I like how the N sub brand is so much more than badge-power. They really throw a lot of R&D and track testing into these cars, and should be taken seriously. Biggest performance bang for the buck out there in any segment.
The only issue I have is them selling n-line stuff that’s a base model Elantra with some sporty styling. Call it something else and don’t tarnish the N name. That’s like ford calling one of their econo cars a mustang..
Too bad it'll be $40,000+ Dealership near me is asking $34,990 for a Kona N-Line. The actual N Performance I have no doubt will be $43,000. Elantra too. They're gonna treat it like the Civic Type R as if it's the holy grail.
@@red07ls Thank you for saying it... This car will be way over it's MSRP. Dealerships will treat them like a cash grab and find an impulsive buyer. Just like the new GTI Autobahn being $37,000. Back in 2017 by buddy got one brand new one for $25,500.
@@red07ls lol I didn't see this as a problem for the Veloster N The performance pack model in 2019 at my local dealership was like $29k which was right around the MSRP
Sat in one today during the LA auto show, and among the brands there offering a car with 3 pedals. The Elantra N felt the best (parked not running). The ford guys told me not to break it rowing thru the gears so I said I'll just buy a Chevy if rowing through the gears in a manual will break it. The Chevy box was alright other than the ambiguous feeling that 5 and 6 have. I was listening to the kids in it before me talking about "Oh you're gonna shift from 4 to R and blow it up." I was like yeah right kid. Then I sat in it and there wasn't a Reverse gear lock out. Pretty lame design. Also the Subaru gearboxes felt like they had a lot of synchro bite if you know what I mean. Almost dog box like. Depends on what you like I suppose.
I am currently leasing a sonata N line with the 290hp turbo engine. It absolutely rips. That wet DCT is absolutely incredible. I had an Audi A3 and the DCT blows the DSG trans out of the water in terms of smoothness. I can leave people in the dust off the line and still enjoy smooth driving throughout town. I love my car, I can only imagine how much fun this Elantra would be. Cannot recommend Hyundai enough, they know what they are doing with these cars.
Isn't a DSG a DCT? DCT is just a general term for dual clutch transmission As far as I know DSG is just the trademark name but is so common people say DSG when referring to cars with DCT
I just got a GV70 a month ago and LOVE it. I actually would like to see Matt do a review on it on this channel. Hyundai/Genesis poached some serious heavy hitters from the other high performance manufacturers and it's paying off huge for them right now.
@hon solo All of which are unappealing. You clearly see a car as a utility tool and focus on resale. I see it as why would you want to buy something that's not what you want and subject yourself to that for the next 3-5 years. Also the resale is speculative right now since Genesis is a new brand, and the GV70 is a brand new model. Anyway, don't bother replying because I'm not going to read it.
I just purchased this car about 3 days ago and I’m like blown away. The car has echo normal and sport and also nmode each mode gives the car different power. Nmode it’s a rocket. The transmission is unbelievable. Shifts fast I had a 2020 scat pack charger. And this Elantra n blows it away All I can say is you won’t be disappointed if you can test drive one. Do it I can say you will be shocked.
Everyone hates Hyundai, but they are really putting forth a great effort to provide a variety of performance versions of their vehicles and they actually perform well. I dont think they will ever be able to get away from the stigma that comes with their name which is a bummer. I will say, that blueish color is pretty polarizing
as the above comment states, a friendly reminder that Hyundai won WRC titles twice back to back. I’m surprised they haven’t come up with a GR Yaris competitor, considering they beat Toyota twice already (although it isn’t really looking good for them this season).
totally agree with you. I just wish they would make more timeless designs, these cars may look cool and different now, but I do not think they will age well
The fact that they seemed welded certain parts of the chassis alone adds a level authentic motorsports enthusiasm that a lot of sporty package on the market don't offer. This is what you call over engineering and bang for buck value. Styling is polarizing only because not enough people have seen them in public yet. I'm sure just other styling in the past, it will grow on them.
@@noahp6886 As long as they have black, gray, and white- it will sell. Just keep see it, more and more; people said the same thing when the Mustang got redesign in 2015.
@@Elephant_Thoughts I'm still trying and it hasn't grown on me. The red accent actually makes it worse here. I think keeping it blue and black would have been better. I think the overlap of the black silver white crowd and those that want a N model are going to be incredibly small.
@@noahp6886 I said the same thing about the Kia K5 model, which I still think is uglier than sin but found the sliver lining or gimmick of putting that orange drl on the front end to mask it's over the top fussy front end. LOL- now they are selling like hotcakes!
Performance Blue 6-spd on the ground yesterday. Everything I hoped for and more. 53 year old long time sport-compact Gti, WRX,ST, RS, owner......nobody is building anything like this anymore. Just "nice" enough to impress a few passengers, or at least need no apologies....just "hardcore" enough to put a huge smile on your face the rest of the time. Very impressed!
The people complaining about companies not making fun drivers cars and crying over losing the FoST, FiST, MS3 are the same people hating on the Veloster N/Elantra N. Can't please everyone I guess lmao
@@AlbanianGoose Civic type r looks ugly asf sounds bad and doesnt have an auto, for a daily driver I think this makes more sense, for a person who tracks often CTR all day.
This is a fantastic line of products that Hyundai has going right now. Easily the best on the market when it comes to inexpensive performance fun. Can’t wait to get my hands on one!
Hyundai has come along way from those clapped out Hyundai Exel models I used to see in the 90s…. They were cheap throw away cars back then. Kiddos to Hyundai 😎
If you hate on hyundai you're either under the age of 15 or over the age of 55 lol There is no better NEW performance car for the money. The elantra, kona and Veloster are all almost 300hp tunable amazing sounding cars that are 30k with a 10 year warranty. That doesn't even get voided if you do track it.
The new 2022 type R will be a competitor as well, although it will likely cost 10k+ more than the elantra N.... It will be interesting to see how they stack up!
@@patmald true, but I was speaking in terms of value. It's hard to justify the added costs with dealer mark ups on the CTR (at least where I live). Even availability was scarce on last gens model. But in terms of raw performance 1:1 you are absolutely correct ahah
owned my ‘21 Sonata N-Line for 6months already put 21k miles on it with ZERO issues. 290hp and 311tq makes it a bit more powerful than the N cars. 0-60 in 5.2 on all seasons with fwd, definitely can’t complain about that. Plus it’s got all the creature comforts the N cars don’t have. All for 2k less than the Elantra N. Can’t wait to test drive one tho!
Good job talking while driving on track Zack! Just based on your inputs and the way the car reacts it looks like a proper driver's car. FF can be a lot more fun than most people think, it's just so rarely tuned to be fun from the factory.
the exhaust sound is changing the sound outside the vehicle its variable. If you want to change the pipped in sound to the interior its actually under active sounds.
I owned my 2012 Elantra since it was new and with 250,000 plus miles on it and no major issues, it's the perfect everyday driver. I would like to see this N package performance team put together a rear wheel drive for the Elantra and make the cabin quieter with less road noise. Performance always to me always results best with rear wheel drive, especially on the track. This is the only thing left to do to make this car perfect.
The adjustable exhaust is actually from an electronic adjustable exhaust baffle in the system opening and closing depending on how you have it adjusted in the N custom screen.
Seems all the RU-vid test drives of the Hyundai line were done at Sonoma on the same day. That must have made it tough on the test drivers. This was the best of all the test drive videos I saw. I've had my Elantra N DCT for almost a week now and I like it more every time I drive it.
The first Hyundai Biermann had a hand in was the 2017 Elantra Sport, and likely helped style. The chassis tune is spot on and the 1.6t, while being torquey, still gathers hp towards redline. With just a downpipe and a cone filter my 2018 DCT gained a big chunk of satisfying shove. I dont even miss an LSD in it and I'm also an Si owner. I wish the Elantra N could have come with the 17-18 styling, but this new one might already be growing on me a little even though I cringed at first. I want to see other colors. I'm still wildy excited that Hyundai gave this car to America.
Unlikely he had time to work on that car when he arrived at Hyundai. But it shows Hyundai was already on a good upward track, just needed someone to help them sharpen things up.
@@ghepardogts He was hired in 2015 and spoke on the release of the acclaimed "Beirmann influenced" Elantra Sport '17 and GT "18 as the unofficial birth of N-line in North America. This was much of the reason their was so much attention paid to these cars at launch. Do some research next time🙂
In Australia and world wide we get the i30N hatchback and Sedan (Elantra N) and people are getting heaps of power particularly torque out of them. The engine has potential for power great for the street and track.
While this is cool 'n all, I honestly love that veloster N. I've only driven the R, and I loved that, especially the shifter, serious Honda vibes in how perfectly crisp it is. With more torque & power I can imagine the N is an absolute joy as well. My only beef is the 1 door, wish it had 2 rear doors. Especially because the rear door isn't driver-side in the US. I'm glad they brought that formula into this though, even though the elantra is too "accordy" for me, they're good cars & a seam welded chassis plus the the strut tower bars and suspension really should sharpen that up nicely. That's basically what they did with the ITR (too many Honda references in this post). I love that Hyundai is focusing on performance to some degree in a world where sports cars are quickly dying out.
@@vroomgc I think you misunderstood, I was referring the veloster R-spec, as I have not driven the veloster N & from what people say they're very similar in driving experience, which is why it's worth pointing out. I only bring up Honda because their linkage shifters have amazing feeling and I thoroughly enjoyed the shifter in the R-spec as it reminded me instantly of a Honda linkage...which is very rare these days, most companies including current Hondas use cables & have extremely soft bushings to dampen them.
2nd Podium! Comment! Extremely interesting car in Hyundai's N Lineup. I really think with the sophisticated multilink fully independent rear suspension (1 up on the i20N) and a 6spd manual option (1 up on the Kona N), and just this solitary luxury item option available on the Elantra N a SUNROOF (DCT version only), (Veloster N not sold in my part of the world). It may very well be the pick of the entire Hyundai N Lineup!!!! Fun fact: Hyundai had an embargo on driving impressions of the new Elantra N until November 23rd, 2021 at 12.01am, precisely! I owned a Lantra twin-cam manual in the day, it really was a great driving car in its humdrum 4dr family sedan sector. Better handling than any of its Japanese compact 4dr sedan competitors.
@Soul2Top I don’t hate wings 🙄 but since you asked, I think it would look very clean and sleek without. I like it just fine as is, which is why I said “spoiler delete option” and not “remove the wing on all of them”. Does the wing reduce drag or only reduce lift?
It’s amazing to think about the garbage Hyundai was making 20 years ago compared to everything they make now. Why couldn’t GM or Ford do the same thing?
They literally went from basement to class leading (especially with SUVs including EVs), especially at a price point, in less than 20 years or 3-4 car generations...
This will be one of those cars in about 15 years that will be highly sought after by the automotive enthusiasts that follow. Much how people wax poetic about old supras and 240's. This will be one of those cars in 15-20 years.
I realize design is pretty subjective but I couldn’t buy one of these bc of the design. I’m sure it’s great to drive if it’s anything like the veloster N
Variable exhaust opens up when you put it into N mode. Very loud. A lot of people had to swap the manual exhaust onto the DCT veloster to get the louder exhaust but elantra N DCT gets the loud exhaust.
I'm glad to see Hyundai paying attention to driving dynamics in this segment, but imagine just for a moment... what if they made it RWD? People with boring car preferences are going to buy a crossover anyway.
@@ZakWilson That's the best they're going to get. Japan and S.Korea have little interest in making compact sedans with RWD. It's not as efficient or economical to do it on those cars. Chalk it to regulation I suppose.
My only gripe with Hyundai N is Korean cars usually have a weak aftermarket. BC Racing makes coilovers for my Toyota Sienna but not the Kia Stinger for example. This thing is probably good enough out of the box that it doesn't matter. But I am a tuner boi
