Not-So-Hot Hatches Thread

Reminds me of your Vanga. Comparing both, I think the Vanga would be my choice. It looks a bit like an Isuzu but is the more interessing car.

The Vanga is not a direct competitor to the LC90 - it’s a B-segment supermini (think Polo, Fiesta, Corsa, Clio, 106, etc.), not an A-segment city car (like a Ka, Twingo, or Lupo). They’re not even built on the same body set - the Vanga uses the '86 Colt body (~2.4m wheelbase), whereas the LC90 uses the smallest of the 205/405 body sets (~2.2m wheelbase).

2019 Elka E Car

Elka, a huge tech company, introduced itself to the car market in 2005. The E-Car was redesigned completely for 2019, as a budget friendly Compact hatchback. a “X-Trek” crossover inspired trim is available





(This is the 2nd remaster of this car)

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2020 Primus Stratum

It plunged right into a pandemic, and it is still available - with engines from 130 to 325 horsepower and various trim levels. Ask your local PRIMUS dealer for more information or even a test drive.
No oversized displays. Real buttons for the most important functions. Total connectivity. It offers all electronic stuff that is now state of the art, but you can turn it off. Oldschool driving is still possible, however, we would recommend using the assists unless they are really in the way of your driving pleasure.






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AAC Sable/AAC Seoil Veraneio/AAC Isura Bellel (2004-2015) - compact hatchback produced by the American brand Sable, which is part of the AAC (American Automotive Corporation) concern, also by the South Korean brand Seoil and the Japanese brand Isura from 2004 to 2015. My old model may someday get a remaster of the interior
Prerestyling (2004-2009)

Restyling (2009-2015)

Engines
Prerestyling
AAC Eco-11 I4 SOHC-8 1061cc Multi-point injection (50hp) 4-speed manual FWD
AAC Eco-08 I3 SOHC-6 796cc Multi-point injection (37hp) 4-speed manual FWD

Restyling
AAC Eco2-11 I4 SOHC-16 1061cc Multi-point injection (54hp) 5-speed manual FWD/4-speed automatic FWD
AAC Eco2-08 I3 SOHC-12 796cc Multi-point injection (41hp) 5-speed manual FWD

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A way for them to spread their roots into America?

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Initially, Sable (Chevrolet) was an American brand, but then this brand entered the European market. The first generation Veraneio model itself (there is also a second generation) was never sold in America, unlike the next generation

If this was sold in America, Korea and Japan it should have larger engine options available and hubcaps as standard in those markets; cars with less than 50 horsepower would be unacceptably slow by the mid-2000s except in the poorest countries. And the engine is too large to qualify for Kei car tax breaks in Japan.

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Budget Hot hatch, 1990 Salon Sprint 1.9 SX

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I’m sure this one counts as a warm hatch, rather than a hot one.

Trust me, it’s slower than it looks

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1987 Sampo Alisa Citi


With 80’s cars it’s a little bit hard to not just put some square lights on a square body and not do much else, there’s none of that earlier decades’ chrome smattering or the current times elaborate grille shapes and LED strip shaping that would raise the fixture count of your car.

This cheeky little hatchback was a challenge to myself to design an 80’s car with more fixtures and some unique Sampo touches familiar from other models. These include such details like the heated license plate cover on the trunklid (with visible hinges and heater lines) that also covers the reverse lights, the faux six headlight look consisting of (out to in) indicators, low beams and high beams or even the more-elaborate-than-dodge crosshair grille standard across Sampo’s range pre-00’s.


At this time, a large part of Sampo’s lineup was named after people. Taneli, Ahti, Karina or Alisa. Citi in the name refers to the trim level with the standard Sampo 1.8 SMF flat 4 with 80 horsepower going through a 5-speed manual box to the rear and smaller wheels. A 4x4 option with 14" wheels instead was also available with higher suspension, although the Citis suspension is also plenty enough for the nordic dirt roads.

I may be didn’t go that unique with the interior however, it has a pretty typical for Sampo brown and tweed interior upholstery with rather rudimentary equipment but I didn’t go that all out designing it, just as long as all surfaces were furnished.


I’m pretty happy with the result, and it was good practice to add a lot of small details that help older automation made cars look “real”, when modern cars can get away with less of those small touches when the design itself does all the work.

And here’s an edited line of text because I accidentally just posted this in the guess what car thread and it doesn’t let me just copy paste.

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By my reckoning, the Sampo Alisa is based on the 155-like body set (which has since been replaced by the '85 Juliet body sets) from the legacy body mod pack - but it looks modern enough to stay in production with a facelift or two well into the 1990s.

2024 Kyan Dash

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1971 Cavaliere Nobile Volcano

In the 50s and 60s, Cavaliere Nobile was a manufactor of expensive and exclusive sports cars and grand tourers. But in order to survive, some kind of… mass produced vehicle was needed.
The result was an engineer´s car, ignoring all conventions and surely unique. The small hatchback had a rear-mounted and flat boxer engine, allowing for two trunks, a giant one in the front and more space in the rear behind the, well, very cramped and loud rear seats.

The car was intended to compete with the Primus Publica III that dominated the frunian small sporty car market. With only 53 horsepower, the Volcano was definitely not a hot hatch, but a skilled driver could absolutely annoy cars of higher power and size.

The successor arrived in 1976 and was very conventional, abandoning that unique idea - but the drawbacks (terminal oversteer frightening unskilled drivers, high service cost for what it is, low rear seat comfort) were obvious. Sales wise, the Volcano was satisfying for the manufactor, especially considering how wild the engineering was. Since the successor Coboldo was built together with the very consverative Ariyan manufactor Yamaguchi, a small car of that sportiness wasn´t seen until the legendary Supermini arriving in 1983, and even that one had the usual FF layout.





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The all new ETR Charma 1992. Ready to be your pal. The perfect small city car.

The ETR Charma is the perfect city car! Economic, easy to use, agile and FUN!

The car comes in 3 trim levels. The car in the picture is the sporty top trim.
And comes with 4 engine options. 1.4 8V / 1.2 1.4 1.6 16V all NA petrol engines. (1.6 only comes with the sports trim)

Note: The car is in the city car (A) segment. Which is smaller than the subcompact (B).

The competitors of this car are: VW Lupo, Fiat Panda, Renault twingo and such.

I think I did a pretty ok job with this one. :slight_smile:

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Have a dumb, no fixture, rear engined rear wheel drive 5 door city car concept I remade that was originally gonna be the concept for the Iso Rivolta challenge, and now remade as a potental engineering base for QFC38 sans Techpool allocation. Because I suck at attempting to style anything newer than the 1980s

Dumb_Build_-_2014_RR_City_Car.car (14.6 KB)

A heavily used and badly maintained 1988 Renaulstrid 146i C


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1981-1984 Vulcan Ribolla HE


The first generation of the hatchback edition of Vulcan’s Ribolla. It has a 96ci inline-4 engine producing 96 horsepower, an automatic transmission, double-wishbone front suspension and solid axle leaf in the rear. This is the HE edition of the Ribolla, standing for Hatchback Edition. It was first introduced in 1981 and was in production until 1984, where it was replaced by the 2nd gen Ribolla. This specific version of the HE was only sold in Europe

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Corti 750 (1955)

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