THE HISTORY TOYS

THIS MAY NOT turn out to be the story the editor wanted me to write. His plan was to pit Hyundai’s new i20 N against not only its two best current rivals, but also five of the best hot hatches ever made, to discern its place – if it can lay claim to one – in the pantheon of all-time greats. Tough test.

Pick a winner from the five historic cars: the hot hatch whose spirit the new Hyundai ought to emulate most closely. And then crown the best car of the modern trio – can the new N car upset the current hot-hatch order?

We did all this, of course. But as the cars arrive at Llandow circuit in Glamorgan in the building heat of a Welsh summer morning, either burbling into the pits under their own power or unlashed with the click of a ratchet and rolled from the back of a transporter, we realise that we’ve assembled an eight-gun salute to the hot hatch just as it is about to change utterly, or perhaps even die away.

The i20 N may be a new, conventionally-powered example of the breed, but there will be few more like it, ever. Most car makers are no longer developing new combustion engines, and will only be launching plug-in hybrids and EVs by the time their current hot hatches are due for replacement.

Of all the types of car imperilled by the switch to electric, the hot hatch is among the least deserving of its possible fate. It is the most democratic breed of performance car. The best do a lot with a little, are affordable and accessible, and even economical if you can restrain the exuberance they encourage.

But please keep reading. This is a celebration, not another tale of automotive doom.