New Hot hatch competition

[Zed!]

I used to hate FWD. It still pisses me off in my Golf in some cases, but it's not that bad. Anyway the point I want to make is that it's usually the same people ranting about the RS, or any car for that matter, having too much power and being FWD that would've been the same people ranting about the Golf MKV GTI, Renault Clio S etc having too much power and being FWD five years ago... That hasn't really been a huge issue with these hatches often outpacing their larger RWD and sometimes AWD brethren. With technology and advancements FWD isn't becoming that much of an issue with handling or getting the power down; unless it's copious amounts. Granted it's not the best performance choice but it's generally lighter than other alternatives and the diffs/transfer of power is much more advanced than that of only a few years ago.



I don't know if this has been edited by someone, but THEY ARE NOT BUILT BY FRIGGING KIA OR ANY OTHER CHEAP KOREAN/CHINESE MANUFACTURER. It's not a Festiva (South Korean-made back in the 90s POS) and it's not a Fiesta (the smaller European designed hatch. I think Oz get the German/Brazilian made ones)!!! Ford Europe is much the same as VW in the design and manufacturing sense!!

I understand what you're saying but there comes a point when you can have too much power for a FWD car. e.g Mazda 3 MPS. They could have added the AWD drivetrain of the 6 and the extra weight would have been negated by the huge power it had. The WRX and Evos have been doing phenomenally well for 10 yrs plus because they have a simple formula, AWD + turbo. Mitsu have been doing this since the 80s with the Galant, producing vert fast turbo charged, awd cars, Subaru since the early 90s. Car companies bring out these fast FWDs and they get reviewed and it's the same old story, great car, but torque steer, wheel spin etc. I guess I'm biased I hate understeer! I'd like to try and drive something like the Megane, which apparently handles the power very well through it's front wheels and has minimal understeer for a fwd.

[balkanac]

Lets get back on topic

I sat in a new XR5 recently, and the interior felt quite low-rent. didnt really inspire me.

Unless this model is very different, which I doubt, if I was going to spend $60k I'd much rather get a low km secondhand S3 or R32

I second that. Fords never felt like quality cars

[gareth_oau]

the latest hot megane looks quite good.

Pity my wife doesnt like its bum tho

[dubbed]

How has it gone off topic?!

I understand what you're saying but there comes a point when you can have too much power for a FWD car. e.g Mazda 3 MPS. They could have added the AWD drivetrain of the 6 and the extra weight would have been negated by the huge power it had. The WRX and Evos have been doing phenomenally well for 10 yrs plus because they have a simple formula, AWD + turbo. Mitsu have been doing this since the 80s with the Galant, producing vert fast turbo charged, awd cars, Subaru since the early 90s. Car companies bring out these fast FWDs and they get reviewed and it's the same old story, great car, but torque steer, wheel spin etc. I guess I'm biased I hate understeer! I'd like to try and drive something like the Megane, which apparently handles the power very well through it's front wheels and has minimal understeer for a fwd.

That's fair and I understand what you're saying too mate. The ultimate car to me would be big power and AWD with minimal weight. Although when the chassis and drivetrain of a performance car is set up correctly, RWD or even FWD can often be superior in certain applications (because of the extra weight of a decent AWD system for one thing). I believe the likes of the little hot hatches FWD is okay with the technology available today. If you watch some clips of decently setup FWD cars, haters might be surprised. Clarkson raved about the handling of the XR5 Turbo yet hammered the equivalent Astra offering for having atrocious torque steer - both small capacity turbos with decent power and FWD...

Another example is the 130i that doesn't get a great rap even though it's RWD. Also cars like the Megane Sport will be hot on the heels or ahead of your average WRX/STI around a track. If it was on dirt or a wet road then sure it'd be a different story. But these are mostly road driven (and a bit of bitumen track) cars.

I hope Ford EU have got it right because this thing will be a monster and hopefully show up the Jap AWD turbos! Plus it'll give VW a better reason to produce a decent competitor to take them all head on i.e. a worthy GTI-R.

[poloplayer]

I'm pretty sure it's not coming to Australia. Ford Australia released a statement a coupla months back saying they're not going to import it because they felt like they could do something better under their own FPV name plate. I would've rathered a hot focus from Ford UK rather than Aus myself. Sorry fellas

[bahjah]

I'm pretty sure it's not coming to Australia. Ford Australia released a statement a coupla months back saying they're not going to import it because they felt like they could do something better under their own FPV name plate. I would've rathered a hot focus from Ford UK rather than Aus myself. Sorry fellas

Outrage!!! I would never have been able to afford one, but it would have been nice to have a perve every time one drove past.

[gareth_oau]

I'm pretty sure it's not coming to Australia. Ford Australia released a statement a coupla months back saying they're not going to import it because they felt like they could do something better under their own FPV name plate. I would've rathered a hot focus from Ford UK rather than Aus myself. Sorry fellas

haha Polo. I'm not averse to driving a Ford (my other car is an FPV GT-P).

However, looking at the current range of FPV's I'd say I'd much rather buy a UK version too!!