We got to hand it to Hyundai for
completely reinventing itself as a car maker and constantly expanding its
portfolio to include performance-oriented vehicles, such as the i30 N hot
hatch, in addition to new crossover and SUV models. The compact hot hatch debuted
almost three years ago as the Korean brand’s alternative to the Volkswagen Golf
GTI, Ford Focus ST, Renault Megane RS and Honda Civic Type R. In the meantime,
some of its rivals got updated, and it’s now time for the i30 N to go down the
same route.
Expected in the coming months, it will
follow in the footsteps of the regular i30 range, which was facelifted for the
2020 model year gaining slimmer headlamps, a wider grille, larger infotainment
screen with smartphone integration, and more. The i30 N will get all of those
plus the usual bells and whistles required from such a car. Those will include
the sporty appearance, joined by chassis upgrades consisting of a firmer
suspension and bigger brakes.
Power will continue to come from the
2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which currently makes 246 HP as standard and 271 HP in Performance guise,
with a peak torque of up to 378 Nm on overboost. The car only comes
with a six-speed manual transmission, but this will change with the 2021 i30 N,
which will add an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic option.
The prototypes spied testing recently on
and around the Nürburgring and featured in the short video embedded down below
were equipped with the auto ‘box, which will improve the 0-100 km/h acceleration by a few tenths of a second. In the 2020 Hyundai i30 N
Performance, the benchmark sprint takes 6.1 seconds, while the top speed is
limited at 250 km/h.
