[sheps]

The hot hatch that holds the fondest place in my heart is the Mk1 Astra GTE.

It wasn't the quickest (that medal goes to the Renault 5 GT Turbo, and that car, coincidentally also swipes the trophy for the most fragile) nor was it the best handling (309GTi on Koni's) but it was absolutely bomb proof was great fun and taught me lift off oversteer without putting me thorugh a hedge (a la 205). Handled much better than a mk2 and mk3.

I still smile whenever I see one, and I love it when I see a non-molested concours example.

I think asking a bunch of people which HH to buy will yield a hundred different answers. My advice is to run with the model that's dear to you for whatever reason, and try your hardest to buy a goodun, because the debate of "Which was the best one" rages on even today, 25+ years after their inception.