Hyundai’s giant-slaying hot hatch has had a facelift and had some surgery, adding a new optional eight-speed gearbox and more grunt.
We’re very, very fond of the i30 N here at The Redline. So fond that we think that it bests the Volkswagen Golf GTI as a driver’s car, which is a massive achievement. The Golf is excellent. The i30 N is excellenter.
But, as ever, things change. The Mk 8 Golf GTI is well on its way and even before that lands the GTI TCR is here to return fire against Hyundai’s runaway hit. Hyundai knows from experience you can’t just stand around and cop it sweet.
The i30 N will continue on in hatch and Fastback, with the latter’s facelift even more subtle.
Look and feel
Looking at it in profile, not a great deal has changed on the i30. It’s the same conservative shape as it ever was and you’ll be hard-pressed to tell it’s the new one. The front end is where all the action is, with new, more aggressive headlights and a big N-badged grille.
Along with the new, sharper headlights come new V-shaped LED driving lights.
Look, it’s not a big facelift, so let’s not get too bogged down in it. The rear end also gets a mild scrub, but the Fastback (not pictured) remains identical.
A mildy revamped interior includes the option to choose lightweight (ahem) N Light seats. These new seats are 2.2kg lighter than the already rather good N seats and are trimmed in Alcantara and look a bit racy. No word yet on the price, but they won’t be cheap.
There is also a new, larger central screen screwed into the dash, with a bunch of new telemetry screens for that extra-special person who wants to know how many gs they pulled at turn three. I mean, I get it, but it’s not for me.
Apart from that, it looks pretty much the same, which is no bad thing although one hopes an unspoken change is an improvement in some of the plastics to at least try and close the gap to VW on the interior quality front.
Drivetrain
The changes are big and small here.
The small changes are in the engine itself. In Australia we only get the Performance version of the i30 N, which means we get the full 206kW, an improvement of 4kW.
More impressively, torque rises by over ten percent to 392Nm, a boost of 39Nm. That should further trouble the Pirelli’s ability to resist axle tramp under hard throttle.
The six-speed manual stays but, much to the happiness of many (including dealers, no doubt), the much-anticipated eight-speed twin clutch transmission is now available.
i30 N 8-speed transmission
This isn’t related to the existing seven-speeder available in the i30 N Line and other turbo-powered Hyundais on the i30 platform (see also Kona). It’s an all-new gearbox, using a wet-clutch system rather than the dry of the seven-speeder.
The eight-speed equipped car obviously has paddle-shifters and three transmission modes – N Grin Shift, N Power Shift and N Track Sense Shift.
The first, whose name I won’t repeat because I ground my teeth enough the first time I typed it, is a sort of party mode where the engine and transmission go bonkers for 20 seconds. There’s even a countdown on the dash to tell you how you’re going and no doubt there’s a cool-down between button presses.
The second puts the transmission into maximum attack when you use more than 90 percent of the throttle, giving you a “push effect” on the upshift.
The third seems a bit vague to me, with the press release saying it “automatically recognises when the road conditions are optimal for dynamic driving, for example on a racetrack, and activates automatically. By selecting the right gear and shift timing, it provides optimal performance, just like a professional race car driver.”
Engine modes
The engine modes stay and again have the silly name – N Grin Control System. Five are on offer – Eco, Normal, Sport, N and N Custom and work on throttle, engine and suspension setup.
The modes also alter the behaviour of the electronic limited-slip diff and the stability and traction systems.
Chassis
Not a great deal to report here. One imagines the detailed work of chassis tuning has continued both here and overseas.
You can specify forged 19-inch alloys which are 14.4kg lighter than the standard wheels. If you choose those, you also get specific, red-painted brake calipers.
The electronic dampers stay, of course, and as already mentioned, change stiffness based on the mode selected.
The front brakes are also larger for 2021, with an increase of 15mm to 360mm. That’s always welcome in such a fast car.
Safety upgrades
Hyundai has thrown a few more bits and pieces into the safety box, but it’s a bit complicated.
No matter which combination you pick, the forward AEB system now has pedestrian detection and you also get lane following assist (LFA).
Only the hatch gets blind-spot collision warning and rear-cross traffic alert.
If you get a DCT hatch, you get blind spot collision avoidance assist and rear cross traffic collision avoidance (which is basically rear AEB).
No idea why Fastback buyers are ripped off here or why manual drivers miss out on a couple of bits, but I’m pretty sure I know what the excuse will be.
How much and when?
We can expect the 2021 Hyundai i30 N in Australia in the first half of 2021, which isn’t too far away. Hyundai hasn’t said what the price will be, but you can bet it will a) go up b) but probably not by much.
The eight-speed will be a game-changer for the i30 N, attracting a crap-ton more buyers who would otherwise go Golf GTI DSG or Focus ST auto. Or even Megane.
Hyundai’s Kona electric SUV lapped the Lausitzring for a sleep-inducing thirty-five hours to cover over 1000km on a single charge.
Hyundai doesn’t do things by halves these days. Two pure EVs and a whole new electric brand from having neither of those things two years ago.
What’s more, the Kona electric, our current EV of choice, has a Tesla Model 3 matching range of 450km (WLTP) for a whole Kia Picanto less.
Anyway, Hyundai took not one but three Kona electrics to a racetrack in Germany (not that one), charged them and sent them out on a hyper-miling challenge.
The Rules
The drivers consisted of two teams from Hyundai Motor Deutschland and, I guess, a control team from German car mag Auto Bild.
The test was run at German race track, the Lausitzring which has a sneaky big test track that Dekra (yep, from Michael Schumacher’s hat) uses for all sorts of things including autonomous driving testing. Dekra is kind of an NRMA/RACV/RACQ but is actually interested in cars.
Each Kona, Hyundai says, was stock standard and running on Nexen N Fera SU1 215s on 17-inch rims. They didn’t say what pressure those tyres were running at, but they won’t have been soft.
The drivetrain also standard, which means a 356-volt power supply fed by a 64kWh battery, driving the front wheels with 150kW and 395Nm.
In unbelievably unpleasant news, the climate control and media systems stayed off. Hopefully it wasn’t hot and the drivers were at least allowed to put their phones on speaker. The daytime running lights stayed on, though, but as the press release readily admits, everything else stayed off for maximum range.
The Results
I don’t think it’s going over the top to say that his is a colossally good result. Yes, the team drove around the Ring at averages of between 29km/h and 31km/h with no air-con or entertainment but as you can see, each of them cracked 1000km on a single charge.
This ridiculous feat took almost 35 hours, which is a long time to be purring slowly around a test track. The cars used less than half the WLTP 14.7kWh/100km, coming in at 6.28kWh, 6.25kWh and 6.24kWh/100km.
I’ve wrung 412km out a Kona electric with range to spare and I was not messing about and trying to do what these crazy Germans have managed.
The team even eked out 20km with just three percent of charge left, so that first 1000km was easy.
What does all this mean?
Not a great deal to you and me – we won’t ever have an opportunity to drive a sustained 29-31km/h with the sound and air-con off. Even if I did, I’d choose whatever else was on offer, even it included listening to Malcolm Turnbull or Kanye West talk about themselves. Hopefully not for 35 hours, though.
But it does point to the fact that the Kona is the real deal. While you can do a similar thing in other electric cars – the Tesla Model S record stands at 1078km on a much bigger P100D battery – it does show that the Kona is a well-engineered EV.
Hyundai’s i20 N World Rally challenger hasn’t had a proper road-going equivalent on which to rest its halo – until now, obviously.
We’re at a bit of an inflection point for small hot hatches. First to drop – as it was in 2013 – was the new Ford Fiesta ST. It’s two years ahead of new challengers from Peugeot and Renault and rejoins the Polo in the local market.
Hyundai is now clearly in the final stages of testing for its own fast hatchback, the i20 N.
There are so many reasons Hyundai needs this car. One is pride – the i30 N has obviously given rival Volkswagen a bloody nose so why not kick it in the shins by going after the Polo GTI?
The second is that the i20 N is Hyundai’s WRC challenger. I got a ride in one a couple of years ago at Rally Australia (remember that event?) and it has puzzled me ever since that there wasn’t a hot i20 on the road.
Third – and this is a local consideration – this is a car Hyundai Australia can sell. I think. If Ford can bring in the Fiesta ST as a standalone – and charge $32k plus on-roads – then there’s no reason why Hyundai can’t join the party.
I want them to join the party. Because unlike normal parties, this is a good one. So I asked Hyundai Australia if the car would come here.
“We’ve made no secret of the fact our focus is on building an N performance family in Australia, and we are likely to take i20 N – but nothing is confirmed at this stage.”
This is most encouraging.
What can we learn from the video?
So in this video, there’s a lot of Thierry Neuville piloting his i20 WRC in the snow. Lovely to look at, but the bit you want to see is toward the end where an obviously production-ready i20 N – less a few bits of exterior trim – gets a run in Neuville’s hands.
The best shot yet of the front of the car is in the video, too, rather than the moody, silhouette of the photos.
You can see over Thierry’s right shoulder that there’s a racy-looking seat, so the N treatment extends to the interior. It’s probably a 1.6-litre four-cylinder but Hyundai might surprise us and will no doubt start with a six-speed manual. And it will likely be front-wheel drive because it’s hugely unlikely a four-wheel drive system would fit in the i20.
Should I care?
If you like small fast cars, the definitely. Hyundai’s expertise comes from BMW and AMG veterans and their long runs in WRC show the company is serious about performance cars.
We’ve only got a few years of these sorts of cars left, so hopefully it’s a belter. Even more importantly, let’s hope it comes here and Hyundai sticks a fighty price on it.
And finally, when I spoke to Neuville (and Hayden Paddon) about the i30 N, the reserved Frenchman flashed a big grin about how good it was. And he was right.
There’s a shorter version of the video if you can’t cope with the longer one…
Quirky hatch-coupe evolves into appetiser for Hyundai performance range.
When the original Hyundai Veloster Turbo lobbed into Australia back in 2012, it felt a brave new world for Hyundai. Suddenly, there was an edgily-styled, well-equipped, good value spearhead for the Korean car maker. And with 150kW from its 1.6-litre turbocharged four-pot, it had the on-paper grunt to back up the looks.
It sold well, too: in a pre-Mustang world, the Veloster was the standard-setter for sales in the “Sports under $80,000” segment.
Looking back now, that original Turbo was a toe in the sporting waters for Hyundai. There were other attempts in the past – the Hyundai Coupe V6, for example – but in Veloster, there was a signal of intent.
Now with the second-generation, the Veloster plays a different game. Where once it was a spicy main, the advent of N means that Veloster is a now the appetiser to the world of Hyundai performance.
You get 18-inch alloys, an 18-speaker stereo, climate control, reversing camera, keyless entry and start, rear parking sensors, sat nav, auto headlights with automatic high beam, fake leather shifter, seats and steering wheel and a space-saver spare.
The i30-ish screen perched on the dash has Hyundai’s quite reasonable media software package and has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Safety
Hyundai SmartSense has us covered here, with all Velosters gaining a swathe of acronyms:
– Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (FCA, lol)(aka AEB), that includes a Forward Collision Warning (FCW, obviously). FCW uses a windscreen-mounted to detect vehicles in front; FCW is active from 8km/h to 180km/h and will first sound a warning chime if a frontal impact is imminent. It will also automatically apply the brakes if required.
– Driver Attention Warning (DAW).
– Lane Keeping Assist (LKA), incorporating Lane Departure Warning (LDW).
– Blind Spot Collision Warning (BCW).
– Park Distance Warning-Reverse (PDW-R).
– Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning (RCCW).
– Electronic Stability Control (ESC).
– Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS).
There are also six airbags, a reversing camera and auto headlights. The DCT version gains a higher grade FCA/FCW system with pedestrian detection, as well as smart cruise control.
The back seats score two ISOFIX and two top-tether restraints. There are only two back seats, with a BMW-style cupholder and tray arrangement between the two seats.
Warranty and servicing
Under the renowned Hyundai iCare umbrella, new Veloster Turbo owners are supported with a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. An initial 12 months Roadside Assist package can be extended by continuing to service through Hyundai’s dealer network, for up to 10 years.
A complimentary 1,500km initial service is included, as well as a Lifetime Servicing Plan. This introduces fixed cost servicing at 12-month/15,000km intervals for up to five years.
Look and feel
Put simply, this is where the bulk of the upgrades come into focus. The interior now feels fresher and modern, with all the right tech, while the outside styling updates provide a logical progression to ensure the updated Veloster remains a smooth mover.
Some touchpoints remain a little lightweight (especially the column stalks), the seat and steering wheel fabrics feel cheap and rear visibility, particularly to the sides, remains compromised as before.
The fancy suite of safety acronyms dings and buzzes with glee at every straying opportunity. You can turn this down or off (depending on what you’re changing) however it all appears to default back on the next time you hop in.
The wacky design is also practical – with two doors on one side and a single on the driver’s side, you get excellent access to a reasonably roomy two-seat rear cabin. While headroom is quite resricted by the falling roofline, it’s fine for kids and adults will forbear for short trips.
Front and rear rows score a pair of cupholders each and the doors have bottle holders, too.
Drivetrain
Back in 2012, the Veloster Turbo’s 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine was okay. Eight years on, the unit has been refined with improved driveability and efficiency figures as a result. There’s also an overboost function that triggers at full throttle (when up to temperature) to deliver an additional 10Nm kick. But its headline figures are no different than before.
The 265Nm torque peak is hit lower (1500rpm against 1750rpm) and maintained to 4000rpm, with 150kW at 6000rpm. Solid, but unspectacular.
Power is fed to the front wheels via a six-speed manual transmission, or optional seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. An open differential is supported by Torque Vectoring Control, which uses wheel speed sensors to brake the inside-front wheel during hard cornering.
Fuel economy
In manual form combined fuel economy lists at 7.3L/100km, though in more spirited driving situations expect the number to grow into the low double figure range. CO2 emissions sit at 169g/km.
Chassis
This is where the Veloster takes a proper leap forward, as it adopts a multi-link independent rear suspension design to complement the MacPherson strut front setup.
As with the best Hyundai products, the overall ride/handling balance was optimised for the Australian market by Australian-domiciled engineers. Using experiences learned tuning the i30 here, 28 rear and 15 front damper tunes were trialled – actually a smaller number than usual. More manufacturers should be following this lead.
The new body structure is 27.6 per cent stiffer in torsion than the predecessor, giving the newly-designed suspension an impressive platform from which to work. Electric power steering has been adopted for its efficiency benefits and lighter weight over a purely hydraulic system, with a 2.57 lock-to-lock rack incorporated.
Kerb weight for the Veloster manual is a reasonable 1270kg without options.
Driving
Trigger the engine via the stop/start button, and the new Veloster Turbo commences a cold start idle that wouldn’t be out of place on a special stage, hunting lumpily for a few moments through its twin central-exit exhaust system. It’s the closest the Veloster Turbo gets to Tanak’s WRC beast.
The clutch is light on take-up, the bite point not naturally defined until familiarity kicks in. Once underway, the clutch action remains low-effort, the six-speed’s upshifts slotting easily through the gate. Coming back through the gears, it pays not too rush as you might slot second from fifth, rather than fourth. While there, note the nicely-calibrated brake pedal travel, but the less-than-ideal pedal placement for heel/toe downshifting. The pedals could be grippier, too.
In 2020, the engine passes as ‘okay’. There is good low-rev throttle response and a linear, if uneventful, power delivery. There seems little sense in revving to the 6500rpm redline, with a ‘natural’ change up point setting in around 5000rpm.
Where this new Veloster most impresses, though, is in its beautifully rendered ride and handling balance. This commences with the tasty Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber – a quantum leap over the previous car’s Hankooks – and builds from there with strong grip on show throughout. There’s even a little adjustability built-in through the multi-link rear end, should you wish to come off the throttle to scribe a sharper line, but steering smoothly reveals strong composure, even over mid-corner bumps.
Traction is somewhat limited as you feel a slight delay before the vectoring system reigns in inside-front wheelspin, however torque steer is well resisted.
Steering-wise, the quicker-ratio rack and electric assistance generates a small but noticeable layer of disconnect just off the straight-ahead, but there is accuracy here as the nose keys into an apex.
Sport mode sharpens throttle response and increases steering weight, without further numbing the standard mode’s feedback.
At a cruise, there is quite a lot of road noise permeating through, but the trade off in Michelin grip is worth this sacrifice.
Competition
It’s an interesting part of the market, this, given there aren’t that many 2+2 coupes with a single rear door, so we have to cast the net a little further afield.
Obviously the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ pairing are in the frame. They’re more focussed driving machines, with a flat-four naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre four-cylinder driving the rear wheels. And an interior architecture from an ancient history textbook. They’re terrific fun, of course, but lack the practicality of the Veloster. Recent changes to warranty and servicing schemes bring the co-produced pair closer to the Hyundai’s excellent total cost of ownership, which is handy. And the BRZ even has Apple CarPlay…
You could probably consider a Mazda MX-5 RF as a competitor. Except it’s even smaller than the 86 inside and out and quite a few bucks more. Like the 86, it’s rear-wheel drive with either a 1.5-litre or 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated engine, neither of which are any match for the Hyundai’s turbo.
Redline Recommendation
There aren’t many cars on the road in this price range that so successfully blend style and substance. Sure, there are others out there that are more focused, but they are more compromised (and generally more expensive) as a result. If you’re looking for a distinctive daily driver and like a bit of oomph, without the need to feel like Ott Tanak, then you should check the new Veloster over.
Hyundai’s long-awaited eight-speed twin-clutch transmission is ready for the road and will be in Australia – in the i30 N – from early 2021.
In irritating news, the Hyundai Veloster N is the first N model to score the Korean giant’s new eight-speed twin-clutch transmission. In better news, that same gearbox will land on our shores in the i30 N and i30 N Fastback in early 2021.
As you know, we rather like the i30 N here at The Redline. It’s way more fun than just about anything else on the road (Ford Fiesta ST excluded). It also knocked off my favourite in that segment, the Renaultsport Megane. It thoroughly trounces the Golf GTI, which is impressive, because that’s a very good car.
What both the Megane and Golf have over the i30 N is an automatic option. Both of those cars have twin-clutch automatics which broadens their appeal and makes them slightly quicker.
Hyundai always said a DCT was coming, so just hold your horses.
Eight Speed DCT
New gearbox, new seats.
The new transmission is a dual wet-clutch unit. Hyundai says – and this is perfectly reasonable – that this setup is better than a twin dry clutch. The oil keeps things cooler because, let’s face it, the 2.0-litre turbo four is a torquey beast. In this application it will ensure better reliability even if means a higher maintenance load.
Along with the eight-speed’s “better ride comfort” (what?), normal use will see your N use less fuel and, of course, at the end of a long day, it might be a welcome sight.
Hyundai has added three shift programs with terrible names. Really, strap in for this.
N Grin Shift – yikes – sends the engine into overboost for 20 seconds, delivering a seven percent lift in torque. Yup.
N Power shift kicks in when you use more than 90 percent of throttle, “mitigating any reduction in torque by using upshifts to deliver maximum power to the wheels.” I think that means it shifts faster and harder to give you the idea of dynamic gear shifts.
Finally, there is N Track Sense Shift. From the press release, it selects “the right gear and shift timing just like a professional race car driver to provide optimal performance.”
Yeah, me neither. I think it’s an auto shifting program which lets you get on with steering and braking, but it’s not immediately clear.
The transmission seems pretty clever, using engine braking on downhill and “detecting” track use and letting you wring its neck.
Anything else?
Yep. It’s packed with safety gear, which is handy.
Also, in the Veloster at least you can choose a set of lighter sports bucket seats. Saving two kilograms, they’re wrapped in suede and have an illuminated N logo. Like the M logos in BMW M seats.
How much and when?
i30 N Fastback / You can still have a manual / i30 N hatch
We’re still not getting the Veloster N in Australia, which is really annoying, but as I said, the eight-speed will arrive in the i30 N and Fastback. So, you know, hardly a terrible burden.
We don’t know how much yet – the car is about to go on sale in Korea with the i30 variants to follow soon after. We’ll have to wait until early 2021 to get in the saddle, which should be a blast.
The Hyundai Kona Electric arrived in 2019 to add to the Korean company’s trio of electrified Ioniqs.Promising Tesla-like 440km-plus range and a price tag to beat it, Hyundai joined the EV big league.
Hyundai never, ever fails to surprise me. I owned two in the 1990s when they went through a brief purple patch with the Lantra and Coupe (Do. Not. Judge. Me.). The Lantra was surprisingly good and nothing broke while the Coupe often broke and had terrible paint but I loved it anyway.
The last ten years have seen a steady, inexorable rise to meet the challenge of 21st-century motoring. With the Ioniqs three, Hyundai had a solid grip on a city EV, a very good grip on a plug-in hybrid and a Prius-strangling series hybrid. Boring, not great to look at (the MY20 update is slightly better), but Hyundai showed it wasn’t messing about.
After the huge distraction of the i30 N hot hatch and Fastback, the compact SUV Kona scored a full EV drivetrain. It changed just about everything we know about the electric vehicle market.
Words: Peter Anderson Images: Rhys Vandersyde Co-pilot: Todd Fletcher
How much is the Hyundai Kona Electric and what do I get?
Pricing(December 2019) Hyundai Kona EV Elite: $59,990 Hyundai Kona EV Highlander: $64,990
You have a choice of two Kona EVs, as it happens. The “entry-level” Elite costs a stout $59,900 while the Highlander I had for a week stings you $64,990. For comparison, the bottom-of-the-range Kona Go is $24,000 while the turbocharged all-wheel drive Highlander is $39,990.
It’s a lot, but we’ll talk about why it isn’t really a bit later. It would be great if EVs were cheaper, but the less you spend, the fewer kilometres you will cover. It’s going to get better, though, so if you don’t have sixty-large, sit tight for a few more years.
The Highlander lands with 17-inch alloys, an eight-speaker stereo, climate control, reversing camera, keyless entry and start, front and rear parking sensors, pretty much everything is electric, sat nav, LED headlights, fake leather interior (nothing wrong with that), head up display, auto wipers and headlights, Qi wireless charging, sunroof, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, heated and cooled front seats, active cruise control and a heated steering wheel.
And instead of a spare tyre, you get a tyre repair kit. Gotta put the batteries somewhere.
Do you need all the Highlander’s extra stuff? Not really. Most of it is just cosmetic or luxury stuff like the sunroof or the wireless charging. The latter is a bit pointless because you don’t get wireless CarPlay, so, you know.
The Elite misses out on front parking sensors (honestly, you don’t need them in the Kona), auto high-beam, keyless entry, the screen is an inch smaller, the front seats aren’t electrically adjustable, there’s no head-up display and there are some either minor spec differences. You get a lot of stuff for the money when you remember this is an EV with a good range.
Safety: 5 stars (ANCAP, October 2019).
The Kona Electric has six airbags, blind-spot monitoring, forward collision warning, forward AEB (high and low-speed) with pedestrian detection, active cruise, front and rear parking sensors, lane keep assist, lane departure warning and reverse cross-traffic alert.
The Elite’s safety package is identical.
The Kona EV holds the distinction of the first electric car ever crash tested here in Australia by ANCAP.
Warranty and Servicing
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited km Battery Warranty: 8 years/160,000km
The standard Hyundai new car warranty applies to the Kona electric, with a separate warranty for the battery. It’s still pretty early in the car’s life to know if there are any persistent or common problems, but most EV owners wax lyrical about their cars, so they’re less likely to broadcast drama. Tesla owners are the most patient people I know.
However, given this one is going to appeal more mainstream buyers – a bit like the Nissan Leaf – I wonder if people will be more willing to get cranky if they feel the Kona doesn’t meet expectations.
Hyundai offers two ways to pay for maintenance. If you pay up-front for pre-paid servicing, you can roll the cost into your finance (if you have any). Otherwise you can keep checking back on the website (when they fix it) to see the costs associated with the Lifetime Service Plan program.
Whatever happens, every time you service the car at a Hyundai dealer you get another 12 months on roadside assist.
Look and Feel
At first glance, it’s obviously a Kona.
Inside and out, though, you’re left with little doubt that this is the Kona Electric. For a start you have the two-tone colour scheme, different front and rear bumpers and that wacky, blanked-out grille. The wheels are also weird-looking. All of those things add up to a lower drag coefficient to make the car slippery through the air and use less juice.
The Kona EV also has its own set of colours – Phantom Black, Galactic Grey, Ceramic Blue (pictured), Pulse Red, Lake Silver and Chalk White. Only that last colour is a freebie, the rest are a teeth-grinding $595.
The interior architecture is mostly the same as other Konas, barring the new centre console. The drive selector is a funny-looking cluster of buttons that look like afterthoughts. It’s as though the designers forgot to put something there. The new console also has a storage tray underneath because there’s nothing in the way.
As with other Konas, you get four cupholders (two upfront, two in the back), a storage bin under the armrest and big door pockets. The rear doors have small bottle holders, too.
Boot space is 39 fewer litres than the ICE cars, with 332 litres, which isn’t a lot. Also remember there’s no spare under there, it’s all Li-ion batteries. Having said that, 39 litres is going to make or break this as a load lugger, is it? You can drop the rear seats for more space, rising to 1114 litres.
Kona Electric Drivetrain
Weird drive select buttons
Rather amusingly, the Kona’s electric heart is dressed up to look like an engine. That’s weird.
The Kona’s electric motor sends power to the front wheels only (boo!) via a single-speed transmission. With 150kW and a massive 395Nm of torque on tap. That’s almost as much as, say, a BMW Z4 30i. Both figures are available from zero rpm, obviously.
More to the point, no other compact SUV on the market has this kind of poke except maybe for the Audi Q2, and even then…
Battery and charging
A 356-volt lithium-ion polymer battery pack lives under the car with a 64kWh capacity. On the WLTP (or more snappily, Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure) cycle, the Kona scored an astonishing 449km of range.
WLTP is a good measure because it’s much closer to real life and actually takes into account driving the car for longer than 13 minutes on a rolling road where Volkswagen got itself into trouble.
To charge the battery, you have the usual options. At home it will take a day or so to get to 80 percent if you charge from flat to full. With the optional wallbox and onboard 7.2kW charger, that drops to about nine and a half hours.
If you can find a 50kW charger, you’ll get 0-80 percent in 75 minutes and 54 minutes if you score a 100kW charger. Good luck. But the key here is that the Kona is ready for those fast-charger boxes.
If you look closely at the photo of the engine, you’ll see an old-fashioned 12-volt battery sitting next to the motor. That’s because the Kona Electric is based on a standard internal combustion-engined (ICE) platform. It made me laugh, but it means Hyundai didn’t have to completely re-engineer the car’s electrical system.
This is the best bit. Hyundai has always been pretty good with its claimed fuel figures in its petrol and diesel cars. Always within about 10 or 15 percent where most carmakers are off by around 30 percent. Some even more, way more. NEDC figures are laughably off-beam, so it’s safe to disregard them. Hyundai pretty much does, too, which is heartening. More carmakers need to make sensible choices like that.
Even so, I thought 449km was going to stretch the truth a fair bit.
I had the car for a week and absolutely drove the wheels off the thing. I still managed 412km on the full charge it came with, with range to spare. That means I was using about 15kWh/100km, which is damn close to the WLTP figure. On a 30c/kWh tariff, that’s about $4.50 of power for every 100km. Contrast that with a Kona Active’s average of about 8.9L/100km and do that at a very generous $1.20 per litre, that’s $10.68 per 100km.
Do the sums over 15,000km per year and it’s a saving of $927 at the generous $1.20 figure. The real figure will be more because that’s rare and if you go with a certain power company, they’ll give you unlimited charging for $1/day at home. If you’ve got solar, then the savings will be greater again.
Driving
“I spy with my little eye…” / Energy recovery setting
I really like the standard Kona. I ran one for six months as a long-term test car for carsguide. It was a terrific car, even though it was a bit slow. Handled well, space for my family, decent boot. All that normal stuff.
The Kona Electric is one of the shrewdest moves Hyundai has ever made. The SUV market is going bananas so that’s a no-brainer. It’s a normal car for normal people, you just don’t fill it with fuel.
But to drop a car in the market with a genuinely massive range that silences even the most committed range anxiety adherents is brilliant. Range anxiety is a genuine thing – my wife won’t drive the i3 far if it isn’t the REX and panics when an ICE car drops to a quarter full. Something to do with her dad always running out of petrol because he’s a goose.
You don’t have to worry about that so much in the Kona. With such a long range, most people will only have to charge it once per week. Or, if you’re sensible, just plug it into the mains every night. It’s really about habit.
Anyway.
The Kona is one of the most capable urban cars I’ve driven. It’s fast off the line, meaning you can get ahead of traffic easily. That first jump is impressive and you never get bored of the shove from the traffic lights.
Like the i3 and Leaf, the Kona recovers energy when you lift off the throttle. You’ll find paddles on the Kona’s steering wheel. Obviously, given it’s a single-speed reduction gear, you’re not changing gears. What it does is change how aggressively the electric motor recovers energy. You have three settings to choose from and I always go for the most hardcore. You can then pretty much drive the car on the throttle pedal. It’s a lot of fun (hey, don’t judge me) working out when you lift off to roll the car to a stop at the lights or stop sign.
The standard Kona is pretty handy in the bends and the electric is even better. Probably partly to do with the way you can slingshot out of corners with that huge slab of torque. The steering is really good, just enough life to let you know what’s going on and the suspension soaks up the bumps beautifully.
Even though it runs on very tall sidewalls (215/55), the car has plenty of grip and rides really well. It walks a pretty good line between comfort and handling, like just about every Hyundai on sale today.
There’s not much to grip about – I’d like better tyres on it, but that would slightly increase consumption with the grip. Bigger wheels would also increase power consumption, but with such a long, dependable range, it can cope. I would also like it to look a little less electric-ey both inside and out. I reckon the interior is a bit chintzy with all the silver buttons everywhere.
Competitors
Nissan Leaf / Jaguar I-PACE (not really)
Electric isn’t cheap, I don’t care what anyone says. You can’t scream blue murder about this kind of pricing when there is nothing else like it on the market. Punters want SUVs and the next cheapest SUV is the Jaguar I-PACE, closely matched (in price) by the Tesla Model X. Both are completely different cars and twice the price. Neither can really cover the number of miles of the Kona and probably should, given the price differential.
Deep breath – the Tesla Model 3 is about $3000 more than the Kona Electric. Tesla claims a range of 460km on the NEDC cycle, so you can comfortably knock 80-100km off that. It is faster than the Kona to 100km/h by two full seconds. You also have no idea when you’ll get, tiny dealership network and you might get a car built well or not well at all. Luck of the draw. By all accounts, it’s a great car to drive, but in its basic form, is probably not going to get the job done the way the Kona does. Spend another $18,000 for the Long Range and you’ll leapfrog the Kona. The Tesla Model 3 is a good car. Whether it’s a good car for you in its basic form is up to you.
Next up is the second-generation Nissan Leaf. I’m not going to pretend it’s the world’s most interesting car, but it’s not a bad choice. It’s $49,990, so an easy $10,000 cheaper than the Kona Elite, but has a shorter range (270km). It’s well-specced, though.
Then there’s the hilarious little Renault Zoe, complete with the Jetson’s pedestrian warning sound. I really quite like the wee beastie, but it has a real-world range of 300km. Renault’s claimed figure of 400km with the ZE 4 battery set is a little optimistic. It costs about the same as the Leaf, which is mildly disappointing, but I reckon it looks better.
Redline Recommendation
There’s nothing fancy about all this – it’s a sensible, low-risk, low complexity approach. It’s not a technological tour-de-force like the Tesla, but we all know how that’s worked out for them. Hyundai has a huge dealer network, a long-term commitment to the Australian market and an excellent warranty and servicing package.
This car changed a few minds – one of my regular co-pilots, Mark, drove the Kona and couldn’t believe how much fun it was. He’s not on board with electric cars but the Kona might just have started the process of changing his mind.
This is the electric car I would buy today – my heart would be screaming BMW i3 S, but my head knows the Kona Electric is the best (silent) bang for your buck you can buy.
Hyundai’s ground-breaking i30 N hatchback may not be for everyone, so the Korean giant has fixed it with the i30 N Fastback.
https://youtu.be/kkgLfAgCydA This is a review of the hatch. You should watch it. Heaps of people already have.
The i30 is an excellent car. The i30 N is superb, walloping the good-but-reheated Golf GTI from its undeserving place at top-of-mind for hot hatch fans. It’s a tricky segment with lots of contenders, but the Golf’s long history, quality and its legions of unquestioning fans kept it on the boil.
Hyundai’s i30 N arrived with a bang, a lower price tag than most of its rivals, better ownership proposition and a similar form factor. Then wiped the floor with it. Problem was, not everyone was so keen on the hatch. It looks largely the same as its lesser versions and not everyone is so keen on that.
The other problem Hyundai had was the Veloster. In right-hand drive markets, it didn’t sell well enough to justify the expensive asymmetrical tooling. Australia and the UK quite like fast hatches, but not enough to warrant the weird Veloster N’s RHD production.
To make the i30 N happen, Hyundai invested a colossal amount of money, so the company needs to sell a few more to keep the suits happy. So it turns out there was another i30 in the works, a four-door coupe style thing called the Fastback. A car that doesn’t need expensive tooling to make right or left-hookers.
Obviously, it seemed like a good idea at the time to make an i30 N fastback instead of an Elantra N.
Words: Peter Anderson Images and co-pilot: Matt Hatton
Look and Feel
It’s pretty obvious what’s changed when you get to the rear end what has happened here. The more abbreviated hatchback has been replaced with a Mercedes CLS-style swoopy backside.
I like it.
Not everybody does and not every angle is especially pretty, but it’s a nice job given the designers didn’t have a longer wheelbase to play with. The Fastback is 120mm longer at 4455mm and it’s all boot. Perhaps to offset the extra length, it’s also lower by 28mm. I reckon that saved the Fastback from looking like a BMW X4.
Most of the detailing is the same, with the grille, skirts and wheels we all know and love already, as well as the red brake calipers.
Inside, instead of blue stitching you get red and, er, that’s about it.
Drivetrain
The i30 N Fastback engine is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo, part of the Theta II engine family. With direct injection and variable valve timing, it produces 202kW (275PS) and 353Nm. Pin the loud pedal to the firewall and you’ll get another 25Nm, taking the total to 378Nm on overboost.
As with the hatch, you’re still in charge of changing gears until the often-rumoured eight-speed twin-clutch hoves into view. N could probably use the six- or eight-speed Aisin in most of other front-wheel drive performance cars, but that’s not Hyundai’s style.
The same obnoxious exhaust is also along for the ride and engages its loud in N mode.
Chassis
The N comes with stiffer springs, adaptive damping, 19-inch Pirelli P-Zero tyres, torque vectoring and a LSD.
The Fastback weighs a mere 12kg more and it’s all on the rear wheels, so the weight distribution is actually better at 59.7-40.3 front to rear.
The suspension has a had a bit of a going over. The front end is slightly softer to improve ride but also helps to get the power down a bit more cleanly. Front and rear dampers have a had a tweak, with a rebound spring and softer bump stops. The front anti-roll bar is slightly smaller (by 0.8mm).
Out the back there’s a new camber control arm, but that’s probably mostly to help with the extra weight.
The adaptive damper software has also had a bit of a going over. Hyundai says it’s more comfortable, without losing any of the hatch’s agility.
Driving
Changes. There have been a few. That could be a problem. I mean, how much did I love the i30 N? How much do you love your i30 N? The Fastback is bigger, heavier and – whisper it – softer. Right? With smaller anti-roll bars and softer damping, it can’t possibly be as sharp as the hatch?
Bzzt.
How can this be? The steering is still amazing, the grip still brilliant and the rear still playful. This car is fast, just as fast as the hatch, but more comfortable as a daily driver.
Haring down my favourite bit of road, I don’t have to dodge the bigger bumps as carefully as I did in the hatch. The extra compliance of the bump stops means less of a jolt through the shell and a more adherence to the line I’ve chosen.
The steering is precise, not too heavy and you can get the power down so early because of that lovely limited-slip differential. It’s fast everywhere – up hills the overboost gives you 378Nm to haul with. And when you get the top and start your descent, those brakes will be there for you.
And that gearshift – super-fast for a road car and with those carbon rings letting you slice from second to third as you manhandle it around. That’s an expensive detail that ensures the N team covered every base. Pretty important when this is the only gearbox you can get. If only the new Renaultsport Megane’s manual gearbox was this good.
The only real difference is that rear seat passengers have less headroom, traded for more boot space. The Fastback is meant to be more luxurious, but don’t be put off by that – it’s more practical while still being a giant barrel of laughs full of funny cat videos.
Redline Recommendation
The i30 N Fastback is just as much a delight as the hatch. Fast, loud and silly in all the right measures, it’s a cheaper alternative than Honda’s ridiculous Type R and far more interesting than VW’s Golf GTI (yes, the Golf is good, but not this good).
The new setup is so right, the MY20 hatch will have the same. It’s car you can take on holiday, rip out all the luggage and go for a pre-dawn blast.
Need a bit more Civic Type R drama in your Hyundai i30 N? Want a bit more AMG-style bling? Hyundai has you covered.
As you’re probably aware, I was quite a fan of the i30 N. It’s a cracker of a car, literally in the case of the exhaust system. While I’m a big fan of its restrained approach to styling, not everybody is.
Cars like this tend to attract the modder crowd so Hyundai’s N is going to offer a whole bunch of customisation options.
N Option Exterior
This is properly tasty, no? The usual stuff is here – wing, stripes, wheels, that sort of thing.
The carbon fibre rear wing features the N logo, there’s a vented carbon bonnet (hood for our American friends), a new grille with N logo and a set of lightweight cast alloys. Wrapped in semi-slicks, obviously, because Hyundai doesn’t mind you flinging the N around a track.
The quad muffler system should make the crackling even louder.
N Option Interior
I like what I see here.
Fat Alcantara steering wheel? Check. Complete with centre marker, too.
Racy bucket seats, again with Alcantara and N logos? Check. Those slots at the shoulders look very AMG, but I’ll survive.
Alcantara trim and carbon fibre dash inserts? Er, obviously. I quite like the dashtop covered in the ol‘ fake suede which also looks to be on the armrest.
The shifter looks a bit blingy, but hey, these are all options.
When and how much?
Ha, yeah. I don’t know about you, but the press release is a bit light-on for actual detail. Yes, it’s a show car (in its own shade of paint), but the press release says that N Option gear is coming soon. It doesn’t say if you can retrofit any of this stuff or even how much the bits will cost.
Hyundai’s i30 N came out of nowhere but landed to critical acclaim. It’s a muscular, fast, keenly-priced hot hatch. But is it the best?
For so long if you wanted a hot hatch, you had some tough choices to make. We’re in a continuing Golden Age of the hot hatch, from Ford’s excellent Fiesta ST through to BMW’s brilliant M140i. They’re all good. There isn’t a dud among them, even the older ones.
The sweet spot seems to be in the C-segment hot hatches. You can choose French, German and Japanese and it’s unlikely you’ll be unhappy.
The 308 GTI is excellent if with a whacky driving position. The recently-departed Focus ST was a rowdy street-brawler but always exhilarating. The Volkswagen Golf GTI is poised, quick and subtle but the least powerful of the lot. The RenaultSport Megane, for me, was the handling benchmark but had a hard ride, ropey interior (except the seats) and weird steering wheel angle.
South Korea had been largely silent. Oh, Hyundai had a few cracks with the Veloster, a warm i30 SR and Kia made some noise with the Pro’ceed GT. Died off pretty quickly, that last one, and we’re not sure why (although a new Ceed and Proceed GT are on the way).
It was odd that Hyundai hadn’t committed. Then N branding started appearing on the giant’s i20 rally cars and word quickly spread as the company made some important hires, including BMW M’s Albert Biermann.
That guy knows what he’s doing, he’s been responsible for some cracking cars.
Hyundai i30 N History
Pretty short, as it turns out. There wasn’t one and then there was one.
It was odd that it had taken so long for Hyundai to get into this part of the market. The bizarro-world Veloster (which I love) quietly chugged away getting better as new engines and suspension tunes found their way in. The SR Turbo was tremendous fun but spent most of its time bouncing off the suspension stops. That made it uncomfortable and nervous when you were on it.
It also had a very slow gearchange and a 1.6-litre turbo that kept running out of revs. Weirdly, the automatic was better because it could change gears more quickly.
Hyundai’s relationship with fast cars has been off and on over the past couple of decades. The company has run in the World Rally Championship a couple of times. It threw stacks of money at the first attempt with the stupid-looking Accent WRC, threw money at drivers and basically got diddly-squat for their trouble. So they left.
For nine years, nothing.
Then in 2014, the company returned with a more focused effort, hiring Thierry Neuville to spearhead the new effort. The team has been there or thereabouts, scoring points, wins and being ruthless with their drivers (as Hayden Paddon will tell you).
Then in 2016 came the RN30 Concept at the 2016 Paris Motor Show. I was there and saw that car, thinking that Hyundai’s N Division is super-serious. Don’t ask me why I thought that, I just did.
And finally, the i30 N made its world debut and the game changed. Everyone from Thierry Neuville down said it was good, a solid start.
Hyundai i30 N Drivetrain
The i30 N packs a Hyundai-developed 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo, part of the Theta II engine family. With direct injection and variable valve timing, the N Performance spec engine (we only get this engine in Australia) produces 202kW (275PS) and 353Nm. Flatten the throttle and you’ll get another 25Nm, taking the total to 378Nm.
The engine is out of the larger Sonata, but has new pistons, a new turbo and cooling system and overboost gear.
At the moment, you can only get a six-speed manual while N gets on with designing and developing an eight-speed twin-clutch. The six-speed addresses the drama of the slow shift of most Hyundai manuals by adding carbon fibre synchro rings for a very, very slick change.
The six-speeder box drives the front wheels which also has an electronically-controlled mechanical limited-slip differential.
A big part of the fun of the i30 N is the crackling exhaust – a two-stage exhaust system spits out a basso-profundo roar as well as some fantastic crackling.
The non-Performance spec cars have “just” 184kW (250PS) and 353Nm as well as missing out on the LSD and active exhaust.
Hyundai i30 N Chassis
You can have tons of power but if what’s underneath you isn’t much good, you’re in trouble. Biermann’s team started with the obvious multi-link equipped version of the i30 and went from there.
Stiffer springs, adaptive damping, 19-inch Pirelli P-Zero tyres (with HN coding so you know it’s for that car), torque vectoring and, of course, the LSD.
The electric steering is way sharper but weighted quite differently across the modes. The adaptive suspension is also quite different between the three modes, but nobody reading this is going to spend much time out of N mode. For Australian cars only, we get a slightly softer damper tune, but you’d never notice – our roads are so terrible, N’s management rescinded the “One tune to rule the road” edict. Thank goodness.
Driving
The basic i30 is good. The SR is excellent. They have to be because the C-segment hatch still holds its own in a world of SUVs and all of them are better than good, with a few exceptions.
You can feel from the first three seconds that the i30 N is different. It feels like a different car as soon as you fire up the 2.0-litre, the engine giving you a nice loud, “Booooooo!” on startup. Grab the chunky wheel and feel the weight and the bite of the tyres, even just getting out of a car park.
The clutch is light and is probably the only vague part of the technical package. Everything else is precise, oiled, assertive. Thumb the N button and the car feels properly serious, the exhaust blare goes from aggressive to angry, like you just said something rude about its mum.
Unlike the Golf, it’s an alpha car. While the styling is hardly look-at-me RS Megane (another alpha), its on-road demeanour feels a lot more like Dieppe’s madness. The Golf never feels like it has its elbows out, but the i30 N starts that way. It’s reassuring, but you want to know if it has the bite to match the bark.
Yep. Five good corners in and you know exactly what makes the i30 N tick. It revs to almost 7000rpm, which is welcome – smaller displacement turbos run out of puff and you spend so much time changing gears. The N lets you choose to row it along or relax on the torque wave.
But good gracious me, this thing has a tremendous front end. The way you can pile into a corner way too hot (like the Civic Type R) is hilarious. Stand on the brakes then get on the throttle early is never not fun.
While you won’t be chucking this thing sideways, as a road car, this is the one to beat. It’s more liveable than the old Megane, it’s braver than the 308 GTI, more composed than the old Focus ST.
And it’s way, way more interesting than the Golf GTI. And that makes it the best hot hatch in the world.
i30 N steering wheeli30 N interiori30 N steering wheeli30 N interiori30 N steering wheeli30 N steering wheeli30 N steering wheeli30 N rear seatsi30 N button
Every week I like to let you know what I’m writing about normal cars (just so you know it’s not all beer and skittles) as well as articles from around the web.
So let’s get cracking.
Carsguide.com.au
Jaguar’s XF Sportbrake was a lovely thing and I spent a week with it. Only drama was a flat tyre. I suspect a passing miscreant stabbed the tyre with something very small and very sharp.
I recently drove a Subaru Liberty (aka Subaru Legacy elsewhere) for Carsguide. I liked the improvements to the drivetrain, although I’m not entirely certain the ride is super-successful.
There’s also the second instalment of my long-term review of the Hyundai Kona Active.
SUVAuthority
Over at SUV Authority, West Australian taskmaster Karl Peskett has had a go at the Honda HR-V. Before the Kona and before the Forester, I had the HR-V for three months and I didn’t mind it too much.
He’s also cast his eye over the Nissan Patrol. They like their big proper four-wheel drives over in WA.
Drive Zero
Drive Zero has an excellent piece on Honda’s EV strategy. Do yourself a favour if you like your motivation electrified.
Jalopnik
Speaking of electric cars, here’s an idiot who thought it would be funny to switch seats while underway on AutoPilot in a Tesla. What a moron. It’s people like this that get others killed. As good as AutoPilot can be, it’s still not a match for human intervention.
Road and Track
R&T has an amazing story about a bloke who wants to IndyCar to run turbine cars (again) and the renders are *amazing*
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
