Unlike Peugeot, which has a long history with hot hatches that goes back all the way to the iconic 205 GTi, Hyundai hasn’t made such a car until recently.
The Korean automaker’s first hot hatch is the i30 N, which was developed on the Nurburgring, hence the ‘N’ designation. It has as much as 275PS (271hp) in its most potent form, channeled to the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox.
This places it in the same segment as the Volkswagen Golf GTI, which gets 245PS (241hp) in the Performance Edition, but its specs are actually closer to the Peugeot 308 GTi, with its 272PS (268hp) turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine.
Sprinting from 0 to 100km/h (0-62mph) is almost identical in the Hyundai i30 N and its French challenger, with the latter being just 0.1sec faster.
Hyundai’s hot hatch is the most affordable of the two, with a starting price of £27,995 ($39,367) in the United Kingdom for the N Performance version. The Peugeot 308 GTi, on the other hand, has an MSRP of £28,590 ($40,203).
So, on paper at least, the two hot hatches are very similar, but how do they perform on the track racing against the clock? AutoExpress decided to find out, and its test revealed one big winner, though you’ll have to watch the following video to find out who that was.