by James Hamel

Created on: February 05, 2010

Just because it has been years since you last wore a backwards baseball cap while listening to AC/DC doesn’t mean you can’t recapture your youth with a little hot hatchback fun. There has to still be a little bit of boy-racer (or girl-racer) left underneath the shiny veneer of your Brooks Brothers suit with the iPhone ringing in the jacket pocket.

Do you know who’s calling on that iPhone? It’s your 18 year old self berating you for driving that lame hybrid when you could easily be behind the wheel of one of 2010’s greatest hot hatchbacks. So get a move on friend because one day fun like this could very well be illegal. And besides, the VW GTI, MazdaSpeed3 and Subaru WRX don’t like to be kept waiting.

VW GTI

The GTI essentially created the hot hatchback genre nearly 30 years ago when a group of VW engineers in Germany took it upon themselves to create a “performance” Rabbit hatchback. The result was the iconic first generation GTI and while some later incarnations of this model have been less successful than others there is little doubt that the new for 2010 GTI VW has pretty much perfected the art.

But with perfection, of course, comes complaints. Some say that the GTI is too civilized, not loud enough and doesn’t have as much horsepower as its competitors. Well, if you prefer to be pulled into the shrubbery each time try to accelerate out of a turn or like interiors made from recycled post-it notes by all means have a look at the competition.

The GTI is powered by a 2.0 liter turbocharged and direct injected four cylinder that puts out 197 horsepower with near zero turbo-lag. Response is instantaneous in all gears and the six speed manual is a delight to use. Steering has plenty of feedback but isn’t so hyperactive that it constantly requires small corrections to maintain a straight line.

Thanks to a clever multi-link rear suspension the GTI also can handle twisty roads with aplomb. All this is topped off by exterior styling that reeks of class and an interior that wouldn’t look out of place in an Audi. There are even standard plaid tartan-style seats just like the ones found in the original GTI. On the whole the 2010 GTI is without question the easiest hot hatch to live with and the only one your friends wouldn’t say was purchased due to your imminent “mid-life crisis.”

MazdaSpeed3

If you don’t know what torque steer is just go down to your local Mazda dealer and test

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