In the automotive industry, the word hatch is a contraction of the term hot hatch, which in turn is the short form of the term Hot Hatchback, and is used to describe cars with a hinged door at the back.

Hatchbacks have been on the market for decades but the hatch as such is a relatively recent addition to the family of cars with doors where the boot normally is. Hatches are the babies of this car family and can be distinguished from other cars as well as from their siblings with hatches in a number of ways. Technically, it has to do with the number of pillars that hatches have and a whole lot of other things but what really stands out about this type of car is the large amount of boot space! Sure, 4x4s, jeeps and station wagons probably have a lot more boot space than a hatch but then they are much larger and I don’t want to start comparing apples with pears. What I really want to emphasize is that you can fit a piano and a bicycle complete with rider into the back of a hatch. Well, okay, not both piano and bicycle at the same time, and the piano is small, but it’s still no mean feat.

The other major reason I like hatches, and one of the reasons why my new car is a hatch, is the maneuverability. These little cars have a shorter wheel base so they are easy to reverse park and can make three point turns in narrow roads with ease. Oh, and they are economical to run too and cheap to buy, being on the lower end of the car market. Unfortunately, the hatch earned the rather disparaging moniker of ‘compact car’ for this reason and is often called a compact in other parts of the world. This does not upset me, however, as the car manufacturers have picked up on this and hatches are becoming more and more sporty looking, and dare I say, sexy, as the years go by.