Medium Hot

Warmer than the fourth-generation A-class, but not as extreme as the rip-snorting new A 45, the Mercedes-AMG A 35 4matic is the pocket rocket that you can drive every day. Jon Wall takes it for a spin

- Jon Wall

If there’s one automobile that’s perfectly attuned to the modern era (and yes, I get that you could argue no car is), I’d say it was the hatchback. A classless family runabout designed to be utilitarian, compact, affordable, economical and yet also technically sophisticated, it first appeared in the 1970s and, in the guise of tens of millions of Golfs, Focuses, Civics, A3s, Clios and whatever, has occupied a vast chunk of the automotive landscape ever since.

In retrospect its arrival seems to have been prescient, as it surfaced during a decade that was marked by two oil crises, which choked global petrol supplies, ramped pump prices skywards, caused long lines to form outside gas stations and led many motorists, perhaps for the first time in their lives, to give serious consideration to the issue of fuel efficiency. Since then the hatchback has evolved, as indeed it had to, but in spite of changes in tastes, fashions and lifestyles its appeal has endured. In fact, excepting a handful of names at the luxury end of the market, almost every major brand still builds them – and the best of the current crop are better than ever.

The hatchback’s success isn’t due solely to practicality, though the ability comfortably to accommodate four full-size passengers plus reasonable quantities of shopping or luggage in an abbreviated and urban-friendly two-box shape certainly helps. It’s also garnered a firm following among enthusiasts enamored of its nimbleness and lightness, qualities generally regarded as prerequisites for any properly capable high-performance car. So that when Volkswagen launched the heavily breathed-upon Golf GTI in 1975, its speed, agility, and sheer driveability turned it into a motoring legend almost overnight, not to mention spawning countless hot-hatch imitators.