I'm about to enter into the market for a used 'hot hatch'. When I say that, I mean early contenders include a Golf GTI, Golf R, Cupra 290/300 etc. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out any other cars/brands to consider and naturally people's opinion on any of them.

Given you are only looking at the VW Golf and Seat Leon, yes!. Even just sticking with VAG you are missing the Octavia VRS and Audi S3. But there is also the Focus ST (budget might even be enough to squeeze into the later 2.3), the Honda Civic Type R (if you can live with its Manga comic escapee looks), various BMW 1 Series (assuming you can live with less rear seat space than a Polo) including the 6 cyl 140i.

For context, I've always driven Diesels (company car) and now that I've started my own business and I'm working from home alot, I don't do half the miles and also want to get the enjoyment back into Driving.

Horses for courses, but I'm not convinced having a car which you can only utilise a 3rd of its performance (legally) is going to be that enjoyable. A circa 300bhp hot hatch in a country with a maximum speed limit of 70mph sounds like a recipe for frustration rather than enjoyment to me. On top of this, any hot hatch with the kind of performance you seem to be looking for (going by the two you've mentioned) is going to have stupidly large wheels with ultra low profile tyres which will be extremely vulnerable to damage on the pothole riddled roads/streets of the UK, and very expensive to replace.

In my opinion, a smaller, lighter, less powerful car which handles well but has a lower level of grip would be more enjoyable more of the time.

Edited by badbusdriver on 09/02/2025 at 13:31

Hyundai i30 N.