Return of the Hatchback

I’ve always had a soft spot for hatchbacks. Compared to the more formal sedans, hatchbacks, at least for me, were always the embodiment of practicality and youthfulness. Carmakers often marketed hatchbacks as entry-level models targeted at first-time car buyers or as lavish graduation gifts from parents to extremely lucky high school grads.

Which is why I spent an inordinately long amount of time daydreaming which hatchback I would pick should I survive high school algebra in the hands of the terrifying Fr. Macayan in my beloved Ateneo. (Hey Fr. Mac, I didn’t end up planting kalabasa after all.)

But while they say that we soon outgrow our childhood toys and dreams, I find myself now still inexplicably transfixed by anything with four wheels and has an abbreviated length aft of the rear seats.

In my impressionable youth, I was exposed to an array of intriguing hatchbacks. First there was the Colt Celeste of 1977. I was only 11 then, but I knew that this humble Japanese car’s design was inspired by the incredible 12-cylinder Lamborghini Espada. (Google that car’s image and be amazed by the similarities.)

My family and I were driving down from Baguio when I saw a fully stickered Celeste rally car with then-rally driver Francis de la Rama’s name emblazoned on the side windows parked at a roadside eatery. My next immediate thought was how soon this car would overtake us. True enough it probably wasn’t more than 20 minutes when the Celeste swooped by us, its balance-shafted engine roaring in my ears. Wow! (I was only 12 then.)

The advent of the ‘80s saw a seemingly never-ending succession of 3- and 5-door hatchbacks. Volkswagen unveiled the 3-door Passat "Surf" in late 1979, two years after its 4-door sedan sibling first debuted locally. Mitsubishi then entered its Mirage in 3- and 5-door guises. Ford was in the thick of it with the Laser 3- and 5-door hatchbacks (my older brother got the latter). The Australian-based Ford concern back then also offered the 1.8-liter Telstar 5-door replete with "Knight Rider" digital gauges. I was so taken by this swoopy sedan that seven years after the last example rolled off the assembly line in 1984, I bought a second-hand automatic-equipped model to use in my first job out of college.

Datsun begat Nissan and by 1986, we had the 3-door Pulsar coming out of the now-mothballed Nissan plant in E. Rodriguez Sr. Ave. in Quezon City. A year later we would see the Sentra-based California, whose styling can best be described as half-hatchback/half-station wagon.

But of all car manufacturers that dabbled in hatchbacks, none did so with greater success than Toyota. Who could forget Delta Motors’ iconic Corolla "Liftback" of 1980 to 83? Then there was the Starlet, which quickly became the darling of everyone ranging from college girls to housewives to rally and slalom drivers to drag racers. They even had a svelte 5-door Corona Liftback with a sporty SOHC 1.8-liter engine and a 5-speed stick when the rest of the Corona line-up (which included a station wagon) had only a pushrod 1.6-liter motor and a 4-speed.

Then, without warning, 3- and 5-door automobiles simply disappeared from the showrooms. It would be almost five years before the local market saw a brief comeback of the front-wheel-drive hatchback. It was the early 90s and this new wave brought the second generation of front-wheel-drive technology which largely eliminated that drivetrain’s Achilles’ heel: torque steer. Almost all cars then, save for some European luxury carmakers, opted for front-wheel-drive. This is the age of the Daihatsu Charade, the Fiat Uno (which even had a diesel-powered variant) and of course, the ultimate people’s car, the Kia Pride. Unfortunately, these cars were seen more as cheap transportation than as a motorized fashion or lifestyle statement.

Then, again, almost as if a second hatchback-hating asteroid struck, cars with rear portals suddenly disappeared. With the exception of the Kia Pride and the super-sleek-yet-almost-unseen 5-door Mazda Lantis from Columbian Motors, no hatchback was on offer from the mid-90s until the year 2000 (again another five years), when Toyota Motor Philippines imported the cute Echo and the quirky Echo Verso from Japan in small quantities. High import tariffs at the time rendered these two otherwise highly practical and surprisingly capacious vehicles too costly for the mass market.

The slow sales of the Echo stalled whatever spark that might have ignited hatchback sales. It would take almost another five years to for the Philippine market to experience yet a third renaissance in sales of my beloved genre. But it is truly a golden one.

Today, we’ve got the immensely fun-to-drive Honda Jazz with a staggeringly versatile interior configuration, a choice of two economical yet peppy engines and a novel CVT gearbox with F1-like steering wheel shifters. There is also the more traditional Chevrolet Aveo hatchback as well as the Kia Picanto and Hyundai Getz twins. (Hyundai now owns Kia.) Then there’s the small-on-the-outside-large-on-the-inside Pininfarina-designed Hyundai Matrix, which is available with a state-of-the-art turbocharged common-rail diesel engine that will out-pull cars with much bigger gasoline engines. Mazda gives us the drop-dead gorgeous Mazda3 5-door while parent company Ford recently unveiled the Focus Sport 5-door sport hatch with a racy 2.0-liter engine, both platform-mates boasting manumatic transmissions. Expect your head to turn when you first see Suzuki’s handsome variable valve timing-equipped Swift 5-door hatch on the road. It’s Japan’s answer to BMW’s new-age Mini Cooper.

Go high end and you’ll still see hatchbacks on the boutique list. French carmaker Peugeot has been selling the adorable 206 and 307 5-door hatchbacks locally for a couple of years now. Go even higher end and BMW has been peddling the head-turning, genre-breaking 5-door 1-series here (with engines ranging from 1.6 to 2.0 liters) for quite some time now. Mercedes-Benz actually beat the Bavarians to the local luxury hatch market with its somewhat less commercially successful A-class and the compact 3-door C-class Sports Coupe two or three years back. Expect them, however, to make substantially more noise (and sales) with their new and radical B-class hatch which debuted here just two weeks ago. This new Benz looks like a cross between DaimlerChrysler’s PT Cruiser and a one-size-larger Honda Jazz. And Audi is set to join the fray with their A3 hot hatch early next year.

Needless to say, hatchback lovers never had it so good. Fun to drive, space-efficient, versatile, functional and, more often than not, thrifty with fuel, hatchbacks are the veritable short-term answer to traffic congestion and rising fuel prices.

As for me, if I could afford it, I’d be hard-pressed to choose between the sportiness of the BMW 1-sries and the practicality of the Mercedes B-class. More realistically speaking though, I really fancy myself tearing down the streets in a red or medium metallic blue Suzuki Swift. Oh to be young again! Try that in a stodgy 4-door sedan!

Backseat driving sure has its ups and downs. Here are some complaints interspersed with some comments from last week.

MMDA Chairman Bayani, any plans of improving the everyday traffic at EDSA corner Boni Serrano? Also at the Mantrade underpass? It’s getting worse! — 09154376302

Is the entire Metro Manila covered by the Color Coding Scheme? — 09175667682 (Unfortunately, yes. And in some areas like Mandaluyong and Makati, unless you’re a resident, there isn’t even a window to speak of.)

The taxi cage before Mantrade is a perennial cause of traffic. Who should we blame for that stupid idea? — 09178393826 (I don’t think it should be a question of who to blame as much as who to approach to rectify the situation. We’ve been complaining to no avail since this column began!)

Why don’t we prohibit full dark tint on front windshileds? I think it would be safer for everybody. — 09167224243 (There is a school of thought that goes the opposite direction. Windshield tints for probable kidnapees are musts for some. What do you guys think?)

At the Alabang Interchange, tricycles pass in front of traffic enforcers with impunity. Are they now allowed in that area? — 09178462996

I agree. James Deakin didn’t deserve the violent reaction. The driver of the AUV might have just been insecure. — 09178431271

It’s really hard to understand the daily morning traffic at Commonwealth Avenue from Ever Gotesco until Iglesia ni Kristo. — 09176203448

Speak out, be heard and keep those text messages coming in. To say your piece and become a "Backseat Driver", text PHILSTAR<space>FB<space>MOTORING<space>YOUR MESSAGE and send to 2333 if you’re a Globe or Touch Mobile subscriber or 334 if you’re a Smart or Talk ’n Text subscriber or 2840 if you’re a Sun Cellular subscriber. Please keep your messages down to a manageable 160 characters. You may send a series of comments using the same parameters.