The nine best electric hot hatches you can buy right now

Another borderline case, because the Ioniq 5 N is longer and wider than a Nissan Qashqai, and almost as tall. But if it looks like a hot hatch, and it drives like a hot hatch, etc, etc… except the Ioniq 5 N doesn’t drive like a hot hatch. Thanks to 641bhp and a 0-62mph time of 3.4 seconds, all manner of torque vectoring trickery and a drift mode, it drives like a proper sports car. All this and its signature simulated gearshifts appear to have become the recipe for other car companies hoping to make enthusiasts pay attention to EVs, and rightly so – it’s brilliant.

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The Cupra Born VZ is, in essence, the same car as the VW ID.3 GTX, but it has several things going for it that we reckon makes it even better. It comes on racier tyres as standard that eke out a bit of extra handling sparkle, it looks better to our eyes, the interior’s a nicer place to sit and bizarrely, it actually starts at a few hundred quid less than the VW. That said, the recent facelift didn’t receive quite the same thorough cabin update as the ID.3 Neo, so the balance might swing back once we’ve tried the updated Vee Dub.

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The first of the VW Group’s batch of all-important next-gen little EVs comes from Cupra, and it’s a very promising start. There are more pedestrian versions available, but the top-spec VZ versions get 223bhp sent through the front wheels via an e-diff, and come with VW’s excellent Dynamic Chassis Control as standard. 0-62mph takes a modest 6.8 seconds, but in the corners, it’s bubbling with old-school hot hatch attitude. You can even fully deactivate the ESP, a rare treat in today’s cars.

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The 322bhp Volkswagen ID.3 GTX is exactly what you’d expect from a hot VW: it’s a thoroughly grown up all-rounder that still has the ability to thrill in the right moment. It’s rear-wheel drive, which imbues it with a pointy, responsive front end, and it’s got a fluid, supple chassis that makes it a joy to pedal along a gnarled B-road. 0-62mph is dusted off in a healthy 5.7 seconds too. Best of all, there’s a GTX version of the facelifted ID.3 Neo en route that looks set to fix all our interior gripes with the original.

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One of the very first electric hot hatches to hit the market… isn’t actually all that hot. Abarth’s warmed-over version of the Fiat 500e gets a modest 155bhp and 7.0-second 0-62mph dash, making it slower off the mark than the old petrol-powered 595, but it counters that with sweet steering, nippy and agile handling, and a general sense of fun that’s lacking from a lot of new cars. It’s just a shame the option to turn off the slightly grating fake engine noise is buried within several sub-menus.

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The electric Renault 5 has stolen our hearts like few other cars of late, and its Alpine-badged sporty cousin is a good’un too. With 220bhp and a fairly modest 6.4-second 0-62mph run in even its quickest guise, it trades on old-school playfulness rather than headline-grabbing EV performance, and on the right road, it does. It looks fantastic inside and out, too, and is good value, starting at £30,295.

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Sitting at the more frantic end of the electric hot hatch spectrum, the electric Mini John Cooper Works has 255bhp, a 5.9-second 0-62mph dash, ultra-darty steering and a ride that can at times be punishingly firm. This sometimes feels at odds with its space-age lounge-like interior, and indeed, it’s a hot hatch that never quite seems sure of what it wants to be, but on the right road, it’s one of the most engaging battery-powered pocket rockets around. Just watch out for potholes.

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This is a borderline case, because the Fiat 600e it’s based on definitely errs more towards crossover than hatchback, and the Abarth can’t quite shake off those roots. With its lowered suspension and angry bodykit doing away with all that visual tallness, we’re happy to call the Abarth 600e a hot hatch though, especially when the top-spec Competizione version gets you 276bhp, a 5.9-second 0-62mph run and a proper mechanical limited-slip diff. (This, by the way, is a setup you’re going to hear a lot more about.)

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If you value face-melting acceleration over out-and-out engagement in a hot hatch, the MG4 XPower is the EV for you. It’s been set up more to cover ground rapidly than truly involve you in the drive, but with 429bhp and 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds, it does this very well. It’s ridiculously good value, too: with MG’s in-house £1,500 EV grant factored in, it currently starts at £34,540 – the same sort of money gets you just 168bhp in a VW ID.3.

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What else is coming soon?

Honda Super-N

The titchy Honda Super-N is a very different take on the electric hot hatch. Based on a Japanese kei car, it’s ‘only’ got 94bhp, accessible via a ‘BOOST’ mode that also brings in some Ioniq 5-style fake gears. We’ve had a very quick go in a prototype, and while it’s not going to blaze trails of fire round a racetrack, it’s certainly set to bring some bulldog puppy-style joy to the EV hot hatch market, especially when it lands at less than £20,000.

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Leapmotor B05 Ultra

This one’s not been officially confirmed for Europe yet, but the standard B05 is already on sale here, and the European bosses of Stellantis-affiliated Chinese company Leapmotor have made some positive noises about bringing the hot Ultra over. The B05 is very trad C-segment hot hatch in its size and shape, and the Ultra gets a rear-mounted 241bhp motor for a 0-62mph time of 5.9 seconds, along with sports suspension, some stickier tyres and subtle visual tweaks.

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Peugeot e-208 GTi

Told you you’d be hearing more about Stellantis’ 276bhp front-wheel drive with an LSD electro-hot hatch setup. It’s also underpinning the new Peugeot e-208 GTi, which is going on sale later this summer from £34,995, prior to likely eligibility for the government’s £1,500 EV grant. We’re talking 0-62mph in 5.5 seconds, enhanced battery cooling for better performance durability, and hopefully, a chassis up to the high standards set by its GTi-badged predecessors. Except for the 207 GTi. Best forget about that one.

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Vauxhall Corsa GSE

It’s been eight long years since Vauxhall’s offered a proper hot hatch, but the Corsa GSE will end the drought, albeit appealing to a very different crowd to the popping and banging VXRs of old. And guess what? It’s basically identical to the e-208 GTi underneath. Same powertrain, including that tricksy diff, same platform, identical 5.5-second 0-62mph time, and likely a very similar price. The Vauxhall gets tartan seats, though. Excellent.

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Volkswagen ID Polo GTI

Volkswagen has so far resisted giving an electric hot hatch the fabled GTI badge, but that changes with the ID Polo as the company pivots its EVs back towards more familiar names. On the subject of platform sharing, the ID Polo GTI will be largely identical to the Cupra Raval VZ underneath, with the same 223bhp front-mounted motor and torque-vectoring e-diff. This is a good starting point, and together with VW’s return to non-silly interiors and lots of classic GTI visual cues, it could quickly become a firm class favourite.

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