4 BMW M Division-Like Details You'll Find On A Hyundai i30 N

With Hyundai's N department headed up by a former M boss, the i30 N's BMW-inspired touches should come as no surprise
4 BMW M Division-Like Details You'll Find On A Hyundai i30 N

The Hyundai i30 N really has blown away everyone’s expectations. That a complete newbie - not just to the world of hot hatches but the domain of fast cars in general - can rock up and be on terms with much more established rivals is nothing short of astonishing.

In fact, the newcomer has a tendency to come out on top when meeting its competitors. But a large part of this success has been down to Hyundai installing the right people at the top. Notably Albert Biermann, formerly BMW M Division’s Vice President Engineering, who was poached in 2015 to become head of Hyundai’s N division. More recently, Hyundai added another two BMW veterans to its roster, in the form of Thomas Schemera and Fayez Abdul Rahman, although the latter has gone to the Genesis brand, rather than N.

It’s no doubt because of Biermann’s guiding hand at the top that the i30 N has a few BMW M-esque touches we’ve noticed over the last few months, while we’ve been running one as a long-term test car. Including:

LED lights rev counter warm-up lights

4 BMW M Division-Like Details You'll Find On A Hyundai i30 N

This was the first thing we spotted. LED rev counter lights like these - that give the car a changing red line indication as the car warms up - have been a BMW M staple for years. A neat touch that looks pretty awesome, don’t you think?

Heavy sport+ steering

4 BMW M Division-Like Details You'll Find On A Hyundai i30 N

A less welcome BMW M-inspired aspect. Excessively heavy steering in Sport+ mode is a bugbear of mine in the F80 M3, and it’s a problem that afflicts the i30 N. Just as an M3 is - to my mind - better in its ‘comfort’ steering setting, the go-faster Hyundai feels nicer with its steering left in ‘normal’.

Drive mode customisation

BMW's latest M3 offers a 'mere' 243 different performance setups...
BMW's latest M3 offers a 'mere' 243 different performance setups...

BMW likes to give drivers of its M products a significant amount of control over the car’s setup. In the current M3 for example, there are three different settings for the engine, the dampers, the steering, the gearbox ferocity and the traction control (on, MDM and off), giving a 243 potential combinations.

The i30 N takes this ethos and goes nuts with it, adding other areas to be customised. You can even alter the sportiness of the clever electronically-controlled differential. At the car’s launch last year, Hyundai was perhaps a little too proud to tell us that are an absurd 1944 combinations.

Thankfully, it hasn’t taken us long to find a preferred set-up: everything turned up to its sportiest setting apart from suspension (‘normal’) and the steering (also ‘normal’, to avoid that needlessly heavy feeling we just talked about) and the ESP set to the less intrusive ‘Sport’ mode.

Adjustable seat squabs

4 BMW M Division-Like Details You'll Find On A Hyundai i30 N

OK, so we’re getting a little tenuous now, but moveable squabs to help give you the perfect seating position is very much a BMW ‘thing’, and yes, they’re present on the i30 N.

Want to know more about life with Hyundai’s hot hatch? Here are some of our other observations about the car.

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Comments

Chewbacca_buddy (McLaren squad)(VW GTI Clubsport)(McLaren 60

Does this mean you can find Hyundai-like details in a BMW M car?

08/28/2018 - 11:54 |
100 | 4

No, BMW made them first, Hyundai copied.

08/28/2018 - 12:48 |
8 | 34

The BMWs with 6 cylinders sound as good as the Hyundai is cheap inside so I guess

08/28/2018 - 16:33 |
10 | 2
Anonymous

I’m pretty sure drice mode customisation is on more than just M cars

08/28/2018 - 11:54 |
4 | 0
Matt Robinson
Matt Robinson

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Unusual to have that level of customisation, though

08/28/2018 - 12:13 |
0 | 0
SirJamjaxIsGoingAgain-PeaceOutChaps

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Haha remember the old E60/1 M5 and E63/4 M6. There was like a million options for everything.

08/28/2018 - 16:52 |
0 | 0
Duggan (koalafan) (koalafan7) (Esprit Team) (Z32 Group) (Lot

Alright anyone want the O car next? Or the L car? No? Alright moving on

08/28/2018 - 11:55 |
14 | 0

250bhp Ssangyong Tivoli O soon come

08/28/2018 - 12:35 |
14 | 2
UnknownCat13

What about 4 fixes you won’t find on CarThrottle

08/28/2018 - 12:05 |
64 | 22
SirJamjaxIsGoingAgain-PeaceOutChaps

In reply to by UnknownCat13

*4000

08/28/2018 - 16:48 |
0 | 0
Freddie Skeates

Is Biermann’s master plan to launch enough sports divisions to spell out his own name?

08/28/2018 - 12:36 |
18 | 2
DL🏁

What about the blinkers?

08/28/2018 - 13:37 |
2 | 0
William Challenger

hey, when are you gonna fix the site?

08/28/2018 - 15:25 |
4 | 4
Anonymous

The N stands for Nice, while the M is for Mmmmmmmm….

08/28/2018 - 16:14 |
6 | 0
Anonymous

Wonder if anyone will remember and fanboy over this in 15-20 years like people cough Alex cough does to this day with the older M3’s

08/28/2018 - 20:50 |
0 | 0