It can sometimes get difficult to choose a single Desirable Car every month. This time, for instance, my thoughts went towards which particular hot-hatch I’d like to have in my garage. The more I thought about it, the more I came up with thoughts such as ‘that would look nice, I wish I had that,’ and even, ‘I’d be a hit with the girls in that.’ It soon dawned on me that if I had the funds and the space, I’d rather have a stable, not just a single hot-hatch in my garage. So instead of whittling my ever-increasing list down, I decided to include as many as I could.

So why am I so excited about hot-hatches? Simply because a hot-hatch is different – not just Maggi tomato sauce different, but tangibly different in terms of performance. They tend to have engines that turn out a little extra power, and, to go along with this, up-rated suspension systems and high performance tyres to improve handling and road holding. And best of all, they make the perfect Q cars, which refers to a car with an unassuming exterior similar to most other cars on the road, but unlike most other cars, they go like stink.

To understand the hot hatch, you have to go back in history and look at the Volkswagen Golf. Volkswagen launched a GTi version of the Golf in 1976 as a limited series of 5,000 cars. The response was beyond anything even VW could have imagined. Over 1.5 million cars, and several model changes later, the GTi has almost become a marque by itself. So which Golf GTi is my favourite?

Well, there is the first ever GTi (the Mk I) that appeals to the collector in me of course. With 110bhp of power, a four-speed gearbox and enough torque to take it from 0-100km/h in 9 seconds, and a top speed of 180km/h, the original GTi made for some superb seat-of-the-pants driving.

Then there is the amazing all-wheel drive R32 with a 6-cylinder, 3.0 liter engine with sequential multi-point fuel injection (Motronic), variable intake manifold, and variable intake & exhaust cam timing. It develops a very healthy 250bhp at 6,300rpm and 320Nm of torque, giving it a 0-100kp/h time of 6.5 seconds. Then, of course, there’s the awesome W12 design study that nobody except the most obscenely rich car collector could possibly own. And yes, in keeping with its name, it has a W12 engine under the hood. The mid-mounted 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12 develops over 600bhp, resulting in a 0-62mph sprint of just 3.7 seconds, and a maximum speed of 184mph. I could go on about the looks, but do I really need to? Just have a look at the image on your left! Is that desirable or what?

So that’s my stable started. The next hot hatch on my list first caught my fancy thanks to James Bond, or should I say a Bond-girl. Remember Fatima Blush, and the chase scene, in Never Say Never Again? The car in question was a Renault 5 Turbo, and the exciting bit was the mid-engined layout of the car (and Fatima Blush too, played by Barbara Carrera!). Yes, it was badged a Renault 5 but it actually had a 1.4 liter turbocharged four-cylinder unit developing a yummy 160bhp at 6,000rpm, down from the 210 and 350bhp of the competition versions, sadly. 0-60mph (0-96kph) came up in under 7 seconds and the quarter-mile in 15 seconds. Jean Ragnotti won the Monte Carlo Rally on its first outing in the World Rally Championship but being 2WD only, it lost out to the new four-wheel drive cars that were faster on dirt.

Coming to more contemporary machinery, Toyota’s Aygo Crazy is certainly a desirable hot hatch in my book. Harking back to the era of Group B rallying, it has been likened to a kart with doors and a roof. The reason is plain to see, due to its custom-made body, 17-inch alloys and fat Goodyear 225/45 rubber. The carbon fibre rear wing has been taken directly from the 200mph race cars in the American Champ Car series. Under the bonnet, so to speak, is a 1.8 VVT-i unit from the MR2 that’s mounted at the rear, which drives the rear wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox. Turbocharging raises power to 200bhp and torque to 240Nm. Compare that to the 68bhp and 93Nm in the road-going Aygo and you get an idea why this car appeals to me. It also has a bespoke cooling system that’s been designed around a huge, front-mounted aluminium radiator. It borrows its suspension from the MR2, and weighing in at just 1,050kg, the Aygo Crazy is capable of 127mph.

The letters RS prefixed to any Ford model signify great things. Any performance road car enthusiasts will know that the RS story began 40 years ago in Germany in the late 1960s and gained momentum across Europe with the launch of the Escort RS1600 in 1970. The 2009 Focus RS is built around a specially developed, turbocharged version of the Duratec 2.5-liter 5-cylinder engine. This powerplant will have a power output of 300bhp and over 410Nm of torque, leading to phenomenal acceleration. Though still under development, performance testing has revealed a 0-100km/h time of less than six seconds. Thankfully the brakes have been uprated as well to rein in the 19-inch wheels, wrapped in 235/35 low profile tyres. This one is already pre-booked in my ‘stable’!

We all know how the European Civic is such a dynamic, aggressive looking vehicle. We have essentially the same car, but with a much more sedate look. But were you aware that even that hot, aggressive and dynamic hatch has a more potent version, one that’s to die for? It’s called the Type R, and it’s distinguished by the red ‘H’ badge that only ever appears on Honda’s Type R versions, as well as its racing cars. This means it’s a special car. Honda philosophy says that all Type Rs must be pure, balanced and offer a smooth power delivery. So, all Type R cars have normally-aspirated (i.e. not forced induction) engines under the bonnet.

The Civic Type R has a high-revving 2.0 litre DOHC i-VTEC engine that produces 200bhp at 7,800rpm and 193Nm of torque at 5600rpm. That gives it a maximum speed of 146mph and a 0-62 mph time of 6.6 seconds. The engine is mated to a 6-speed close-ratio manual gearbox, which in turn is matched to a high performance clutch and a light-weight flywheel for quicker response and fast changes between gears. But just on looks alone, the Type R canters into my stable.

As far as India is concerned, car manufacturers are far too timid to offer hot hatch versions of the ordinary cars they sell. Witness the multiple ‘Sports’ version of popular saloons to hit our roads – all they feature are body kits and some go-faster paintwork. The good news is that there is one hot-hatch available, one that that I wouldn’t mind having in my now burgeoning stable – the Fiat Palio 1.6 or Palio Stile as the recently face-lifted version is known. With a 1.6 liter engine developing 100bhp and 140Nm of torque, and its solid build quality, it qualifies for the basic minimum requirements of a hot-hatch. One other potential hot-hatch could have been the Indica Silhouette built by J Anand of Coimbatore as a concept. Like the Renault 5 Turbo, this too was a mid-engined hatch boasting a 3.5 liter V6 housed within a spaceframe. Like the W12 concept, it was never intended to make it into production, which is a real shame for THAT would have really been the icing on the cake.