I was hoping that it would be easy and simple, but it does appear that we do unfortunately have one binned entry for this competition, which is:
The Veloce Vitello GTH by @Ch_Flash, which uses a coupe body instead of a hatchback body, did not update their trim/variant year to 1979 and only boasts a 2+2 seating arrangement as apposed to 4 full seats.
Apart from that, all other entries are being looked over with fine toothed combs and I should have the results out shortly.
I vote for an un-bin on the grounds that all that gains realism points; it all sounds pretty much like British Leyland shenanigans in the 70s.
Tough one. Thanks for bringing it up for discussion. It looks like a proper hot hatch for me, but the +2 is indeed a problem.
Since it’s only one car, I will leave it up for people to decide on. I will leave this poll here for 24 hours and will act on the results after that time is up.
0 voters
I was mostly joking about BL (see the hatchback fiasco with Austin and… Morris?), but I’d allow a resub. If that fails, keep it binned and do something… interesting with to it.
No mercy.
Yes, bin is ok, I should have checked the rules one more time but for some reason I did’nt.
So since I have had the entrant say it’s okay, I’ll close the poll early and get to work on the results.
Easily the best looking car, this and Mavericks
JUDGEMENT
Welp, this is it. After lots of searching by Jeremy, Clark’s son, he has found some contenders to buy. The only thing that’s left is to test them all out and determine which is the one for him.
LVC LC80 1.6iS (@abg7)
A strong start to this list, the LVC is quite frugal when it needs to be, and fairly practical, while being somewhat balanced when it comes to most other stats, if a bit expensive to buy and service
Mara Irena 2.5 LSE (@AndiD)
One of the cheapest cars available here, the Mara happens to also be the most reliable model as well, but at the expense of not doing well in a few of the other statistics compared to other models here.
Torrent Trickle GTE (@crwpitman1)
While it does make a bold statement, the Torrent sadly starts to fall below average once you get behind the wheel of it. But at least things look more rosey as you get under the bonnet, from it boasting the cheapest servicing costs.
Axxus A1 GT (@Ducethetruth100)
Looks can be deceving when it comes to the Axxus, as it might look like a big shiii… ahem. But at least it drives quite well and it one of the cheaper options here, but ‘cheap and cheerful’ is sadly not too accurate for the whole car.
Brantan Magnum 2200 Dropnose (@Fletchyboy100)
Impressively equipped, the Brantan does well to back up it’s sporty credcials as a Hot Hatch should, but it comes at the cost of being harder to handle at the edge and being too high strung when it comes to reliablity.
Primus GTS-RT (@Happyhungryhippo)
As safe as it’s orange is visible, the Primus also manages to be quite easy to handle on the road but does have a hard time when it comes to going toe to toe in an out and out performance scenario among the competition.
Aquila Maia GT (@Hshan)
Being quite a strong contender here, the Aquila comes standard with Racing Stripes! Yes it performs above average in many appropriate areas, but what is most important is that it does indeed, come with Racing Stripes.
IP Pandora 2000 DX (@Knugcab)
Bluring the line between hot hatch and sports coupe, the IP shows great value for money in many attributes including servicing and comfort, but that does come at the cost of road feel and on edge performance.
Swanson 112GSF 3v (@Ludvig)
Reliable and practical, the Swanson also makes a bold statement in the looks department and is fairly fun and pleasent to drive, and relatively cheap to work on and to fuel up even with the higher inital cost to buy.
Valiant Ventis SR (@mart1n2005)
While it does cost more to service and fuel, the Valiant is fairly easy to drive and is also very roomy and a comfy car to be in. While nice for something closer to a grand tourer, it does make it less exciting to drive as a Hot Hatch.
Cambridge Kobold 1800 XE (@Maverick74)
With bold looks and a very period paint scheme, the Cambridge tries to prove that it can indeed hang with the big boys inspite of it’s minicule footprint, but some may argue that it’s not enough car for all of that money needed.
Norðwagen Skaði DS4 (@moroza)
A car that will never be mistaken for anything less, The Norðwagen offers quite a lot with notable comfort and pracicality, while staying in close competition with plenty of the other cars available for purchase.
Zephorus Deagle 232 (@Riley)
A muscle car in hot hatch sheet metal, the Zephorus boasts the biggest engine with the service and fuel costs to match the sheer presense, but does have class leading safety and pracicality to it’s name.
SM Solsti 1500 R (@shibusu)
Being the only rear engined models here, the SM wears its sporting credetials on it’s sleeve while also being one of the most comfortable cars here, but at the expense of ease of control and cost of servicing.
Bordeaux-Llud Solaris (@the-chowi)
The nearest thing to a race car for the road, the Bordeaux-Llud boast the highest sporting prowess of all the candidates, but it does come at the caveat that maybe a purpose modified race car is not great for the road.
Clari Chaufcour (@Vento)
Being one of the most frugal cars here, the Clari still manages to offer a very sporting package among the competition and maintains good reliablity scores, but does have some weakness with overall driving feel for longer periods.
Hockey Mk1P 1.6 (@ZodiaAuto)
Attempting to be the meaning of ‘cheap and cheerful’, the Hockey is the lowest priced car of all it’s competition, and while it does try to punch above it’s weight as a hot hatch, it’s sadly below average for most scores.
Colere Spirale 1.8 Rafale (@z2bbgr)
Being one of the most drivable cars here, the Colere also happens to be very practical and reasonably priced to buy and service, but it would not be comfortable during any spirited driving… or loss of control during said spirited driving.
FINAL STANDINGS
So, without further ado, the car that Jeremy, Clark’s son, has decided he wants to buy is…
THE AQUILA MAIA GT
With an agreeable spread of Drivability, Sportiness and Comfort, and better than average running costs and fuel consumption, the Aquila Maia GT is deemed to be the best car for him. Plus… RACING STRIPES!!
FINAL NOTES
Anyhow, thanks to all that entered, and congratulations to @Hshan for a victory in a surprisingly close competition. I will also try to do a follow up post here talking a little bit about the engineering info of all the entrants, see what is similar, what is different and what cars were truly unique among it’s peers. But until then, here is the link for the spreadsheet I used for scoring. If anyone had any questions about it or specifically why their car was ranked where it was for the Appearance score you may message me.
cool im in the middle
Wow I’m surprised the Clari had the second highest sportiness I was worried it would be one of my lower scored categories which is why I made it really sporty
Almost made it to the top, perhaps I should sacrifice a bit into comfort.
Nice challenge too.
Designing is hard work I wonder if there’s some trick to it v.v
ADDITIONAL TIDBIDS
Just a fun little thing I wanted to map out was the broad engineering choices made by the entrants for QFC29. I have another spreadsheet here if you want to have a look at them but in summary:
Apart from Shibusu’s rear engine entrant, all the cars featured front mounted engines with roughly 2/3rds opting to mount theirs longitudinally, and the other 3rd mounting transversely.
Of all the Front Longituinal entries, 2/3rds of those ones were RWD with the other 3rd being FWD (all of which happened to be Boxer engined cars), but the ratio of FWD to RWD cars was nearly 1 to 1 overall
Apart from DucetheTruth, every car here did feature a Monocoque chassis for their cars. 2/3rds of entrants opted for MacPherson Struts up front over Double Wishbones, while Semi Trailing Arms were the most commons Rear Suspension choice.
All the other options for Rear Suspension include Solid Axle Coils, Torsion Beams and Double Wishbone Rear, which all appear on 3 cars each respectively. Both the Solid Axle Coils and Double Wishbone Rear appear on 2 cars with Double Wishbone Fronts and one MacPherson Struts, while the Torsion Beam appears on one car with Double Wishbone Front and two with MacPherson Struts.
Apart from ZodiaAuto and Riley (with Inline 5 and 6 cylinder cars respectively), every entrant chose to use a 4 cylinder layout for their engines, with 5 choosing a Boxer 4 and the rest chose Inline 4. Interestingly the only Boxer 4 that wasn’t a FWD car was the rear engined entrant while over half of the Inline 4 entrants chose to run as RWD.
All but three cars had their engine capacity set between 1500 and 2503cc, of which 2/3rds were below 2001cc. The outliners were Vento (1059cc), Ludvig (1197cc) and Riley (3810cc). The most common size turned out to be 1.6L which 4 entrants were made to while 3 cars were at 2.5L
Valvetrain was quite a good spread of choices, with the most common being either DOHC 4v or SOHC 2v (both being on 5 cars each), then OHV 2v and SOHC 4v being tied for second most common on 3 cars each, then SOHC 3v on 2 and the final car having DOHC 2v.
Every single car chose to stay naturally aspirated which works, but I would have liked to see how one or two turboed cars could have done against this roster of machines. Fuel Injection was quite varied however, with a slight overall skew towards Carburetors but the most common choice being Single Point EFI with 5 cars having it fitted, then 1 Barrel Ecos and 2 Barrels being tied for second most on 4 cars each.
That’s about it really. The order of rank should be on the graph of the overall scoring if the 1st place member is unable to host. Thank you all once again for everyone participation and I hope you all enjoyed making some classic hot hatches.
Well, ‘F-it we ball’ didn’t do the trick. I’m glad to score well on sportiness, comfort and style though. Makes me happy :). Gratz to Hshan!
I am happy that someone did do a rear engine car, as it makes me feel better about my own company that I intended to have a only rear engine cars that I have already used in three comps here (Hemsley Motors)
Yeah I’m planning to streak this new Saberin brand with rear engine only as well. Until RR becomes less terrible. Or more gooder for some stats.
Sidenote: I think the budget was too restrictive for a proper turbocharged car, along with turbochargers absolutely decimating SVC for a pretty marginal direct benefit to sportiness. Performance is gained significantly, but I doubt it’d be much sportier than the Bordeaux or mine, the latter of which is actually slower than a Golf GTi of the time. Turbo, 'specially this early can also kill your drivability if your engine isn’t big enough to accommodate and spool a big turbo that’d explode if it were any smaller to spool quicker.
It’s funny you say that cause when I was making a test mule for working out things for this challenge, I made it with a OHV I4 Turbo. I didn’t look too hard at the stats overall for it but I just find it interesting that with such a diverse selection of cars that they all chose to go for N/A motors. But the service costs and such are for sure the main reason why it happened like that.
Hell yeah, I think this might be the first time I’ve won a recurring challenge 
I have a few ideas floating in my mind, so I’m gonna do some tests and come up with a new round probably later today.
BTW, I’m surprised how dark my orange paint appeared in those pics, some funky stuff going on with the lighting on metallics?
