Help CAR find the best hot hatch of all time

By Tim Pollard Motoring Issues 01 March 2009 15:00 The poll is closed, votings over click here for the latest instalment of the greatest hot hatches. You've been voting over the past fortnight for your greatest hot hatch of all time – and there are still two weeks left to influence our poll. At the time of writing, the top ten is led (perhaps curiously!) by the Saab 99 Turbo, followed by the Lancia Delta Integrale, VW Golf GTi Mk1 and Peugeot 205 GTI.

Autos to overtake manuals

By Jack Carfrae Motor Industry 28 February 2007 07:39 Automatic transmissions will finally overtake manuals as the top-selling gearbox choice in 2007. Autos have been long established as the more popular option Stateside and in Japan, but it seems that Europe has now finally caught the two-pedal bug. With the ever-increasing popularity of semi-automatic gearboxes (Tiptronic, DSG, CVT and a whole flood of other acronyms), it isn’t hard to see why.

How VW's XL1 will make your next Golf lighter, faster and more frugal

VW will only build 250 examples of the XL1, its super-streamlined two-seater than scores a combined 314mpg thanks to its plug-in hybrid diesel engine, lightweight construction and low-drag design. Each punter will have to put up around €100,000 for the privilege of saving money on fuel – but don’t worry, because every car across the VW Group will benefit from the lessons learned, all by 2020. Is my next VW likely to be a hybrid?