Hot hatch

BMW's 1 Series has relinquished its claim as the only sub-compact sports hatch with rear-wheel drive. A new and revamped 1-series debuts today with front-wheel and all-wheel drive models only, prioritizing luggage space, back-seat legroom and agility over sick smoky drift action.

​Mercedes-AMG has built a new entry-level hot hatch for 2019, squarely aimed at people who wear their hats backwards. The A 35 4MATIC is a spunky little 306-hp (228-kW), all-wheel-drive turbo shopping trolley with a spiffy interior and voice-controlled MBUX AI assistant.

The 2018 Elantra GT is effectively the European version of the Elantra, brought to the US and only lightly modified to fit the market. The GT Sport adds the goodness of turbocharging to the generally underpowered GT base model. We spent a week with this fun hatchback and were pretty impressed.

​​Volkswagen’s collection of Golf GTI’s have got a sporty new stablemate, with the German automaker unveiling a road-going version of the Golf GTI TCR race car. Though just a concept at this stage, the special edition Golf GTI TCR has been engineered with near-term production in mind.

Ford isn’t mincing words at the launch of its all-new Focus lineup, claiming it’s “quite simply, the best car in our 114 year history.” It’s a ground-up redesign with a new look, a heap more driver assist goodies, active suspension and a sizeable jump in efficiency.

Nobody brags about entry-level compact cars, but there sure are a lot of people who own them. The 2018 Chevrolet Cruze is one of those cars, and with the hatchback option now available with a fuel-efficient diesel engine, Chevy may have come up with a near-perfect formula.

The Ford Performance Drift Stick is an electronic handbrake for the Focus RS that is designed to do one thing – induce drift. The automaker claims that the unit is "intended for track use only," but it seems destined to appeal to all manner of Ken Block wannabes.

Once seen as the purveyor of disappointment at bargain basement prices, Hyundai is consistently delivering cars with the looks, gear and drive to rival the Europeans. The warmed-over i30 SR Turbo is the current king of the hill in Hyundai hatchback land. Is it a worthy flagship?

Renault Sport has a brilliant record when it comes to front-wheel drive performance cars. The latest Megane R.S. has all the hallmarks of a good modern hot hatch, including a powerful turbocharged engine and manual gearbox, and mixes them with high-tech goodies like rear-wheel steering.

FWD hatches have historically owned the game, but there are plenty of paths to fun in a small package. With power from a turbo-six and rear-drive, the BMW M140i is unique among its peers. Does doing things differently pay dividends? We spent a week in the Performance Edition to find out.

Traditionally, Kia hasn't been one of the brands we most look forward to visiting at major auto shows. But it's been quickly changing that, and now it announces that its Frankfurt Motor Show booth will host one of the nicest pieces of eye candy we've seen teased thus far.

Most motoring journalists like to think of themselves as racing drivers in disguise. Truth is, many are high on confidence and low on talent. Rather than trying to learn on the fly, Ford suggested we spend some time driving a Focus RS, learning how to extract the best from a car on the track.