the hatch is better on handling and lighter, and its a well proven fact ie.. when ford had the escort (hatch), and the orion (saloon), why did they make the escort rs turbo, and rs cosworth in the hatch and not saloon, when vauxhall relisead the astra (hatch) and the belmont (saloon) y did they choose the astra for the gte 16v treatment and the gsi tratment, dont get me wrong i like the look of the saloon, but the hatch win's it for me everytime, who cares about the little bit extra boot space, what the hell do u want to put in there anyway