The 2018 Hyundai i30 N – Another Attempt To Dethrone the Golf GTI

Thabiso Malimela

Attention to all heathens of the motoring world: there is yet another alternative to the understandably “undesirable” Volkswagen Golf GTI available for you to buy soon – and this time it hails from the far east, namely Seoul in South Korea. You might be asking, “Which manufacturer is brave enough to even attempt pooping on the GTI party? And what manner of wizardry have they concocted to make a rival worthy of comparison?” To be honest, I wouldn’t blame you for asking because as we’ve witnessed recently, the Golf GTI has been upgraded with one goal in mind – to be even more out of reach to its rivals. Bring in Honda’s Civic Type R and now Hyundai’s i30 N, the GTI looks to be in some serious trouble, (insert Jeremy Clarkson voice now) or is it?

Before anything else, let’s deal with the elephant in the room – the name. No, the name isn’t incomplete nor is it a typo. Hyundai calls their go-faster vehicles that – N, just N. The best excuse I can conjure up is that they were so focused on making the car actually perform brilliantly that they sort of forgot to think of a unique enough name for their performance cars. It seems my suspicions may be well founded because Hyundai tells us that “N” stands for Namyang (the town where the N-brand is based and home of Hyundai Motor Group research and development centre) and the place where it was developed, the Nurburgring. Okay, seems believable. Then they go on to say that the letter “N” also symbolises a chicane (a quick left-right turn, or vice-versa). I’m not Lewis Hamilton but even I know that “N” doesn’t look like a chicane. However, GTI lovers can stop giggling now, because although the i30 N is still a Hyundai (which has a reputation of being as sporty as a tortoise, Veloster aside), the South Korean company has made a real attempt here and the numbers play a large role in verifying that claim.

Here are some questions that you might be asking yourself right now:

Performance? What does Hyundai know about performance?

There’s that N I was raving about. Am I the only one who thinks that it looks nothing like a chicane?

Well, in case you didn’t know, Hyundai has been racing a super modified i20 WRC (run by Hyundai Motorsport N) in the World Rally Championship (WRC) since 2014. And although they have no championship trophies under their belts, they do have 5 rally victories, 3 of which came from the 2017 season. And what does this mean? Well, all I’m going to explain is that car manufacturers enter racing disciplines firstly to inject some vigour into the companies brand image and secondly to expose their research and development team to the crucible that is motorsports so as to improve the sporty performance and innovation of their customer vehicles. Think of the latter as when Goku trained in 100x gravity and then emerged to defeat Freezer – in case you were wondering, in this case, Freezer is the GTI!

Okay, so 5 wins is all they got from that experience?

The i30 N tackling a bend, with the limited slip differential working hard to tame the inside front wheel. And is that body roll or just a bad camera angle? (I hope it’s the latter)

Far from it. The lessons learnt from 4 years of being in the toughest rally competition cannot be matched. Sure, it’s not Formula 1, but at least as a manufacturer you get to learn how to optimise the performance of a car that isn’t performance orientated.

Disclaimer: the i30 N is by no means a rally car. Don’t believe me? Well, the last time I checked, rally cars weren’t developed at the Nurburgring. As we’ve seen with other manufacturer products such as the Honda Civic Type R “trackmonger”, when cars are sent to the said racetrack, they return meaner and leaner – and it is no different with the N-word i30. Hyundai flexes its high performance “muscles” by adding an electronic limited slip differential to keep the ferocious power in check, grippy Michelin and Pirelli P Zero tyres in 18-inch and 19-inch respectively and an electronically controlled suspension and dampers. It sits even lower than the standard and mundane i30, with the ride height being dropped by as much as 8mm (depending on what tyre size you choose). Does this make it a track car? Well, yes and no. Yes, if you pick the Performance Package for extra cash. No, if you pick the “low fat” standard N model. The uprated and more expensive Performance Package comes with those aforementioned Pirelli rubbers, larger and upgraded brake discs and calipers, and a variable valve exhaust system (more about this later). For those who don’t mind having they’re license taken away, you’ll be pleased to know that the electronic stability control (which brakes specific wheels depending on cornering loads to keep you from hurting yourself) can be turned off completely.

This picture reminds me of the serving suggestions you find on food packaging.

Surely it can’t be as versatile as the GTI?

Well, Hyundai assures us that it is. It has four pre-set driving modes: Eco, Normal, Sport and N, which tampers with damper settings, throttle and steering response. These four combinations make it possible for the i30 to go from soothing to savage in no time at all. If you’re the type of person who likes to fiddle with the equaliser settings until the sound is right, for you there is an N Custom mode which allows you to fiddle around with the parameters of the car, feel and responsiveness. Above being a car for the enthusiast, the i30 is still a practical hatchback regardless of all the sporty notions. Thanks to it being based on a sensible car, the i30 N still has four doors, enough space in the backseat for three adults and space in the boot for at least two more, thought I doubt that would be legal. The interior is still a pleasant place to be in, though no one at this stage can confirm how far behind it is from the GTI’s interior – it can only be behind or be as good as the GTI. Between the bolstered sporty front seats, and next to the chunky sports steering wheel sits a 5-inch touchscreen infotainment system which can be upgraded to 8-inch if you’re that type of person. The instrument cluster now features gear shift lights in case you forget which gear comes next. Until we can get our hands on one, we can’t be sure how close it gets to the GTI in this department.

The touchscreen infotainment screen can display G-Force readings and live laptimes – the Playstation generation will love this feature!

In a drag race, who wins?

In attempts of remaining impartial and diplomatic I’ll just tell you the numbers and you’ll decide – after all numbers don’t lie (and hips too!). (Cue the rock music) To attempt to topple the GTI, the i30 N is possessed by a 2.0 litre four-cylinder petrol turbo T-GDi engine. In “fat free” specification, it produces 184kW (4kW more than GTI Performance Pack) and 353N.m of torque, and will get to 100km/h from rest in 6.4 seconds, thanks to launch control. The extra hot i30 N Performance Package churns out 202kW/353N.m from the same 2.0 litre T-GDi power plant and thus the 0 to 100km/h time falls to 6.1 seconds (0.1 seconds faster than GTI PP). Both the i30s’ front wheels are mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox with auto rev-matching and a heavy duty sports clutch, with no dual clutch or automatic gearbox in sight – I can already hear purists celebrating hysterically. The top speed stands at 250km/h, but you’re welcome to try and beat that (good luck with the speed cameras).

Is it a Vrrr Phaa?

Listen to the i30 N’s dramatic exhaust while being thrown around a racetrack: https://youtu.be/UUfVBi-igUQ

Yes, but not like the way you’ve become accustomed to. Due to it not being in dual clutch specification, you’ll never mistake the i30 N for a GTI just by listening to it swap cogs as it drives away. Remember that variable exhaust valve system I mentioned earlier? Well it seems Hyundai has plucked the idea of exhaust crackles and pops straight out of the anti-lag systems of their rally cars – I told you they’ve learnt something. This exhaust system, only available in the Performance Package, allows you to select different exhaust sounds, with the most ferocious setting inducing a sound reminiscent of Rice Krispies cereal – snap, crackle, pop! They’ve also added a feature that BMW M owners have become used to – an electronic sound generator that pumps extra noise into the cabin to give the driver and passengers a much more dramatic acoustic experience.

And why have they styled it like that?

I don’t know about you but I really like this behind – a lot actually. Take note of that triangular high level brake light on the rear spoiler – a real nice touch.

Let’s be honest with each other for a second – the GTI is not the best looking nor the most exciting looking car around. Although the i30 N doesn’t do much to look attractive, at least it comes across as striking and dramatic. It gives you an idea of how much damage this car can do to your internal organs once you start reaching the limits of handling and adhesion. It actually looks like a very angry Koala Bear – how’s that for dramatic! You’ll be pleased to know that the sporty styling is available in six different shades of colour: Performance Blue, Clean Slate, Polar White, Micron Grey, Phantom Black and Engine Red. Until we see the other colours, we’ll stick with the blue for now.

So should I cancel my order for the GTI?

That’s a tricky one to answer. Firstly, we don’t know if the i30 N is even coming to our shores (if Hyundai is reading this, please bring it), but apparently Hyundai South Africa is warming to the idea of bringing it here at the right price. Secondly we’re not sure as yet how close the i30 N will actually get to the GTI, but if I had to take an educated guess, I’d say it wouldn’t, but not in a bad way. From what I can gather, Hyundai is aiming to dethrone the GTI not by beating it at its own game, but by redefining the terms of the contest. The Koreans are bringing their own twist in hopes of gaining a following. But I can’t even begin to imagine how cringeworthy it would be to tell people you drive a car called the “N”- especially when they realise it’s a Hyundai. Not good for street cred bro! But at least when a blesser pulls up next to you in his vrr pha, you’ll feel good knowing that the only thing you’ll be losing tonight is your girl.