Looking to carry some of their motorsport success to road-going cars, Hyundai has come up with a hot hatch version of the i30.
It’s called the i30 N, it was developed by an ex-BMW M chief, and, as expected, it was bred on the Nurburgring, before being launched.
On the outside, it looks mostly like its regular siblings, with a few touches here and there, and you won’t notice that you’re in a performance version in the cabin either. However, that can be said about almost all of its rivals, except for the more powerful and mad-looking Honda Civic Type R.
Hyundai offers two versions of the i30 N, both of them powered by a 2.0-liter petrol engine, which makes 250PS (246hp) in the base model, and 275PS (271hp) in the Performance variant. The latter takes at little as 6.1sec to go from naught to 100km/h (62mph), which is 0.4sec faster than the 250PS (246hp) 2.0-liter petrol-powered Ford Focus ST.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s find out what driving the new Hyundai i30 N feels like, and for that, WhatCar has traveled to Italy for the press launch of the car. Keep in mind that these are the first impressions from the driver’s seat, as the extensive reviews will eventually hit the web in the coming weeks.