Hyundai i20 N 2021 Review – International

Of today’s World Rally Championship contenders, the road-going versions include the cracking all-wheel drive Toyota GR Yaris Rallye three-door priced at $54,500 (plus ORCs), the manual-only Ford Fiesta ST ($32,290 plus ORCs), the auto-only Volkswagen Polo GTI ($32,890 plus ORCs) and, soon, the 2021 Hyundai i20 N.

And the i20 N looks the most like a stage-ready rally car of all of them. It’s lairy.

At $32,490, the 2021 Hyundai i20 N neatly splits its closest front-drive five-door rivals from Europe, the Polo GTI and the Fiesta ST.

It will arrive in Australia from October wearing a look-at-me N body kit comprising a large rear wing (not a spoiler) and little aero flicks at every 19-inch alloy wheel.

The only new-generation Hyundai i20 variant destined for Australia wears Pirelli P Zero rubber and helps drivers get the best out of them with manual sports front seats and an N-exclusive interior with alloy pedals and a leather-trimmed steering wheel.

It also has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard equipment, along with satellite navigation, wireless phone charging on a sticky rubber pad, a seven-speaker Bose sound system, DAB+ digital radio and more.

Hyundai most affordable N model also comes standard with tinted rear privacy glass, climate control, folding side mirrors, automatic wipers and a 10.25-inch touch-screen infotainment system. There are even heated rear seats!

There’s only a temporary space-saver spare (the norm for the class) and it comes with just two standard colours: Polar White and Performance Blue. The other three colours (Sleek Silver metallic, Phantom Black mica and Dragon Red mica) are all an extra $495.

There’s one other option and that’s a two-tone Phantom Black roof to match the black cloth/leather interior trim, for $1000.

The 2021 Hyundai i20 N’s five-door bodyshell has been massively reinforced, with no fewer than 12 separate interventions.

Now, this isn’t the class for fancy suspension doings like variable damping, so the i20 N rides on its own specification of springs and passive dampers, though all the bushings are tightened up.

The MacPherson strut front-end has been tautened even further with stiffening of the top shock mounts and a stronger steering knuckle.

The torsion-beam rear-end is also stronger, with greater toe-change resistance, and the front brake discs are a full 40mm broader in diameter than their stock i20 siblings.

Autonomous emergency braking is standard, along with lane-keeping assistance, lane-following assistance, blind-spot collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert for help reversing out of tricky parks, a driver attention warning system, a reversing camera, parking sensors at both ends, LED headlights and tail-lights and even tyre-pressure monitoring.

It is impressive reading.

The 2021 Hyundai i20 N is a hot hatch by the numbers, with an overpowered turbo motor up front driving the front wheels, while the dragging rear-end tries to hang on.

That formula includes Hyundai’s widespread 150kW T-GDI 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol four, matched only to a six-speed manual gearbox like the Fiesta ST.

It only drives the front wheels via a trick ‘N Corner Carving Differential’ or, for those of you who do not speak Hyundai marketinglish, a mechanical limited-slip differential.

The T-GDI motor gives its best power between 5500 and 6000rpm and delivers a standard torque peak of 274Nm between 1750 and 4500rpm. That can be over-boosted to 304Nm of torque, but either way it’s clear that this is a rev-happy engine, rather than a torquey one.

Fortunately, the four-metre hatch only weighs 1213kg, so it still rips to 100km/h in 6.2 seconds and runs out to 230km/h.

It also gets its fastest sprints with a launch-control system, and its extra goodies over other i20 models (the ones Hyundai leaves in Korea) include an N Drive Mode System and an N Performance Driving Data System.

There’s also a higher-performance brake system, an active variable exhaust system and rev-matching technology for the gearshifts.

Let’s break this down for just a minute. Most cars have ‘Driving’ and ‘Comfort’, but the 2021 Hyundai i20 N really just has one of them.

As we discovered during a prototype track test last October, it’s firm and it’s loud, both aurally and visually.

The upside to that arrives with the first empty corners. The i20 N is a rare treat, even in a world of Fiesta STs and Polo GTIs.

There are buttons on the steering wheel to turn off the rev-matching (thankfully), and the two blue N buttons beneath the spokes are (in a lesson Hyundai’s N chief brought across from BMW M) two hard-core modes that you don’t have to dig for. They’re right there, all the time, at the push of a button.

You don’t even have to see the winding roads ahead to be ready for them, because Hyundai has even thought of that, warning you on the instrument cluster that there is fun approaching, so why waste it?

It then prompts you to crank up the N mode for more everything, including a crisper, meatier steering feel, a fatter exhaust note, more freedom from the skid-control systems and better response to your right foot.

This thing is properly thought through, from the grippy seats to the superbly stitched leather bolsters that would shame anything twice this price.

Even the steering wheel is properly judged for size and rim thickness, as well as thumb pads. But for all the overtness of the body, the interior is a bit monotonous, frankly, which makes the flashes of blue stand out even more.

The driving position is good, even if the seat feels a little high (like the Fiesta ST’s), and the alignment to the pedals and the steering is spot on.

The engine kicks off loudly, but the deep burble is somehow weighty, and it’s a feeling the clutch heft reinforces. It’s all telling you this car is no pushover.

Odd thing is that the harder you push the i20 N, the less confronting its ride becomes, as though energy in the suspension brings it all to life.

The N mode is where it’s at, though, with one push on the button delivering all of Hyundai’s go-fast presets, while two pushes brings up your own preferences, of which you have only three engine responses, three steering weights, three ESC nets, three grades of rev-matching and a get-loud exhaust.

It’s a fabulous car with the presets, though, and it seems to work best with a touch of ESC left in it, though your neighbours won’t thank you for leaving the N mode on when you get back home.

Unlike any Volkswagen Group product, it’s amenable to left-foot braking, with the engine management computer happy enough to allow for some brake-throttle overlap (though it cuts the torque, unless you switch off the ESC completely).

The body is beautifully controlled, with what feels like a tail-down stance that swallows bumps easily as the speed rises, and the steering is reassuringly accurate.

Unless it’s raining heavily, though, the i20 N just will not understeer. The differential is incredibly strong in the way it puts its power down accurately and it just bites and bites on the way out of corners, even when the rear-end is enjoying its own gentle drift.

The Hyundai i30 N skipped past me, so I wasn’t quite prepared for the i20 N. It’s impressive. It’s very impressive.

It’s very strong on paper, especially for the price, and it’s very strong on the road, too.

Yes, it rides far too hard for most people on most days, but it will ride just fine for the people Hyundai is after.

What’s remarkable is the way it rides the line between solidly engineered and hang-it-out fun.

It’s a brilliant little car for a selected few – and a welcome addition to a pint-size hot hatch segment dominated by the soon-to-be-upgraded Polo GTI.

How much does the 2021 Hyundai i20 N cost?
Price: $32,490 (plus on-road costs)
Available: October 2021
Powertrain: 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 150kW/275Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Consumption: TBC
Safety rating: TBC