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By Jonathan Crouch

Introductionword count: 43

Hyundai's i30 N was Korea's very first really credible performance hot hatch. Every car in this segment claims to be engineered to get your heart pumping and your pulse racing but this one really can. Track-tamed and road ready, it'll surprise you enormously.

Modelsword count: 4

5dr family hatch [1.6T-GDi]

Historyword count: 457

Back in 2018, with this i30 N hot hatch, Hyundai launched its new 'N' performance sub-brand. It's the kind of car you simply wouldn't expect from this Korean maker and it aimed to compete on equal terms amongst the most established players in the volume part of the family hatch-sized GTI segment. That was a big ask. Back in 2018, the 'established players' in question included contenders like the Volkswagen Golf GTI, the Ford Focus ST and the Renaultsport Megane. Models that stopped short of 'super-hatch' status, but cars that had spent decades refining their shopping rocket status. In contrast, in just 30 months this i30 N went from a speculative concept to a production reality. It surely can't be possible to upset the established order that easily. Can it? Hyundai thought it could here. By 2018, an 87% European sales increase in the previous five years had given the company the means to pursue lofty ambitions, funds that in this case were used to lure away top engineers from brands like Lamborghini, AMG and - from BMW - one Albert Biermann. Prior to his move to this Korean manufacturer in 2014, he was the man that had been behind most of that Munich maker's most significant 'M'-branded performance cars over the previous twenty years. He was obviously someone who liked a challenge. The third generation version of Hyundai's i30 this N model was based on was a solid enough offering in the Focus-sized family hatch segment, but it wasn't a car you'd have thought would have been a fundamentally good starting point for a class-leading hot hatch. Nevertheless, Hyundai was determined that a frantically quick i30 would be the model they would use to launch their performance 'N' sub-brand to the world, building on their World Rally Championship exploits. It would prove that the company could make properly credible fast cars and give the image of this fast-growing South Korean maker a much-needed boost. So Biermann and his colleagues rolled up their sleeves and got to work, changing. well just about everything that mattered in order to create the completed i30 N model. The 'N' by the way, references 'Namyang', Hyundai's global R&D centre in Korea. And the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit, where over 6,000 miles of testing produced the finished product, hence the way the letter's logo symbolises a racetrack chicane. Standard (250hp) and Performance (275hp) versions were initially launched. A Fastback version of this model (only offered in Performance form) was launched in 2019. Both i30N body shapes were lightly updated in 2020 (when the base 250hp version was dropped) and following that, a twin-clutch paddleship auto transmission option was made available. The i30N in hatch and Fastback forms then sold until late 2023.

What You Getword count: 395

It must have been difficult for Hyundai to know how to visually pitch a hot hatch of this kind - they were, after all, a company starting out in this segment with the launch of this model. Size-wise, this Korean contender strikes a middle ground in the class, 77mm longer than a Golf GTI but a full 220mm shorter than a Civic Type R. At the front, extra cooling vents are incorporated right across the lower part of the nose section so as to channel air towards the GDI Turbo engine and the uprated brakes. The rear also features a carefully judged package of more aggressive styling features, highlighted by a DTM-style roof spoiler with a triangular central brake light. Take a seat at the wheel. Should you go looking for it, there's subtle 'N'-branding on the floor mats, the door sill scuff plates, the steering wheel and on the lovely tactile round gear knob; plus there are unusual light blue 'Drive Mode' and 'N mode' buttons on the steering wheel. But that's about it in terms of the cabin changes made to create this shopping rocket model. Or at least you think it is until you start to examine the various information displays provided. The primary one is an 8-inch colour touchscreen that dominates the centre of the dash, a display you'll want to keep in its bespoke 'N Mode' whenever you're enjoying this car in the way it was designed to be driven. Here, you can peruse your selected 'Custom' drive mode settings, monitor cornering G-Forces and key an eye on read-outs for Turbo pressure, torque and power. There's also a 'Performance Timer' section that, as well as the usual lap timer, also includes an acceleration timer you can set to your preferred target speed. What about the back seat? Well what can we tell you? It's not the roomiest rear cabin in the class - you'll need a Skoda Octavia vRS for that - but by the standards of most other family hatch-sized GTi segment contenders, the space provided here is quite competitive and probably as much as most buyers will need. The 381-litre cargo capacity is class-competitive, despite the fact that it's 14-litres down on what you'd get in an ordinary i30 on account of a rear strut brace that stretches across the floor at the back of the load area.

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