HYUNDAI i30 N v THE NORTH COAST 500

Not one but two i30 Ns tackle the high roads of Scotland’s spectacular NC500, so their drivers can discover why the Hyundai is the perfect fit

‘THERE ARE SECTIONS THAT WARRANT PLAYING AROUND WITH THE SETTINGS TO MAKE THE i30 N EVEN MORE FUN’

BEFORE YOU GET ONTO A FERRY OR plane in search of the best driving roads in the world, just consider for a moment the North Coast 500. The route of this loop around the northern point of Scotland was designed to attract tourists to this remote part of Britain. And it worked for us at evo ,too – we were drawn here in 2015 to judge our Car of the Year, and as a result we know it is one of the best driving roads in the world, full of spectacular scenery, light on traffic, and offering a great variety of challenges.

OK, it’s hardly around the corner for most of the population, but it’s still incredible that we can have a road trip that rivals anything Europe has to offer without leaving our little island. But amazingly, Steve Sutcliffe has never driven the NC500. He’s flown across the world to drive cars, but has never taken the trip up the A1 to sample this amazing route. Adam Towler, meanwhile, has done it twice before – once for ecoty and later in a Mclaren Senna. Clearly they were memorable drives, but he wanted to try it again in something a little more… obtainable. There are sections of the NC where a supercar is just too big, or too outrageous.

The perfect car for this type of trip is a hot hatch. They are the right size for the roads we’ll be finding on the NC500, with useable performance, responsive engines and agile handling. A good one will be comfortable on the journey up and won’t bankrupt us with fuel costs. Once we are in Scotland, it won’t be so lairy that it’ll upset the locals either.

So what better test for one of our favourite hot hatches, Hyundai’s i30 N, than a wee road trip north? As you may have already read, the i30 N was developed on and around the Nürburgring in Germany, and many of the sections on the NC500 are remarkably similar – a mix of fast, sweeping main roads and twisty hairpins with bumps and cambers – so the i30 N should work well here, if the engineers have done their homework of course.

Adam and Steve aren’t good passengers, so we have a plan. With a car each, the pair will go their separate ways from their Inverness starting point, with Steve going anticlockwise in a Fastback and Adam heading in the other direction in a hatch. They will meet at the Kylesku Bridge, roughly halfway around and at the top of the country, to compare notes.

For this first half, it’s probably fair to say Adam has got the better deal. Large parts of his route are a mix of quick, challenging A-roads with sections of tighter, more technical B-roads providing a further challenge. But that’s one of the big appeals of a hot hatch – the duality it offers and its ability to turn its hand at everything thrown in its way. The i30 N is just fast enough so you can stay legal and still have fun.

It’s when the roads narrow that the first of many ‘wow’ moments is delivered, as Loch Maree heaves into view on the A832. Crest the hill and there it is at the bottom of a valley, at the end of a fast, gently curved road that you want to stop and take in the view of as much as you want to drive it.

But there is even better to come when the Applecross Pass presents itself. It has been called Britain’s most dangerous road because the weather can make its series of hairpins and single tracks treacherous, especially if wintry conditions have washed gravel onto the surface or left gaping potholes. Tighter than the Col de Turini, a hot hatch fits Applecross perfectly. It’s best to get a clear run but you’ll want to do it more than once, if only to stop and drink in the view across to the Isle of Skye. It’s one of the most beautiful sights in Britain. One that leaves Adam feeling guilty he’s given Steve the NC500 short straw.

For the first 100 miles he probably has. Steve is unconvinced so far, his trip more mile munching than awe inspiring, and he’s questioning why they didn’t just pop into Knockhill circuit to get their kicks instead. The roads are pleasant enough, but not as spectacular as he’d been promised.

All that changes when he reaches Durness and one of the most northerly points of the UK mainland. Suddenly it all makes sense as the road tightens, the landscape opens up and the i30 N Fastback begins to remind our NC500 virgin why he made the journey north.

It’s on roads such as these that driving modes in performance cars come into their own. It’s where sharper throttle responses, tighter diffs and a more tied-down chassis allow for a more expressive character to suit the route ahead. As both Adam and Steve cover more miles along the NC500, their settings become more focused. ‘N’ is too extreme for the road, but there’s a balance to be had via ‘N Custom’ (where over 1900 permutations can be selected), and it’s only when our explorers meet on the iconic Kylesku Bridge they discover they both settled on near identical set-ups.

A route such as the North Coast 500 is not one to be rushed. It needs to be explored, savoured, run multiple times. And the views, you need time to stop for the views. And the tea shops. Crucially, you need the right car. We took 12 very different evo cars to the NC500 in 2015, from hot hatches to supercars and while the latter were always thrilling, it was the former that felt more at home. Just as these two did today.

CREATING A NEW PERFORMANCE CAR BRAND IS not a task any manufacturer should take lightly. Sure, the rewards are high – a hot hatchback can sell for twice the price of a base model and the halo effect on the rest of the range makes everything easier to sell. Take that to its next level and you can add bodykits to any model in the range and give them a profitable boost – just look at Audi S-line and BMW M Sport models.

But creating convincing performance cars is not so easy, especially models that will perform consistently across different markets around the world. Which makes Hyundai’s achievement with the i30 N all the more remarkable.

How did Hyundai create a car that is capable of taking on – and beating – hot hatchbacks that have evolved over decades? It helps to go racing of course, and N’s roots are in motorsport. The brand has seen success in the FIA World Rally Championship, the Nürburgring’s VLN series, the TCR International Series, Pirelli World Challenge, and the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance races. But while that experience adds some credibility and technology transfer to the road car programme, it doesn’t guarantee success.

To make the i30 N (and the Veloster N, sadly not sold in Europe) work, Hyundai turned to the strategy it has used since it first started making its own cars in 1974. It sought out leading experts in the field and gave them the freedom (and budget) to make a project work.

In the case of N, that expert was Albert Biermann, who was poached from his previous job heading up BMW’S M division. Away from the restrictions of BMW and armed with a clean sheet and a big budget, he set about building a hot hatch that could take on the best – but without creating a carbon copy of the established rivals. ‘We aren’t afraid to do things differently here,’ he says. ‘Our N cars balance performance and practicality so that they are fun to drive every day.’

His first car, the i30 N, is clearly impressive. Like all N models it is certainly fast, but it was never meant to be the quickest in its class. Rather than focus on outright performance, Biermann’s Ns have a fun-to-drive nature and agile cornering ability. They are designed to combine everyday drivability with a racetrack capability.

The i30 was followed up by the Veloster N for the US and Korea, and then a Fastback version of the i30 N. This incorporated some other upgrades, including changes to the suspension, proving that another benefit of the Korean culture is a desire to constantly (and quickly) improve and evolve.

The latest N model to be revealed is the most exciting: the 600-run, lightweight and hardcore i30 N Project C (pictured), revealed at the Frankfurt motor show in September. It’s the first Hyundai road car to use carbonfibre, contributing towards a 50kg weight saving. Forged 19-inch OZ Racing wheels account for 22kg of the reduction. It also sits 6mm closer to the road, lowering the centre of gravity without (hopefully) sacrificing dynamics and making the car undriveable on real roads. In line with Biermann’s philosophy of concentrating on cornering rather than outright speed, the engine remains untouched with power staying at 271bhp.

Cars such as this are finding a ready market too – proof that the formula is working. Fuelled by strong demand in Germany and the UK, sales of the i30 N are currently running at around double the expected level. Inevitably, this has also led to a new ‘N Line’ range of bodykits and ‘performance-enhancing elements’ for lesser models in the range.

While these may not be as exciting for an evo audience, they will help fund the most exciting project rumoured to be in the pipeline – a ‘halo’ car. Whisperings from Namyang say this will be the first ground-up N model, designed to take on proper sports cars with a mid-engined format. It’s a sure-fire way to guarantee N gets noticed.

‘THE LATEST N TO BE REVEALED IS THE MOST EXCITING’