Some great hot hatches mentioned above, of the ones I’ve had I would say the Fiesta ST M-Sport was the most fun it hooked up into bends brilliantly and changed direction on a B road with a huge amount of confidence. But with its rally inspired stripes and exhaust it was not a very subtle looking car.
The MkV GTI was an excellent all rounder , composed on French Autoroutes and could cover decent distances in a day when I was living abroad with it - not many downsides to that car- I think the Mk7 is an iteration of that car- and as of yet the only downside I see is in comparison to the Mk V it feels a lot wider.
The 306 Xsi was warm rather than a hot hatch but the control of the chassis was really well judged - not the most reliable unfortunately.