The 201bhp Hyundai i20 N Has Arrived To Shake Up The Hot Hatch World
The Ford Fiesta ST finally has something to worry about. Its long-awaited Hyundai i20 N rival is now here, and on paper, it looks to be shaping up very nicely indeed.
As revealed from our recent i20 N prototype drive, the hot hatch newbie is powered by a 1.6-litre inline-four turbo engine. This produces 202bhp between 5500 and 6000rpm, while peak torque of 203lb ft is felt from 1750 to 4500rpm. It’s reasonably light at 1190kg, making for a 0-62mph time of just 6.7 seconds. The top speed is 143mph.
All of that grunt is sent through the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox, and a manual gearbox only - there’s no mention of an automatic option. Keeping the traction in check is an ‘N Corner Carving Differential’, which despite sharing a name with the electronically-controlled setup in the i30 N, is, in fact, a mechanical LSD.
Normal, Eco, Sport, N and N Custom modes are available through the (sigh) ‘N Grin Control System’, and there’s a three-stage ESP with on, sport and fully off settings. For further electronic trickery, Hyundai has added launch control and an auto rev-matching feature.
There are plenty of hardware changes, too. 12 different chassis points have been reinforced, and the suspension geometry has been rejigged, with an increase in negative camber. The front anti-roll bar, springs and dampers are all new, while the brake discs have had a 40mm growth spurt at the front.
So it looks the part, the i20 N gets a new front bumper, bigger side skirts, a rear diffuser and a decent-sized rear wing. Smart-looking 18-inch wheels have gone in at each corner, wrapped in bespoke 215/40 Pirelli P Zeroes.
The cabin’s been an abundance of Performance Blue bits and pieces, most notably the drive mode buttons on the new N steering wheel. To complement the wheel, there’s an N-branded gear knob and N-branded pedals.
The i20 N will go on sale Europe-wide from Spring 2021. We don’t know how much it costs, but given how keenly Hyundai has priced the bigger i30 N, we could be looking at a circa-£20,000 bargain here.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
The rear tail lights feel a little too droopy but everything else looks ABSOLUTELY perfect. 204bhp seems absolutely spot on for modernday performance
I swear Hyundai is becoming the next Mitsubishi or Nissan.
A boring car company that suddenly started making one of the coolest cars ever.
Yeah I’m with you on the rear lights. They’re designed deliberately like that to make the car look lower and wider than it actually is, especially when coupled with the darkened roof and pillars.
Hopefully not the next Mitsubishi or Nissan, I’d hate to see Hyundai go from where it is now to having an almost entirely SUV lineup with it’s only interesting models being very long in the tooth running 10-15 year old internals.
Hyundai/Kia are doing what the Japanese manufacturers did in the 1990s. It’s crazy how far they’ve come.
Whoa what?! 18 inch wheels on a car this size is crazy. Especially when a brake system based around 320mm disks will fit inside 17inch wheels easily.
Light car + short wheelbase + 18 inch wheels + 86mm of tyre sidewall, all sounds like a recipe for terrible ride quality.
That being said - I’m still crazy keen to see how this thing drives. Both when pushing on and for A-B stuff. Engineers may have worked something special into the suspension to give it the compliance it needs.
Everything has giant wheels these days. The new RS6 has 21 inch wheels as standard and has optional 22’s
It just looks playful.
The color, the sporty red accents, those bolt shaped taillights, everything looks like fun.
Has enough power too.
Slightly fussy design but the specs and price point are really really promising. You can tell this is a passion project.