Top 10 best hot hatchbacks 2024

There are no hitches with our top 10 hot hatches – but which pocket rocket claims the number one spot?

Hot hatches are the Goldilocks performance cars – they're fast, mischievously good fun, whole-heartedly practical and, at least to some extent, affordable. What is not to like?

The recipe has been around for decades, with the flag-bearers variously originating in France, Italy, Germany, Japan and, more recently, South Korea.

These are small-ish cars with big-ish engines, as adept on the school run as they are when it comes to getting your adrenaline pumping on a great B-road. We just love hot hatches.

In the past, the hot derivative of an otherwise ordinary hatchback might have been demarcated only by an extra letter on the boot lid, or a red pin stripe across the front bumper.

Nowadays, things are different. Manufacturers have enlisted existing performance sub-brands or created entirely new ones to support the development of these cars. Think Mercedes-AMG, Hyundai N, Toyota's Gazoo Racing and Ford Performance.

These are serious cars, toting serious powertrain and chassis technologies, but are we nearing the end of the traditional hot-hatch concept?

Increasingly strict emissions regulations mean the recipe is changing. Hot hatches are no longer the overtly affordable performance machines they once were, and although internal combustion still rules the roost, there’s a definite sense that these petrol-engined machines are the last of the breed.

As if to prove the point, there’s an entry in our list that runs on electric rather than unleaded. As a result, now is the time to buy one of these quick and versatile cars before they’re legislated out of existence. 

The question is, which one do you pick? Well, read on as we reveal our top 10 hot hatches.

*Top ten best hot hatchbacks*