Hyundai i30 N in noise furore

Hyundai Australia is investigating claims that its critically acclaimed Hyundai i30 N hot hatch has lost some of the exhaust snap, crackle and pop that helps makes it so great.

The controversy has surfaced on Hyundai i30 N fan forum websites in the wake of a very minor update to the car that is flowing into Australian dealerships now.

N-cars.net has a thread entitled ‘Less crackling exhaust on New i30n models’ that includes comments from both Australian and overseas owners of the 202kW front-wheel drive fun machine.

Some claim their car is less noisy while others say insist they are happy with the peppiness and poppiness of the exhaust.

The latest Hyundai i30 N is coded PDeN2 internally and just a handful have so far been sold in Australia.

The changes are so minor Hyundai Australia didn’t even bother announcing them. Nor have they affected the price of the car, which still starts at $39,990.

Spokesman Bill Thomas admits the company is bemused by the commentary because no Australian cars have powertrain or exhaust system changes.

It’s a different story in Europe where the engine has been upgraded to the latest Euro 6c emissions regulations.

“The change is the fuel filler cap is now extended -- a change which i30 N shares with the base model,” said Thomas.

“It includes a fuel filler for the Adblue [a solution which reduces NOx emissions] for diesel for Europe. It’s very clearly blanked off in the i30N.

“There’s also a new function where you can disable autonomous emergency braking in the central menu for track use.

“So tiny little running changes. No technical changes.”

Despite skepticism about the accuracy of the noise claims, Thomas said they would be investigated.

“There is no change to the exhaust. I don’t think there is a problem,” he said.

“But someone thinks there is something going on so we’ll just track that down.

“If it’s a customer complaint or a customer issue then I am going to look into that and get the technical guys on to that to find out.”