Hyundai has gone to great lengths to banish its image of being a bargain basement carmaker over the last decade, with a range of competitive, quality small cars, family cars and SUVs on the books. But up until now it’s shied away from performance offerings, leaving European rivals to dominate the market.
Finally, after the hiring of ex-BMW M division head Albert Biermann in 2014, Hyundai has launched its ‘N’ performance sub-brand with this: the i30 N. We were impressed with it out in Germany earlier this year, yet this is the real acid test on our broken and scarred British tarmac. It’s also our first chance to try the cheaper 247bhp base car, which is £3,000 less than the 271bhp Performance Package model we drove previously.
• New Hyundai i30 Performance Package review
Hyundai’s engineers did hundreds of laps of the Nurburgring during development of the i30 N, though thankfully the company isn’t feeling the need to shout about it too much. The quietly aggressive bodykit, wider wheelarches, bigger wheels (18-inch items on this car, an 19-inchers on the top-spec model), red details and large twin exhausts give the game away to enthusiasts, but those after showiness and extravagance from their hot hatch will be better served by cars such as the Honda Civic Type R.
It’s a similar story inside. Hyundai has transferred over the solid yet unexciting cabin of the standard i30, with only the drive mode selector on the steering wheel and a pair of nicely supportive sports seats added as distinguishing features. But that’s the same as you’ll find in most rival hot hatches, and the i30 N’s cabin is well-finished, spacious and intuitive to use.
We’d forgive you for having some scepticism about the i30 N’s driving experience. Even putting the fact that this is Hyundai’s first hot hatch to one side, the standard i30 is far from an entertaining steer. That’s what makes the N all the more surprising when you get behind the wheel and find out that it is, in fact, a true challenger to the current hot hatch elite.
With the Civic Type R, plus four-wheel drive competitors like the Ford Focus RS pushing beyond the 300bhp mark, the i30 N looks down on power even in Performance Package form. But the 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine seems almost as energetic as more muscular rivals, partly thanks to the short gearing. We drove the standard and Performance Pack models back-to-back, and while you can notice slightly more pull at high revs in the latter, the former feels just as fast most of the time.
It rips right up to the redline with urgency and with almost no lag, meaning you can rifle through the gears with the i30 N’s slick manual shift and find yourself covering ground at a surprising rate of knots. It’s not the most exciting hot hatch powertrain on the market, but the switchable exhaust uses sound generators to add to the hard-edged snarl in the mid-range and deliver a cacophony of pops and bangs. We also love the rev-matching tech, allowing quick and smooth downshifts without the need to heel-and-toe. It’s happy to quieten down at a cruise and deliver diesel-like low-rev torque, too.
The engine is strong and willing, then, but the handling is even more impressive. Doing without the Performance Package means this car lacks the electronic differential and bigger brakes, yet it hasn’t suffered too much. While the diff in the pricier i30 N keeps it locked into its chosen line out of a bend no matter what you do, even this standard car grips and holds on keenly. The steering is quick, direct and surprisingly feelsome, boosting your confidence in the car’s abilities.
Adding to the tremendous feeling of agility is the impressive body control, with the i30 N feeling remarkably well tied-down regardless of which mode you have the suspension in. The drive modes are endlessly configurable, unlike in some rivals, so you can leave the adaptive dampers in Normal mode and ramp up the throttle response, exhaust noise and steering weight separately. We’d recommend doing this, as the i30 N’s ride is firm but well damped in the standard setting – ramping up to Sport or (in particular) N mode simply makes it too stiff and easily unsettled for British B-roads. The standard car is better in this area than the Performance Package, though, as the slightly smaller wheels remove a layer of harshness from the i30 N’s bump absorption, and reduce road noise.
The i30 N’s rounded abilities and exceptional sharpness make it one of the finest front-wheel drive hot hatches around. That’s quite something, considering most manufacturers have been perfecting their offerings for years. If you’re planning on doing some track driving then the Performance Package is the one to go for, but on the road the base car offers very nearly as much excitement for significantly less cash. At £25,000, it undercuts basically every rival, making it look fantastic value for money.
- Model: Hyundai I30 N
- Price: £24,995
- Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo petrol
- Power/torque: 247bhp/353Nm
- 0-62mph: 6.4 seconds
- Top speed: 155mph
- Economy/CO2: 40.0mpg/159g/km
- On sale: January 2018
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