Stories
Collectors & Aficionados
Affordable Collecting - Part 7: Hot Hatches of the 2000s
Roarington explores the top affordable hot hatches from 1999–2014—powerful, refined, and fun machines that shaped the modern era.
The arrival of the new millennium ushered in a new golden age for hot hatches: more powerful, more mature, and more refined. Even premium brands got involved: Audi brought sportiness to compacts with the S3 and then the S1, while BMW relaunched Mini and transformed it into a modern icon with the Cooper S. Meanwhile, almost every manufacturer offered its own "badass little car": the market filled with sporty versions, each with a unique character and a clear mission: to bring driving fun to the forefront.
__Audi S3 (1999)__
