Hyundai Elantra N vs Hyundai Kona N: Hot or Hotter

SONOMA RACEWAY, CALIFORNIA –Hyundai take been on an electrification tear lately. Nearly every model they sell in Canada is bachelor with an electrified powertrain and their third EV, the Ioniq 5, is about to proceed sale. However, they haven't permit the gasoline engine fall by the wayside. Quite the opposite, in fact. It's going out with a blindside courtesy of the 2022 Hyundai Elantra Northward and Kona N.

Sport meaty styling is often loud and abrasive, and the Elantra N's design is no exception. The forepart stop has garnered everything from adoration to disgust to frightening comparisons with racist caricatures. Personally, I similar the way the front cease hides the rather fussy grillework and provides an interesting visual link with a relatively unknown and completely unrelated sport compact legend, the Seat 1200 Sport. Elsewhere, it's the standard N matter of skirts, cherry-red stripes and a relatively modest pedestal fly.

Rolling stock is 245/35ZR19 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires wrapped around diamond cut snowflake-style alloy wheels, a handsome and purposeful decision that cuts through the noise of the blacked-out bike tendency. Overall, the Elantra N looks angrier than a eye school metalhead without being a caricature like the outgoing Civic Type R is.

As far as I can tell, the Elantra N makes next to zero compromises on livability. Yous become heated seats, a sunroof, automatic ac, big digital screens for the infotainment and guess cluster and a Bose stereo. Tire roar is a bit prominent but the Elantra Northward is by and large as docile and refined as a Volkswagen GTI. The simply reduction in practicality comes courtesy of a red 5-brace behind the rear seat that'southward said to increase torsional rigidity by 29 per cent.

Drop the adaptive dampers into "I'd similar to keep my fillings" mode, crank up The 1975 and you could virtually exist convinced y'all're in a regular Elantra. Then you look around the interior at seats that hug your posterior and sueded panels that feel superior to the standard Elantra's items and you retrieve that yous're driving something special. Of grade refinement doesn't equal sterility.

Press i of the buttons marked N on the Elantra N's steering wheel and everything changes. The dampers firm upward, the stability control relaxes, a valve opens in the exhaust and the digital cluster adopts a center tach layout. Time to put on some Limp Bizkit and let the monster out.

While we're familiar with Hyundai'due south 2.0-litre 276-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, information technology's been subtly retuned to generated 289 lb-ft of torque. Burn down up the N Grin Shift overboost office and yous'll take an extra ten horsepower for xx seconds and a shortened cool-downward time of only twoscore seconds. When mated to the fast moisture-clutch eight-speed DCT, it's all good for 0-sixty MPH in v seconds flat.

That's up there with some of the hottest hot hatches including the Borough Type R and the outgoing Golf R. Putting all that thrust to the ground is an electronically-controlled limited-slip differential, multi-phase stability control and the aforementioned 245-department Michelins.

So how does it all come together? Quite well, actually. Let's start with autocross performance. Hyundai take intentionally set the Elantra N up with a loose chassis considering understeer is prophylactic and tedious and oversteer is a useful party drug for skilled drivers. On a tight cone course, a loose chassis can make all the divergence in the world. Trail-restriction to rotate, ability out and the e-LSD will slingshot the Elantra N out of tight autocross corners.

For anyone running autocross who's looking to choice one of these bad boys up, first with 42 psi front and 45 psi rear for a slightly looser setup that avoids whatever sidewall scroll. Launching in the clammy is a scrap of a mixed handbag. DCT cars will go off the line just fine, 6MT cars crave slipping the clutch from 2,750 RPM to avert bogging or paint shaker levels of wheel hop. I did find some slight hyperactivity from the ABS simply I'll brimming that up to the damp atmospheric condition.

What about on the large track? Yeah, my date with the Elantra N included hot lapping Sonoma Raceway, one of the well-nigh iconic tracks in America. Information technology's fast, technical and properly greasy when damp. The perfect place to test a serious sport compact car. Let'due south get over what a lap looks like. Stability through T1 is neat, letting y'all carry a ludicrous corporeality of speed while setting the motorcar up for T2. Then brake, downshift, briefly curiosity at the pad compound'south friction and aim for a late apex so you can clasp on the power for the brief jaunt to the next corner. Turn 3 is an interesting one in the damp.

The Elantra N will want to rotate, merely a well-judged conservative application of trail braking volition help point the car towards the apex without any extra steering input. Don't worry about over-doing it, the steering is nicely communicative which helps you judge rotation, assuasive for a fast go out from the right-hand T3A if yous aim for the blind outer curbing. Plow 4 is where the Elantra N'southward tail-happy demeanour may prove to be a flake of a handful.

Brake exclusively in a straight line, else you lot'll exist applying a quick jab of opposite lock while fighting the ESC. Go it right, however, and you'll accept a fast line through T5 that'll lead into T6, the carousel. If you've always wondered what mid-corner adaptability means, taking the Elantra Northward through Sonoma's carousel amounts to a masterclass.

Past balancing throttle and steering, I was able to bring it down to the inside for the apex, then drift correct to gear up the car upward perfectly for hit 100 MPH on your mode to Turn vii, the horseshoe. That'south a lot of speed on a fairly short directly, so it really hammers home the Elantra N'due south communication and confidence through the carousel.

Plant your foot on the loud pedal out of T7 and the east-LSD does an admirable job of putting power down cleanly and letting you set things up for straightening out the showtime set of esses. Turn in from the right and you tin take them straight so long as you're willing to attack the curbing. That's admittedly goose egg to fear in the Elantra N considering its chassis has plenty of curbing compliance even in full granite damper mode. The 2d ready of esses, dubbed T8 and T8a, require at maximum a mere brush of the brake pedal on entry, a true testament to how playful the chassis is.

Many front-wheel-drive cars require more than front-end loading through that sector to counter their weight balance and baked-in understeer, something that's never really a problem in the Elantra N. In dissimilarity with T8 and T8a, T9 is fast and all nigh the exit. Point the Elantra hard at the curbing on the left, scrub speed for the right-manus kink that is T10 and both the anti-swoop geometry and the ABS scale shine.

In that location's a traction disparity between the left wheels that are on the curbing and the right wheels that are on the tarmac, even so the Elantra stays expressionless directly and about equally flat as Kansas. Seriously impressive stuff. From in that location, it'southward simply letting the car run smoothly through T10, opening up the taps on the brusque straight and braking quite hard for the deadening-speed right-hander that is T11.

Once again, I have to hand it to the Elantra N's brakes. Although they aren't stock-still-caliper units sourced from an exotic supplier, they blot a massive amount of heat while offering confident pedal feel. Even after back-to-dorsum sessions, they barely had a hint of fall-off, something that tin can't be said for many functioning cars direct off the showroom flooring.  Move dorsum to the correct and you'll be able to take T12 apartment-out to the line, even with a flake of standing water on the apex. Stability under power? You betcha.

Mayhap even more impressive than the Elantra N's sheer capability are the motorcar'due south overall breakaway characteristics. During my first session when it was really moisture, I spent a lot of time un-gluing the car just to see what it would exercise. The findings of all this ham-fisted science? A chassis that's as progressive as information technology is playful. Understeer is easily reigned-in, oversteer requires but a dab of throttle and opposite lock.

It never wants to snap and there's really a great corporeality of cocky-steer present to help you keep the tail in line, uncommon for a front-wheel-drive car. Incorporating this friendliness into a playful setup means the Elantra N is a car novices won't be intimidated by, even so will still find massively enjoyable as they progress through driver development. That's a rare thing in the car world, something few entry-level performance cars are able to capture.

As you lot can probably tell past now, the Elantra N kicks ass. But what if you want more practicality? Packing the same powertrain equally the Elantra Northward, the Kona is a more refined, more mature pocket rocket. I suppose crossover buyers are more than likely to do yoga and have money in their RRSPs, simply I'1000 not just talking about on-route refinement. Hot-lapping a particularly damp Sonoma raceway, the Kona N exhibited stand-out wet weather neutrality.

While non as quick every bit the Elantra N, it'southward easier to go fast in the Kona N and showed remarkable on-rail consistency. There's not equally much feel or oversteer on tap as there is in the Elantra N, only as a poor-conditions road car it'south a solid bet. Damping refinement is on-par with a GTI, NVH is slightly amend than in the Elantra and information technology's no slouch, clocking 0-threescore in the mid-5s.

There are only ane or ii modest problems. The first is the turning circle. It's embarrassingly enormous for such a minor vehicle, a casualty of plumbing fixtures wider tires. The 2d is that the top-to-track ratio puts it in iffy territory for SCCA/CASC autocross legality. Until an official ruling is made, information technology might be best to concord off on the Kona Northward if you want a practical daily driver y'all can autocross.

So then, the 2022 Hyundai Elantra Due north and Kona N are wicked fun sport compacts. Plenty of ability, great grip, fun chassis and plenty of amenities. Pricing hasn't been released at the fourth dimension of writing simply if they're price-competitive with the Volkswagen GTI, Hyundai should take two absolute hits on their easily. It'll be interesting to see how Honda rises to the occasion with the next Borough Type R but until and then, the new Ns are the new benchmarks for sport meaty performance.

See Also:

2021 Hyundai Veloster N DCT

2021 Honda Civic Blazon R

Showtime Drive: 2022 Honda Borough Touring

Source: https://doubleclutch.ca/2021/11/23/first-drive-2022-hyundai-elantra-n-and-kona-n/

Posted by: richardsthoused.blogspot.com

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