Speed Week 2020: a hot hatch is the only car you’d ever need

Remember that “nah, you’re alright” McDonald’s advert from a few years ago? Great meme. Anyway, that’s how I’m feeling standing in a sopping wet Anglesey pitlane on day two of Speed Week 2020.

Ariel Nomad R? Nah, you’re alright. Huracán Evo RWD? Nah, you’re alright. McLaren 765LT? Ha – you must be kidding; right now, you’d get wetter venturing outside than you would standing under one of the showers at our makeshift Turn 1 campsite.

Luckily, it wouldn’t be a TG Speed Week without a couple of hot hatches, and although it’s an age-old cliché to say it, they really are all the car you’d ever need.

If I’m honest, it wouldn’t be either of these two for me. As Editor Rix has already outlined, the Mini doesn’t back up its wild-looking, plastic-clad bark with any real bite (hampered mainly by that 8spd auto gearbox) and the brand-new Mk8 Golf GTI is a little soft despite its 242bhp and slightly stiffer suspension. Go hard or go home, right?

Still, the GTI is properly fun at times, especially for those of us not blessed with experience and/or talent on a circuit (jury’s still out on that one). Its six-speed manual, front-wheel drive layout means there’s engagement at all speeds and in all weathers. Plus, it’s the car that everyone wants for the long drive home – not least because there’ll be space to separate the wet from the dry socks.

We spend a lot of time talking about ‘range’ in the world of cars these days (thanks, electric cars), but hot hatchbacks epitomise the word in its other context. A quick trip to IKEA, a five-up family holiday, a B road blast or a track day in some serious company – hot hatches can manage it all. Not a controversial opinion, of course, just one worth remembering now and again.