Hyundai has unveiled a high-performance version of a practical car. An everyday driver with a stick shift and some extra horsepower. A car you can use to drop the kid at soccer practice and then get to Starbucks and back with some gusto. A family car with sleeper speed.
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Useful Fun
The 2022 Hyundai Elantra N is built for stoplight-to-stoplight fun. It can jump from zero to 60 mph in 5.3 seconds and will almost certainly sell for around $35,000 when it reaches the U.S. in late 2021 or early 2022.
Hyundai took the wraps off this hotter Elantra sedan in South Korea. The company plans to reveal the U.S.-spec version of the car at next month’s New York Auto Show, but we expect very few changes.
More Power Than Rivals (For Now)
The N sports a 276-horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine. That places it between its obvious rivals, the VW Jetta GLI (228 hp) and Honda Civic Type R (306 hp, and we should note that a new and improved Type R is on the way, perhaps as soon as this fall). This output figure is also more than the similarly named Elantra N Line. That sporty model is available now and brings 201 horsepower to the table.
If you find yourself needing even more power than the forthcoming N’s 276 ponies, it’s available via a boost button on the steering wheel – 10 additional horsepower for 20 seconds. Yes, like you’re playing a video game.
Power goes through either an 8-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission or, glory be, a 6-speed stick.
The Bones for Agility
Handling should be tighter than the standard Elantra thanks to a revamped rear suspension and an electronic limited-slip differential. Bigger brakes and wider tires give it more stopping power and more grip.
A Racer’s Instruments
Visually, you’ll be able to tell an Elantra N from a normal Elantra thanks to a face with larger air intakes, red accents beneath the bumpers and rocker panels, and a spoiler that only comes in black regardless of the body color.
Inside, sport seats have more bolstering than those of the standard Elantra. All Elantras have a screen in place of the traditional instrument cluster. With the N, Hyundai has used it well. It can be configured to show oil and coolant temperature, G-force and acceleration meters, and a lap timer.
A few years ago, only dedicated sports cars with much higher price tags gave drivers that kind of information…but, if you can program a digital display to show them for far less than it would have cost designers to add them all as analog gauges in older cars, why not give Hyundai drivers the kind of readout an Aston Martin driver might expect? That’s a fun touch.
We’ll have one more report on the Elantra N before we get the chance to test it when the U.S. version appears in August. Then, we’re looking forward to letting you know how it feels behind the wheel.
