Post by Kasey Kagawa

Driving enthusiasts are something of a rare breed these days. It’s rapidly becoming too expensive, too difficult, and considered too socially irresponsible to drive a car quickly or even own a fast car. The new automotive status symbol isn’t a Ferrari, it’s a Prius, and that doesn’t bode well for those of us who find happiness in flogging a four-wheeled machine up a mountain. This negative image is only true in the US, though. Those in Europe have quite a selection of tasty hot hatchbacks, including the Renaultsport Megane R26, Renaultsport Clio 197, Honda Civic Type-R, Opel/Vauxhall Astra OPC/VXR, Ford Focus ST, and the Fiat Panda 100HP, and a whole different set of stereotypes, such as the idea that the average driver of a hot hatch is a few bottles of Stella away from plowing through a crosswalk full of school children. We get to share in some of the hot hatch bounty over here, with the VW Golf GTI, Mazdaspeed 3, Mini Cooper S and Honda Civic Si (which has the same engine as the Euro Type-R), but the best examples of the breed don’t make it to our shores, and that’s too bad. To steal a marketing idea from the tobacco industry, if we hook the kids while they’re young, they’re grow up loving to drive, and maybe we can also teach them how not to drive like idiots at the same time.

The rest of the series below the jump.