Wednesday, 9th June 2010
Car Industry Lancia
The Lancia Delta HF Integrale the been named the greatest hot hatch of all time according to a survey by over 3,500 readers of Autocar magazine, with 14% of the votes going to the Lancia. UK drives have loved the hot hatch since the Volkswagen Golf GTI became available in 1976 – though the current Golf only managed 4th place in the Autocar survey. Third place went to the Ford Escort RS replacement, the Mark 1 Ford Focus RS.
The Lancia Delta was first shown in Frankfurt Motor Show in 1979, going on to dominated the World Rally Championship in the 1980s and 1990s. Lancia offered road-going versions of it’s pedigree rallying competition cars, these becoming the Lancia Delta HF4WD and HF Integrale. When launched the HF Integrale was capable of 0 to 62 mph in just 6.6 seconds and a maximum speed of 133 mph, whilst offering a stylish and practical five door hatchback with great handing during day-to-day driving.
The surveys result isn’t much of a revelation to hot hatch enthusiasts but the renowned Lancia had to fight off some stiff competition in a category of cars that have produced some extraordinary vehicles throughout the years. The Lancia was the obvious winner of the survey, taking 14.3% of the 3,500 votes – almost double the percentage of the second placed Peugeot 205 GTI. None of the cars in the top ten are still in production with the newest car in the list being the last-generation Honda Civic Type R.
