I've driven the Peugeot 208 GTi and Kia's latest EV4 GT — and these pocket rockets are throwing it back to the golden days of the affordable hot hatch

(Image credit: Peugeot/Kia)

Only recently, the internet was ablaze with news that Volkswagen will be applying a proper GTI badge to both its ID.3 and electric Polo models, the former of which will be the most powerful car to wear the iconic insignia.

Granted, that’s not quite VW committing to a fully-electric Golf GTI, but it’s about as close as we are going to get for now.

Often considered the king of the hot hatches, a Golf GTI has long…