World debut: Hyundai i30 N hot hatch

Hyundai’s march towards becoming a top-tier car-maker has just moved into double time with the launch of the first car from its high-performance N sub-brand in Dusseldorf, Germany today.

Australians will be among the first customers in the world to gain access to the new i30N hot hatch, which takes direct aim at Volkswagen’s iconic Golf GTI.

Packing up to 202kW of power and 353Nm of torque from an extensively reworked 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the front-wheel drive five-door hatch is based on Hyundai’s new i30.

However, like models from BMW M, Mercedes-AMG and Audi Sport, it has been reworked from the ground up to simply go faster.

And, like those three premium go-faster brands, it will be the first of many N-branded Hyundai models to come, including a 280kW all-wheel drive RN30 version, an N model based on the forthcoming i30 Fastback and an all-new Veloster N.

For now, Hyundai is shying away from ramping up SUV and crossover performance, but the German experience suggests it’s only a matter of time.

Dubbed ‘N’ in reference to both Hyundai’s Namyang research and development centre and Germany’s Nürburgring, where it tests extensively, the go-fast brand strengthens the i30 with everything from a stiffer bodyshell to high-tech suspension systems, new power steering and stickier tyres.

The Czech-built i30 N will be produced in both 184kW and 202kW variants and will show off its emotional performance credentials by initially being offered only with a six-speed manual gearbox.

It will rip to 100km/h in 6.2 seconds on its way to a 250km/h top speed, though the 184kW version takes another 0.2 seconds to reach the benchmark acceleration figure.

While the faster of the two i30 N models is locked in for Australia, Hyundai hasn’t made up its mind on the sales and confusion potential of bringing in the junior version.

Hyundai expects the 202kW i30N ‘Performance’ to land in Australia for less than $50,000, pitting it directly against VW’s Golf GTI Performance despite delivering more power and almost as much as the Golf R, and more go-fast technology than both German models.

By comparison, the stock Golf GTI gets by with 169kW of power and 350Nm of torque, posting the same 6.4-second sprint to 100km/h as the base version of the i30 N and being 0.2sec slower than the warmer model.

On the upside for Volkswagen, the GTI also comes with a dual-clutch transmission as a weighty option. Anybody looking for a self-shifting i30 N will have to wait at least 18 months for Hyundai’s new eight-speed wet dual-clutch version to come on stream.

If the Golf GTI is the clear target for the i30 N, there’s also the Peugeot 308 GTi and upcoming Honda Civic Type R and Renault Megane RS, although only the latter will be available with both manual and automatic transmissions like the Volkswagen.

That said, Albert Biermann -- the father of the i30 N who joined Hyundai after being the head of engineering at BMW M -- would prefer not to give people an i30 N auto on the grounds that it would dilute what the car is about.

“The Hyundai i30 N has been developed for no other purpose than to deliver maximum driving fun to our customers in an accessible high-performance package,” said Biermann, Executive Vice President of Hyundai’s Performance Development and High Performance Vehicle Division.

“With the high-performance N models we will enhance our brand’s appeal with emotional products that cater to the needs of people who love to have a smile on their face when they drive their car on a winding road and listen to the sound of the engine.

“That’s why we measure high-performance in BPM, heart beats per minute instead of only RPM.”

To combat the long-stroke Volkswagen, whose power peaks at just 4700rpm, the i30N’s Sonata Turbo-sourced engine has perfectly square cylinders (86mm for both the bore and stroke measurements), yet still delivers the torque peak at only 1450rpm, holding it until 4700.

That means it’s still delivering its torque peak at the point in the engine’s range where the Golf GTI is reaching its power peak, despite achieving its own torque peak 500rpm sooner than the Volkswagen. The i30N hits its power peak at 6000rpm, the same point where the GTI’s power begins to drop off from its peak.

Regardless of which power output it has, the i30N delivers the same torque figure and torque curve, the same power peak and uses the same 9.5:1 compression ratio.

The front-wheel drive hatch also scores rev-matching to blip the engine and help smooth out driver downshifts, but only if the rev-matching button is pushed. The reason, says Biermann, is that for the people who know how to heel-and-toe on downshifts, it’s critical to let them do it themselves.

There’s also a launch control built in to the car’s operating software, which works by switching off the skid-control system (or, more accurately, putting it into the mid-level, rather than fully off), pushing the launch-control button, flooring the throttle and then, within five seconds, releasing the clutch pedal.

The trick part of it isn’t that it controls the clutch engagement, but that it controls the engine’s torque delivery to give it the strongest possible takeoff.

Two pre-production i30 Ns ran strongly at the Nürburgring 24 Hour race in June, and Biermann said each car done at least 480 laps -- in the wet and dry -- of the iconic 20.8km German track to speed up its durability and development testing.

Biermann’s benchmark is 180,000km on the Nordschleife loop and Hyundai has a test and development centre there.

Two pre-production versions of the car have already been testing in Australia, one for hot-weather testing in the Northern Territory, the other at Wodonga’s DECA driver-training centre and at Mount Panorama at Bathurst.

That’s all helped N to understand what the car needed to go faster without compromising too much of its on-road civility, so it scores a cross-body reinforcing brace behind the rear seats, trick suspension, bigger brakes and a long list of other tweaks.

That includes five different possible drive modes, ranging from Eco, Normal (the default mode), Sport, N and N Custom, via a switch located on the steering wheel. There’s also a chequered flag ‘N’ mode button on the wheel, helping to turn a comfortable hatch into what Biermann defines as an “everyday sports car”.

There are two different handling modes, too, with the base car using a lower, firmer suspension set-up, 18-inch alloy wheels and off-the-shelf 225/40 R18 Michelin tyres. It eschews a limited-slip diff of any kind, instead relying on torque vectoring to maintain is cornering line under power.

The hotter version uses custom-developed HM (Hyundai Motorsport) P Zero 235/35 R19 tyres from Pirelli (oddly, Korea’s Hankook wasn’t in the race, even though Audi uses them for the S5) and backs that up with an electronically control of a mechanical limited-slip differential.

The base car is 4mm lower than the stock i30, while the more powerful version, on its 19-inch rubber, is 8mm lower, with both of them using enhanced versions of the stock MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension systems.

Both cars ride on two-stage, solenoid-controlled dampers, bigger brakes and an electronic power-steering system located directly on the steering rack.

That all sits around a 2650mm wheelbase in a car that occupies 4335mm of road and is 1795mm high. The fastest version is 1447mm high, while the base car is 4mm higher.

The sound package is rounded out with variable noise levels from the exhaust system along with an electronic sound generator at the base of the windscreen.

The stock car is 1400kg, but the added trickery of the faster version adds another 29kg to the DIN figure, though the body-in-white is the same as the standard i30, apart from two reinforcing struts.

The N look starts with black-bezeled headlights, a deeper front splitter, bigger air inlets, air curtains to clean up front-wheel airflow and red-painted brake callipers, while it has a gloss black spoiler at the rear, complete with a triangular third brake light and a dual exhaust system.

The driver-focused nature is highlighted by a shift-timing indicator on top of the instrument cluster, with an LED rev counter, and its colour varies with the oil temperature.

There is a standard 5.0-inch or optional 8.0-inch multimedia screen, which also delivers a lap timer, a 0-100km/h timer, an accelerometer and real-time power and torque meters.

The Hyundai i30 N also has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatible, and there is a Qi-standard wireless charging option.