If You Had To Buy A New Hot Hatch, Which Would You Buy?

Are you faithful to Honda even when it isn’t an S2000? Would you have a Type R over a Subaru WRX STI, VW Golf R, or Ford Focus RS?

We all love Honda here, obviously, but when it comes to our hot hatch daily ride buying habits do we settle for the front-wheel-drive Civic Type R, or do we get something with all-wheel-drive from VW, Ford, or Subaru? Obviously, each car has its own pros and cons, but this is exactly the question posed by forum user d1rtyc4r in a recent poll. Over a hundred responses later and we’ve got some information to work. So, lets see which of these cars is preferred by S2000 owners.

d1rtyc4r mentioned in the post that they like the Golf R for its high-quality interior. They like the STI because they’ve already had two of them, and familiarity is hard to get over. Oh, and the Focus RS has the nicest exhaust note, but suffers a harsh ride. They ranked Honda’s CTR last among the four because they felt big power and FWD was a bad idea. Additionally, they don’t like the exhaust note, but praised the car for its looks and interior. Which of these items rank highest on a level of importance for your own car-buying experience? Which can you live with?

Our take on the hot hatch debate.

Given the choice between these four, this writer perhaps most wants the Volkswagen if he’s being honest. It’s the more comfy all-rounder. The Civic Type R ranks second in his opinion, simply because it’s a raucously fun car to drive quickly. Your Editor-in-Chief says it’s between the Type R and the Focus RS. The Type R is faster, on road and track, but hot damn does the RS sound so much better.

Based on the results of the poll, however, it seems a lot of you forum members are steadfastly loyal to the big H, with 40% of you choosing the Civic Type R. The Golf R was second with 26%, narrowly beating out the Focus RS with 25%. The Subaru with its old-tech engine and dead styling is ranked absolutely last with less than 9% of votes. So, d1rtyc4r, thus spake the forums, buy the Civic.