the only version available in the UK with a 3 door body shell. Quicker than most hot hatches with 0-60 in 7.7 as standard and dead easy to get down into the 6s with some minor mods. They sound awesome too with a 993cc 3 cylinder twin cam engine.



AllanB

shep ppp

strada abarth with those lovely twin 40s. also mk1 uno turbo 125mph as standard

dogboy1

Another vote for the 5GT Turbo....i had a raider ( special edition.)

Fantastic cars!!!

markGT

The mini cooper S has to be the ultimate effeminate hot hatch. Nearly eveybody I have seen that drives them are blonde women. when I lived in the UK I knew the guy who worked on the maketing campaign for the cars and they were told by BMW to market the cars at women and gay men. So there you go the ultimate effeminate hot hatch.

RapidSeven

If I can put my two-penneth in here, here's a list of hot hatches ive owned over the years and i'll rate them, top 5.

1. 205 GTI ( 1.9 of course ) UNDOUBTED WINNER, Best Hot-Hatch ever.
2. CRX 1.6 16v twin cam. ( fantastic car, best engine ever )
3. Citroen ZX 2lt 16V - 167BHP (underrated, same car as the GTI-6 )
4. Renault 5 GTT ( great car, but knife edge reliability )
5. Mk2 Astra GTE 16v ( Red-top engine was great, handling a bit tricky )

I know some of you die hards will say the mk1 & mk2 Golf GTI, ive had a few Mk2's ( easily better car than the mk1 ) in 8v and 16v, but they never did it for me tbh, the 8v was quicker than the 16 upto 60 I thought.

The 205 has got to be the best hot-hatch of all time, 10 years ago there wasnt much that could keep up with this car in " the perfect roads " and dare I say that may be still the case today.

Ive had a mixture of everything sporty, from six 205's, 3 Mk2 Golf GTI's, a couple of Corrado's 1.8 16v / VR6 a Visa GTI ( lol ) ZX 16V, CRX twin cam, 3 GTE valvers, 3 R5 Gtt's, 1 Metro Turbo, 1 Montego Tubo, 2 XR3I's, 1 Orion I Ghia, 2 Clio 16v's, 1 19 16V, 1 309 GTI, 3 RS Turbo's, 3 Saph's, 1 Volvo T-5, 1 Impreza WRX, 1 Fiat 20v Turbo and so on which are not in the hot hatch catagory.

The best engined car ( hot hatch wise ) was the 1.6 16v twin cam CRX, the VR6 Corrado comes second. Best handling id say was a toss up between the 205 and the ZX 16V. Best looking I thought was 205 in light metallic blue, most comfy seats was the CRX, reliability wise the CRX again, best on fuel, the CRX again and so on.

I suppose the CRX was the best car, probably the worst mistake in swapping it for a 5 turbo, but something in my mind keeps me to the 205, just cant put my finger on why, should'nt be really, I mean cutting out all the time, axle's seizing up, head gaskets, the front seats rocking backwards and forwards all the damm time, but none of that ever matterd when you were driving one.

By the way, I drove an Almera GTi once, and was very very impressed by it. Handling was a bit skittish, but the engine was great.

R7

Hol

iTrader: (1)

Or even the 'milder' HS.

Both those and the Sunbeam were RWD though. So completely different to drive and own to the GTI era cars

I though the 205 1.9 was a great replacement to the Pinto escorts I had before when it came out. The 309 I had afterwards actually handled better.

For fords I had RST engined Orion and a Escort Carbio, but they were more lookers, than driver cars.
Had XR2 & 3i's when I was skint after buying a house and a 220BHP GTT which- 'as you would have guessed' was unreliable.

Never ever tried Astra's or Golfs, so cant comment.