South Korea is the land known for its love of technology and bringing us an exciting sporty hatchback. The Hyundai i30N should give you pause before buying your next car. You may well want to consider this one first.
Price? Not sure yet. But that’ll probably be announced shortly before its release toward the end of January 2020. The i30N will only be available at 15 selected dealers though and will be sold through what would be known as ‘N-specialists’ – people who were specifically trained to sell the car. All dealerships, however, will be able to service owners’ cars.
It’s important to note that while there are different engine specs that this model comes with, we’re only getting the 202-kW engine config. That’s better than the entry-level 184 kW, though. It’s plenty of sporty power for those who drive the highway economic arteries that make up our biggest cities. The engine produces 353 Newton-meters (Nm) of twisting force, but it can unleash up to 378Nm in short spurts during over boost.
So basically, you’re getting a 2-litre turbo-petrol engine, which is plenty of voooooom! where you need it most on a car. Hopefully, you’re not driving an automatic, because there is no such option with the i30N coming to our country. There is a 6-gear manual and that’s more than enough for us.
When fitted with the 19-inch wheel option, the hot hatch sits 8mm lower to the ground. It has also been kitted with a sport suspension system with adjustable dampers as well as an electronic control limited-slip differential.
If you’re slick with your gear changes, you can easily meet the 100 km/h in 6.1 seconds that the i30N is capable of.
You’ll get a great selection of drive modes for this baby. That being Eco, very useful in rush hour traffic, Normal, and when you want to shoot across town you can opt in Sport. Finally, there’s N and N Custom, which means you get to choose the parameters at which the steering, sound, chassis, and, most importantly, engine function within.
But how cool is this: there’s a G-Force meter as well. So, when you’re Tom Cruising down the highway, you can feel like a Top Gun.
