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CAR REVIEW
Hyundai i30N
Price: R679 900
4/5
Hyundai is the latest manufacturer to throw in a contender to take on the dominant Golf GTI. With the Hyundai i30N, the South Korean motor maker hopes to compete with the GTI’s status as king of the hot hatches. The hope is that the i30N, with its 202kW and 353Nm torque, will be able to sway customers away from the car that was just named the best premium hatch in the country at the Cars.co.za Cars Awards.
During a press conference, Hyundai went to great lengths to explain the chassis and drivetrain of the i30N. The company was at pains to mention that the car is not about outright performance. Stanley Anderson, marketing director for Hyundai SA, said the performance of the i30N was about beats per minute rather than revs per minute. The 2.0-litre turbo engine’s power output puts the i30N slap bang in the middle of the VW Golf range. It offers 33kW more than the GTI, but is 26kW down on the Golf R.
Its R679 900 (all boxes ticked) asking price is also in the middle of the Golf range. The GTI starts at R568 600, with the Golf R starting at R684 400. But if you were to tick all the boxes in the options list to spec the GTI to a similar level as the i30N, you would end up paying around R664 800.
So you may be asking why not spend R10 000 more and get a Golf R? Well, it’s the same case as with the GTI.
To spec a Golf R to the same level as the Hyundai you’d have push the price to well more than R700 000.
From the driving the car up the Du Toitskloof Pass in the Western Cape, I can tell you that 202kW (and especially that 353Nm) is plenty oomph to get you going. The i30N is a manual, with no option of a flappy paddle box yet.
This petrolhead was pleased with the gearbox, especially when you thrash the car up the twisties. Going at slow speeds with the stop/start system on the gearbox can feel janky; I recommend switching it off.
The thing with the i30N is that it loves being at the limit, that’s when the car excels. Going slow you start to notice that the chassis is a little bit stiff for our roads. It is also when you notice that the interior isn’t that nice. The fit and finish are found lacking compared with its German counterpart.
The infotainment on the i30N is good, you get Android Auto and CarPlay, but its sound system doesn’t deliver. I expected more for a car at that price.
So I ended up switching it all off and just enjoying the soundtrack from the lovely engine and exhaust system.
The Hyundai i30N is a rewarding car for enthusiasts, people who want to stand out from the crowd, people who still get a kick out of heel-and-toeing and revving an engine out. For everyone else, the GTI will make more sense.
