It’s ironic that despite the several hits taken by the industry this year, we still saw a plethora of rapid fire launches of hot hatches. True that the Renault Megane RS265 was starting to get a little long in the tooth but a slight tweak to its engine made it an enthusiast’s wet dream all over again. But despite both the Opel OPC and RS265 being extremely capable hatches in their own right, our voter’s behavior has shown a shift away from manual transmissions.

Fighting for top honours were the BMW M135, Mercedes-Benz A250 Sport and the Volkswagen Golf GTI. In the end, the A250 Sport and the GTI were caught in a dead draw with the M135 just three votes behind.

The tie was broken by our Editorial team’s scores which helped the GTI edge ahead. It seems poetic that the car that started the hot hatch craze should win the category. Coupled with its progressive steering rack and a well sorted chassis with its Dynamic Chassis Control, the GTI is the perfect hot hatch for daily use. While the A250 Sport isn’t any less capable in its performance, the lack of adaptive dampers was probably one of the main reasons for the loss.