 I sat in the new Swift Sport at the Frankfurt show a couple of months ago. This wasn't a particularly professional moment. There's no time for indulgences such as this on the press day of this sprawling German show, even if you do happen to like the car. I glanced around the bonsai cabin and noted the new dash, the contrasting stitching and a general, pleasing absence of bling. Six speeds on the shift, I noted, wondering if they'd shortened the gearing to give it more fizz and then banged on a ludicrously overdriven top ratio to keep emissions and consumption down (they have).  I liked the old model, a giantkilling act of some aplomb. While it couldn't match the sheer brio and firepower of today's Renaultsport Clios, it was a fine warm, rather than hot, hatchback. This is a type of affordable, everyday car with enough vim to bring a smile to your face when the road starts to curl and curve. Funnily enough, Renault used to produce the best-ever warm hatch in the Nineties, the Clio RSi; bad name, great car, terrific prices.  I had wondered what might happen to cars like the Swift when Volkswagen, which owns a fifth of Suzuki, started throwing its weight around. The Germans wanted the Japanese to do as they were told, mop up VW's surplus capacity in engines and suspensions and give VW the key to Far Eastern markets such as India, where Maruti Suzuki is the leading brand. It was all one-way traffic and VW sniffily dismissed any suggestion that it could learn something from Suzuki about making small cars. Finally, at this year's Frankfurt show the Japanese signalled that they had had enough of this patronising - the deal is currently being unwound. Which leaves Suzuki independent, with the world's most eclectic model range and the Swift Sport unmolested by Germany's finest.  The new car is slightly larger and heavier than the old, but retains the Nautilus-style wraparound windscreen and Giugiaro-inspired window line. The 1.6-litre twin-cam fizzes out slightly more power with better emissions and its 136bhp with 118lb ft of torque is enough to throw this oneton, three-door hatch up the road at a top speed of 121mph and accelerate from 0-62mph in 8.7sec, yet give a Combined fuel consumption of 44mpg and Band F CO2 emissions of 147g/km.  Climb inside and it's hard to avoid a nostalgic rush as you contemplate the old-school Fun, fun, fun: the Suzuki Swift Sport should be 'driven to the V&amp;a and parked in a big glass case' - although it will be in a showroom near you in the New Year plastic trim and simple twodial binnacle. Only the pianoblack centre console pumping Metronomy instead of Duran Duran reminds you this isn't the Eighties and this isn't a Peugeot 205 GTi. Even the seats are those tight-fitting buckets that make you feel like a rally star but attack your spine after half an hour.  The steering wheel is, wait for it, perforated leather; how Young Guns is that? No, you aren't going to be very comfortable in the back seats and the boot is small, but that's not what this car is about.  Fire it up and it's hard not to blip the throttle as it warms, except at my age people might assume I've stolen my son's car. The little mill fizzes through the frame and the revcounter bounces around like a demented space hopper. The new gearbox doesn't have the mechanical-feeling change of the old one and that's a shame, but it slots cleanly and fast, which is what you need to keep this engine on the boil. The clutch is absurdly light.  Pull away and the lack of low-down torque isn't as bad as you expect, well not quite. a complicated two-stage intake system and variable valve timing give a boost to the midrange, but this engine is really all about revs. Which makes it surprising that the Japanese have given it a long stroke, so from 6,000rpm it labours on to a peak of 7,000rpm with all the spring of a climber negotiating Everest's Hillary Step.  That takes away a bit of the joy, but not much. This little car is a perfect hoot. Well planted, but with a fine ride quality and accurate steering, it's a smashing thing to drive fast. The body does roll a little, but that's also part of the fun, when the inside front wheel starts to lose traction and you feather the throttle, holding a big screaming slide out of the corner. There is an electronic stability system, but it's as discreet as Jeeves.  The main trait is understeer, but you can kick the nose into line with a lift of the throttle, although the mechanical grip from the 195/45/17in tyres and chassis dynamics means it never hangs its tail out like the infamous 205 GTi of yesteryear. The brakes are strong and linear so you can dance around the pedals pushing the car along like a football in the yard, with a grin as wide as the goalposts.  at ?14,250, this is automotive fun of the type that should be driven to the V&amp;a Museum and parked in a big glass case. The glass you'll see it through, however, is the showroom window in January. Nip down there after Christmas and I guarantee that New Year will never have looked as good.  The rivals  FORD FIESTa ST  Price watch this space  Now that the Fiesta is a World Rally contender, a proper hot hatch version is on the cards for next year, with a 180bhp 1.6-litre turbocharged engine and a six-speed manual box. Handling seems assured, but prices might be steep.  VaUXHaLL CORSa VXR  Price ?18,900  a sweet-handling and subtle rework of the Griffin's B-class hatchback. The turbocharged 1.6 engine spits out a blistering 192bhp and performance is suitably brisk, with 140mph and 0-60mph in 6.8sec. a fizzing if expensive competitor.  RENaULT CLIO RENaULTSPORT 200 CUP  Price ?16,930  The R?gie might have cynically relaunched its Gordini badge as a mere paint job, but this fantastic 200bhp, 141mph hot hatch with 0-62mph in 6.9sec is unsurpassed except in build and ride quality.  Behind the wheel of Hyundai's new family hatch  ,It's not just us who are starting to take Hyundai seriously. So are the South Korean car-maker's rivals, writes andrew English.  at this autumn's Frankfurt motor show, a posse of Volkswagen management, including the chairman Martin Winterkorn, descended on next year's i30 replacement and gave it the third degree, including waggling the steering adjustment while complaining it is better than VW's system and measuring the door-mirror obscuration.  We tracked down a prototype of the new i30 in Copenhagen for our own grilling. It is slightly longer, wider and lower than its predecessor, which is Hyundai's European bestseller and which has sold more than 350,000 since its 2007 launch. Like the old model, the new i30 will be built in the Czech Republic. Thomas Burkle, Hyundai's design head and formerly of BMW, might not have the high profile of Peter Schreyer, his opposite number at Kia, but he's designe 