The Hyundai iMax N Is An 8-Seat Drift MPV With 402bhp
Hyundai seems to have gone completely cuckoo and dropped a modified ‘N’ version of its iMax eight-seat MPV. And glory be, it drifts rather well.
The bizarre and brilliantly mad creation is the work of a skunkworks team in Hyundai’s Australian arm. You can’t buy as many hot, practical cars over there as you used to be able to, after General Motors pulled the plug on Holden production, so why not create another?
There’s one slight hiccup in the practicality stakes – despite its 842-litre boot and eight seats this particular iMax N isn’t actually road legal any more. The 2.5-litre diesel has been not-so-subtly switched for a twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6, good for a tail-wagging 402bhp and 409lb ft of torque.
Even better, if you put an average human being in each of the eight seats the iMax (known as the i800 in the UK) has a 50:50 weight distribution, so it should handle fairly well despite its shape and size. That’ll surely be comforting to hear when you’re sat in the third row, looking in your direction of travel out of the side window.
There’s an eight-speed automatic gearbox, a limited-slip differential and a mildly ridiculous aero kit to accent the trademark N paint colour. Further upgrades span electronically-controlled dampers behind N-spec brakes and wheels taken from the i30 N.
The cabin is also N-tastic with an N steering wheel and matching front seats. The middle and third rows of seats are the standard items but trimmed in suede and leather to complement the front chairs. What’s not to like? We extend our warmest congratulations to Hyundai Oz for essentially inventing the perfect family car.
Comments
Germany made this up as a total April Fools and the Aussies built it!
Hyundai is a South Korean firm so please sweetie try again
Mom van? No drift van
As an Australian it frustrates me that people in other countries tend to remember Holden’s vehicles but forget Ford’s local products. The Falcon was the Commodore’s main competitor for almost the entirety of its existence; in fact there were many years when the Falcon outsold or outperformed the Commodore.
Yes! And you can’t forget about the Barra!
Yeah I think that’s because performance Commodores/Monaro actually made it overseas in various guises (Vauxhall VXR8, Bathurst Edition, Pontiac G8, Chevrolet SS etc.) while the Falcon (at least as far as I’m aware) didn’t. For that reason the Falcon remains relatively unknown outside of AUS/NZ, while enthusiasts know of the origins of their Commodore based cruisers.
Drift van, cuz why the f not
Reminds me of an old chestnut from Renault…
Gran turismo bruh! Old skool…. 👏🏻
You mean the Renault Espace II F1? that thing had 800bhp from a 3.5L Renault RS5 V10 from the Williams FW15C the most technologically advanced F1 car ever built?
I imagine this would sell well
I doubt it will, sadly. Who’s the target customer? Moms won’t want that, so would most people who actually need to carry that many people, that is, if they could even afford it. And if you had sports car money, would you buy this or a proper sports car or hot hatch?
Uber cool!
Very practical
I LOVE IT
For a long time the first really new thing in the car news.
Audi first brought up the racing station wagon, now Hyundai comes up with a racing Van…. I wonder if therefore really does exist a client group… but there are also people who buy station wagons out can race with, so… who knows, let’s see if it can survive on the market
Hyundai said they are not going to produce it.
I wish they would though…