« Reply #23 on: 16 February 2024, 16:22 »
All points are covered well in this thread.
The reason there isn’t a huge debate as to which hot hatch to buy as an alternative to the GTI/R/GTD is there just aren’t any anymore. Legislation and leviathan SUV’s have all but finished the small and medium hot hatch class with just the die hard models remaining.
It’s not like people think hot hatches are uncool nowadays as I find that youngsters do comment positively and even my hairdressers teenage son loved my Clubsport.
High list prices, high APR and crap residuals plus unaffordable insurance will be the final nails in the coffin. Even a trainee geriatric like me is getting insurance renewals of nearly a grand now when a few years ago it was £200. How are guys in their 20’s going to afford the insurance never mind paying for the cars themselves with extortionate rent costs or 40 year mortgages to contend with?
As Hertsman says, the money is better spent on a tidy late model 7.5 to cherish before they mostly get too ratty to make gamble free purchases.

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‘23 8R, ‘20 8CS, ‘19 135iX, ‘19 TCR, ‘17 Ed40, ‘17 GTD, ‘15 7R, ‘13 GTI PP, ‘11 GTI, ‘09 GTI, ‘98 Ibiza Cupra, ‘05 GTI, ‘06 Polo GTI, ‘04 GT TDI, ‘05 Fabia vRS, ‘02 GTI T, ‘03 Ibiza TDI 130, ‘01 Leon 180, ‘89 mk2 16v, ‘99 Ibiza TDI, ‘96 VR6, ‘98 Ibiza TDI, ‘92 VR6, ‘88 mk2 8v, ‘92 Polo G40, ‘91 mk2 8v, ‘89 mk2 8v, 205 GTI 1.9, ‘83 mk1 GTI, ‘80 Scirocco GTI, plus some others I’ve forgotten