Every true Motoring Nation in the world has an icon that children drool over growing up. And when the day finally comes, they blow out eighteen candles, go straight out to get their driver's license and of course the car they’ve spent their entire childhood fantasizing and having many a wet dream about. Well, it would’ve been lovely if I or any eighteen- year old could've got the keys to a Ferrari or a Lamborghini or even a Porsche for that manner. But life is slightly more difficult and things like that do not happen unless you were born an Ambani or something of the sort. For more middle-classish people there are the slobber knockers, cars that can take any amount of abuse and put a smile on your face every time you get behind the wheel. I am talking about cars like the Mini Cooper S, the Volkswagen GTi, the Honda Civic Type R, the Renault Megan Sport, and most recently the Fiat Punta Abarth. Cars which have a attitude written all over them, not because they have massive amounts of horsepower, but, for the simple reason of being pure entertainment.

We aren't quite fortunate to have these cars roaming on our streets but what we do have are a few hatches which promise the sky. Our sole mission for the next six pages is not to find out which has the best fuel efficiency or which looks the best or even which is the quickest in a straight line, but to reach the simple conclusion as to which one 'hot hatch' drives and feels the best and can corner on its door handles all day.

The contenders were of course very carefully chosen to make our lives easier. The absolute first thing that swept across everyone's mind in the team was the Fiat Palio 1.6 Sport which now has bit of an extension to its name with the Stile avatar. This is the original hot hatch that everybody has lusted for since its launch. It's a completely different matter that things went horribly wrong for Fiat and very few people went ahead and bought one, but every 'useful' driver worth his salt swears by it.

Next up is the more commercially appealing and generally stunning Swift from Suzuki. It has won women's hearts with its cute curves and podgy, rounded panels, but the 1.3-litre petrol can do some wonderful things, when put to the sword, and a slick shifter never hurt anybody. Last but not the least is the Hyundai Getz, here solely because of the stonker of a l.5-litre common rail diesel that the Koreans have decided to stuff into it. Road manners were never really a problem with it either.

So we headed off on a pleasant winter morning to find the twistiest of roads, ones that had more hairpins than a cheap wig, to challenge the abilities of these cars and to give them the chance to prove themselves worthy of being called hot hatches.

Starting off in the Getz, you get this sense of comfort. The large windows, the excellent visibility, the roomy interiors with its soft tones and of course a diesel engine make it the most logical and practical buy. But, as I said before - this one time, practicality's on holiday. This is more like attaining nirvana, where you walk in and choose a car entirely for the way it feels and behaves around you. The Getz's caring and mother-like instincts are offended only by one thing: a brute of an engine which punches out in excess of a hundred horses and more than twice the amount in torque to match it. The result is a Korean rocket that breaches the 100kph mark in 11.4 seconds. In case you are still wondering, yes it is bloody quick and yes it is good enough to be the quickest of the three cars in the frame. However, along with this astounding acceleration comes a sense of insecurity which is largely amplified by the light steering which vibrates violently in your hand as you pass 120kph. The chassis seems to bend over trying to deal with all the forces and the car never really feels quite as stable as the petrol driven ones. This was like giving a four-year old an Uzi: you just have to expect tears before bedtime. Maybe this one time we scratched our back-sides a bit much and made the completely wrong decision. If the rocket powered Getz feels this jittery in a straight line how would I ever make it around a corner without coughing out my nuts? Well, the answer wasn't too far away. Taking the first couple of corners easy I started thinking, 'this isn't so bad.' With my confidence building slightly I pushed harder, that is when things got hairy and I nearly choked on my stones. The car sort of compressed the suspension on one side as I tried going around a corner rather quickly. At the same time, the excessive amount of power induced some wheel spin on the outside tyre and generally made a mess of things. This was the scenario going downhill; uphill around six-odd hairpins was a different story altogether. Low-end grunt is feeble, that is till the turbo whacks into action, mid-corner more often than not, and generally offsets any sort of line that you try to follow. All smoke, no fire? Maybe. The quickest one of the lot is nowhere near the 'hot hatch' we looking for this time.

So then I repeated the exercise with the Swift. This one, though more mundane and hugely popular with the masses, holds an ace or two up its sleeve when it comes to performance. It has quickly become a favourite with enthusiasts and with good reason. Low-end response from the 1.3-litre petrol engine is ordinary to say the least, but get past the magical 3,000rpm mark and keep it there, and the car delights you. The engine is nippy and mid-range power delivery is rapid. The five-speed box is also by far the best of the lot. It's slick and precise motions via the short gear stick make shifting through gears not only easy but fun too. The slightly fatter rubber on the top-end spec makes for decent amounts of grip too - never a bad thing when you want to £ling it around corners. What the Swift loses to the Getz diesel in straight line performance it easily makes up around corners. And there is no sudden turbo boost to knock you out of shape mid-corner and even if things get hairy the Swift is the only one with ABS to save the day. The brushed aluminium bits, spread around the cabin, enhance the sporty feel. The Swift essentially has a very Mini Cooperish aura with the catchy styling and the sharp performance - something we all appreciate.

This leaves us with the big Daddy of the hatches, the Palio 1.6. We were all a bit shocked and even downright angry when we heard Fiat had decided to stop production of the car. Fortunately, with the resurrection of the Palio in the Stile guise, better sense has prevailed and the 1.6 Sport is up for grabs again. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is the best driver's hatch around even today. It manages to flawlessly combine straight-line performance with great handling characteristics. The fact that it is a mere two-tenth of a second slower than the Getz in the dash to triple-digit speeds says a lot about the Palio. But what is far more impressive is its stability. You could throw a typhoon at it and it still wouldn't budge. And the fact that Fiat’s press car had near bald tyres with the odo reading about 5,000km just goes to show what everyone else thinks about this baby's grip. The engine response is crisp and a slight dab of gas is enough to get past all sorts of traffic. The gearbox could've been a bit sharper to complement the Palio's character a little better and the brakes, which lock up real easy, could do with ABS, but that is all that I can complain about. It still looks brilliant, although the oddly-designed tail lamps don't set my pants on fire, and it moves like a rock star. Thankfully, Fiat haven't tried to fiddle with the engine management system to dampen responses from the hundred horses under the hood like they did with the 1.2. The Palio is a total no-nonsense car. This is one car which makes you feel like a great driver. Stringing corners together become more of an art rather than hard work and it feels instantly gratifying. This is quite simply what a driver's car should be and if you are indeed looking for a good drive to have fun with there is little that can better the Palio.