Here’s something exciting. Vauxhall’s new Corsa GSE hot hatch is coming to a showroom near you soon. Well, OK, not all that soon: it won’t be there until early next year.
You probably don’t need us to tell you that this little car looks set to be something pretty special. For one thing, it shares its all-electric running gear with Peugeot’s upcoming e-208 GTI, which means 277bhp. That’s a huge amount in a car this small.
But wait, there’s more. You see, Stellantis, the parent group of both Vauxhall and Peugeot, hasn’t just lobbed a big electric motor at its front-wheel-drive hatchbacks and crossed its fingers.
No, this bonkers brace of hot hatches has been lowered by 25mm, have had their wheels pushed out by 28mm at the back and a whopping 56mm at the front, and get a new rear anti-roll bar, and a limited-slip differential, not to mention 355mm brake discs clamped down on by high-spec calipers from braking specialists Alcon.
You can probably imagine already that this little car will be worth waiting for.
What if you can’t wait, though? What if you want a small hot hatch the size of the Corsa, but you want it now, rather than later? Well, in that case, the used car market is your friend. And to prove it, I’ve picked out three proper pocket rockets that’ll offer just as many thrills as the Corsa, but which you can pick up right now.
The first would once have been the Corsa’s nemesis: the Ford Fiesta ST. Sadly, Ford no longer makes the ST, or even the Fiesta on which it was based, which is a tragedy given it was arguably the best hot hatch around for the duration of its time with us.
The one I found is a 2019 example, which means it’s an eighth-generation model. So, it gets the full 197bhp delivered 100% of the time, rather than with a 10-second transient overboost function, as per its predecessor.
0-62mph comes up in a suitably brisk 6.3 seconds, but the ST’s real talent lies in its chassis, which offers an extraordinary blend of feel and agility almost unheard of in a car whose roots lie in a common-or-garden hatchback.
It’s done 52,000 miles, and comes with a full service history. Yet it’s on sale for just £10,995, which is £1,373 less than its CarGurus Instant Market Value, or IMV. This is what we reckon a car is actually worth, and is calculated based on the car’s age, mileage, specification, and the price of similar cars for sale on our website, and it’s designed to help you work out which deals are worth paying attention to.
That’s a pretty hefty discount for a car that’s widely regarded as the best of its kind. But we can do even better. How about a 2015 Mini John Cooper Works hatchback? Now you’ve got 228bhp to play with from a rev-happy 2.0-litre petrol engine. The 0-62mph dash is done-and-dusted in six seconds flat, and the grippy front end twists you into corners the instant you turn the wheel.
This example looks the part, too, finished in understated grey, but with the JCW’s trademark contrasting scarlet-edged bonnet stripes and matching roof. Yet despite all this, it’s on for just £12,498, a whopping £2,037 less than it’s worth according to its IMV.
Or how about a very different kind of hot hatch? That’s exactly what the Toyota GR Yaris is. Built to go rallying, and with four-wheel drive and a unique three-door bodyshell, it’s a seriously specialised bit of kit, almost to the point that you could question whether it really is a hot hatch.
But a hatchback it is, and with 253bhp, it’s certainly hot, too. Driving a GR Yaris makes you feel as though you’re on a rally stage, its relatively soft suspension allowing the car to move around with every tweak to the throttle. That’s not all, though; the rear bias to the drivetrain means it’ll pivot quite happily around its centre of mass, delivering lurid and easily manipulable powerslides when space - and the law - allows.
Consequently, the GR Yaris has become something of a legend in its own lifetime, and such a thing doesn’t come cheap. Or so you’d think, anyway; in fact, a 2021 example can now be had on CarGurus for just £24,495, a whopping £2,441 below its IMV.
Granted, the mileage is on the high side, at 60,000 (and, by the way, I’d like to award a medal to the person who’s done that many miles in a car like this, getting it out on the road and using it, instead of tucking it away for posterity).
But then again, this is a Toyota, so you can set any qualms about its longevity to one side. In any case, it’ll still be covered by a warranty if you take it back to Toyota for its servicing for the next five years or 40,000 miles, whichever comes first. Now that’s a cracking way to get a true hot hatch icon for a bargain price.
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