We know from 2023’s ID. 2 GTI concept that those three legendary letters and some red pinstriping will find their way onto a VW EV eventually, but let’s say you need to exit your GTI now and want to jump into a fully electric car. Where do you spend your £40,000 if you love your GTI but want an EV?

Just as there’s no Golf GTI EV, you won’t find electric versions of most of its rivals, models like the Honda Civic Type R, Ford Focus ST and Skoda Octavia vRS. But there are a handful of cars that tick most of the same boxes, and at least one them reaches 60mph in fewer ticks than any of those petrol-powered hot hatches.

Back in the late 1970s the original Golf GTI helped put the final nail in the coffin of creaky British sports cars like the MGB, but a half century on the now Chinese-owned MG is giving VW a major headache. We’re big fans of the ordinary MG 4 hatch so a hot one with double the power for thousands less than a GTI sounds like a dream.

If you want maximum straight-line bang for your buck, the kind that’ll make your neck feel like a newborn’s every time you stomp on the right pedal, the MG 4 XPower is the clear winner in our list of energy-vegan GTI alternatives. With 429bhp, two motors and all-wheel drive, it’ll hit 62mph in just 3.8 seconds. Never mind the Golf GTI, which needs almost six seconds, even the pricer Golf R is almost a second adrift, yet at £36,495 the XPower massively undercuts both, plus the ID. 3 GTX. It even comes in cheaper than VW’s bog-basic 201bhp ID. 3, for heaven’s sake.

But jump into the XPower after a strop down the road in a GTI and you can see exactly where that saved money didn’t go. Yes, it’s quick, but the chassis is always playing catch-up. MG’s XPower upgrades over the stock 4 include stiffer suspension, bigger brakes, extra steering weight and promises of brake-based torque vectoring from a drivetrain that’s nominally rear-wheel drive until the traction control yells an SOS to the front axle.

But the small-ish 18-inch front wheels still find themselves scrabbling for grip when you dig deep into the power reserves, there’s more body lean than you expect in a hot hatch, and the steering’s as communicative as a sulky teen. It’s fun up to a point, but push too hard and it becomes a handful.

B roads aren’t the only weakness. The infotainment, and the interior in general, feels a little cheap, which we can forgive on the ordinary £27k MG 4, but find harder to overlook here. Same with the range: it’s officially rated at an already unimpressive 239 miles between charges but you can chop at least 50 miles from that if you’re intent on using the performance, or if there’s a cold snap (and there’s no heat pump to help).

MG, like many Chinese car makers, learns fast, so we expect big things from the next hot 4. Right now, though, the XPower doesn’t do enough to tempt us out of a GTI.

But the MG 4 XPower isn’t the only Chinese-built, Brit-badged EV that thinks it can step silently into the GTI’s shoes. The Mini Aceman is a five-door crossover-ish hatch that slots between the new three-door-only Mini (now called simply Cooper) and the bigger Countryman, which has morphed into an even bigger, squarer SUV.

Think of the Aceman (which will be built in the UK from 2026) as a stretched Cooper. It gets the same EV platform, and the same motor and battery combinations, but an additional 80mm of steel between the axles, only the front of which propels you forward. Even with that extra real estate the Aceman’s tighter on space than the petrol Golf, for passengers and their bags. But it looks funky, inside and out, with modern textiles covering a dash sprinkled with subtle classic Mini design Easter eggs, and the fancy wafer-thin circular touchscreen is crisp and responsive.

GTI owners thinking of defecting will want to skip the part of the Aceman brochure dealing with the £28,905 entry-level E, which slums it with a 181bhp electric motor and puny 38.5kWh battery that sounds like it’d be better suited to giving your phone a top-up than powering a car. The range is just 192 miles. The £31,905 SE – 215bhp and 251 miles – is more appealing, but for GTI cash you could afford to head straight for the £36,905 John Cooper Works and still have cash left over or some of those irresistible Mini options.

JCW trim brings a racier bodykit, 19-inch wheels and splashes of red in the cabin. It also gets you a bump to 255bhp, which drops the 0-62mph time from 7.1 to 6.4 seconds, though since the 49.2kWh battery is carried over from the SE, the range drops to 243 miles. That’s not much better than the MG delivers, and far less useful than the 350-400 miles you’ll travel on a fresh tank in the GTI.

We haven’t driven the JCW yet, but the lesser Acemans we have tried managed to display at least a little of that trademark Mini flickability despite the wheelbase stretch over the hatch. I really didn’t want to use the ‘Go-Kart’ cliche, but it’s hard to avoid when that’s the name of one of the driving modes, which activates with a cringy ‘woo-hoo!’

Maybe ‘oh no!’ would be better, given the Aceman rides Britain’s bumpy, scarred roads with all the sophistication of an oil drum that’s fallen off the back of lorry. The JCW is unlikely to be more compliant, though its extra muscle should answer our complaints of the other Acemans feeling a little meek.

Two EVs in and we’re still looking for our GTI alternative. And maybe you’re still waiting for us to namecheck the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. We love the N, and not only because of its simulated gearshifts and drift mode, fun as they are. Because the 641bhp N is a blast. But we have to deny the Hyundai entry to this comparison because its £65,000 price makes it more than 50 per cent pricier than the GTI. It’s just not a realistic comparison. If it helps dampen your disappointment, bear in mind the Hyundai’s feeble 190-mile real-world range.

So where does that leave us? Back at VW, or at least the VW Group. Because although the Golf GTI might not be available as an EV, the ID. 3 hatch is available as a GTI, kind of. VW took the standard 201bhp single-motor ID. 3, gave it more power, a bigger 79kWh battery and slapped on a GTX badge to remind us it’s meant to be fun, and fun of the zero-emissions kind. (The revival of the GTX badge from VW’s past is intended as a temporary measure, until Wolfsburg thinks its EVs – and their potential buyers – are ready for an electric GTI.)

With 322bhp in its most potent Performance trim and an official range of 369 miles, the £46,315 GTX is quick and usable. Zero to 62mph in 5.7 seconds puts the GTX a couple of tenths ahead of the regular 262bhp GTI, and in snap overtakes the ID.3 feels quicker every time thanks to its instant torque, if maybe not quite as urgent as you’d expect.

Inside, it’s another tie, the EV feeling almost exactly as roomy as the Golf, making the speediest ID. 3 just as easy to live with as a GTI. But the ride is harsh, despite the stock adaptive dampers, and it’s simply not as much fun to hurl around, feeling competent and capable, but just a little too sensible for its own good.

Same goes for the styling, with GTX embellishments limited to a grille seemingly modelled on a chainlink fence designed to keep killer dogs at bay, and a different pattern for the 20-inch rims. Don’t bother looking for traditional GTI upholstery, either.

Which is why we’d suggest taking a step sideways in the direction of your Cupra dealer and the Born VZ. The basic package is the same but with the Cupra you get some proper hot-hatch swagger, a better-quality interior and, based on our own testing, a touch more agility and fizz from the chassis. Throw in a five-year warranty – the VW only offers three – and fractionally lower £44,625 list price, and we’re prepared to let the mysteriously shorter range (342 plays 369 miles) slide.

Hyundai Ioniq 5 N aside, the Born VZ is our favourite electric hot hatch right now, but that could soon change with cars like the ID. 2 GTI on the horizon. Over to you, VW. And don’t forget the plaid seats this time.