A "hot hatch" is a hatchback that goes fast, right? You take a hatchback, you give it performance upgrades at the factory, and boom. There's your hot hatch. There's plenty of examples of the form, the Honda Civic Type R, the Ford Focus RS, the Hyundai i30 N, all of them generating between 200-400 horsepower, with suspension and transmissions to match. That's what makes them hot hatches, right?

Well, if you ask most reviewers: No. That's not it. They'll tell you it's not, because the MG4 XPOWER has that and more. It just doesn't have what THEY look for in a hot hatch.

It's loud noise, it's a gear shifter with too many gears, it's a stereo with a discrete subwoofer and amplifier, it's obnoxious styling in the cabin and flashy graphics on the gauge monitor. None of that makes the car faster, but it does attract a very distinct demographic.