The best hot hatches can be all things to all drivers. If you need a new car for sensible commuting 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 hatchbacks, some brands might have fallen by the wayside (there’s no longer a Ford Fiesta ST, the Ford Focus ST and the Hyundai i20 N are all now off sale, and you’ll not find a Peugeot, Renault Megane or Clio in this list), but your choice has rarely been so broad. In fact, there’s everything from electric Hyundais and 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 fast family car market segment that even cars that don’t make our final list – such as the VW Golf GTI Clubsport, the Audi RS3 and Audi S3 or the MINI Cooper – are still pretty darn good.
Best Hot Hatches 2025
- Alpine A290 (2025-)
- BMW M135 xDrive (2024-)
- Cupra Leon (2020-)
- Cupra Born (2022-)
- Honda Civic Type R (2023-)
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
- Mercedes AMG A45 S (2019-)
- Skoda Octavia vRS iv (2020-)
- Toyota GR Yaris (2020-)
- Volkswagen Golf R (2020-)
Alpine A290 (2025-)
With the electric car market rapidly maturing, there’s increasingly room for more niche curios, so Alpine’s parent company Renault has decided that now’s the time to expand its range beyond the lightweight A110 GT petrol-powered sports car and into the realms of the electric hot hatch with this, the A290. Using the already chic and likeable Renault 5 EV as its basis, the A290 ups the ante with beefier handling, more aggressive styling and punchier power – the fastest version delivers 217bhp and 0-62mph in 6.4 seconds.
Those hoping for the flyweight responses of pocket rocket Renaultsport Clios of the past are going to be a little disappointed, but the A290 is a slice of sharp-handling EV fun, looks great, and is supremely usable as an everyday car.
BMW M135 xDrive (2024-)
BMW’s 1 Series has matured into a thoroughly satisfying and accomplished small premium hatchback with its 2024 refresh and while it’s a shame that the 128ti – a front-wheel-drive Volkswagen Golf GTI rival – has gone, the four-wheel-drive M135 xDrive is still a supremely capable performance hatchback.
What’s more, BMW has thoroughly revised the chassis and suspension, while the old eight-speed conventional automatic gearbox has been ditched in favour of a much more snappy and responsive seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. On top of that, the trick adaptive dampers are an excellent option that brings even more nuance and control to the M135’s driving experience.
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’ pulses 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 one of the first proper electric hot hatches. True, there is the Abarth 500e, too, as well as other more recent additions to the sporty EV hot hatch ranks, such as the Alpine A290 and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, both of which also make an appearance in this list.
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.
At launch it only had 228bhp at best, so the Born wouldn’t blow your socks off, but in 2024 the 321bhp VZ was revealed, giving it the punch the model always deserved.
Cupra Born Review
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 Ioniq 5 N
A fun driving experience is a huge part of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N’s appeal. That’s because it feels remarkably light (even though it’s actually quite heavy), giving a sense of agility that’s almost unique for an EV of this size. To make the driving experience even more involving, the Ioniq has simulated engine noises and even a simulated paddle-shift gearchange. It sounds like a computer game gimmick, but it’s genuinely brilliant.
There’s plenty of power, too, however: while the 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine in the old Hyundai i30 N delivered 276bhp, the Ioniq 5 N can deliver up to 650bhp from its twin electric motors. For real hooligan fun, there’s even a drift mode available, but you will kill your tyres very quickly indeed.
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.
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 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 in hot hatch territory.
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.
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.