A NIPPY CITY SLICKER
YOU’LL get plenty of snap, crackle and pop from the latest hot hatchback from Hyundai. I drove the new i30N, on the road and on a racetrack near rome for its international launch this week, and it’s a corker. It will suit couples, or small families, who want a practical, stylish city car with poke. Hyundai is billing it as ‘an everyday sports car’. With prices from £24,995 for the standard 250bhp N model and £27,995 for the 275bhp Performance model, it really is the people’s performance car.
The N range has its own designer pale blue colouring, though other colours are available. rather like the ads for the spread I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, with the i30N it was a case of: ‘I can’t believe it’s not German.’
Built in the Czech republic, it looks like a VW Golf.
The whole set up — from smart interior trim to the sharp performance and handling and pin-sharp steering — has a distinctly Teutonic feel. That’s no coincidence. Its development chief Albert Biermann was poached from BmW, where he led its motorsport division. Now he’s doing the same for Hyundai and Kia.
The i30N Performance model is a feisty little beast, with great handling, good on gripping corners and with a nippy and nicely tuned 2-litre turbocharged petrol engine linked to a sixspeed manual gearbox.
It races from rest to 62 mph in 6.1 seconds with its top speed restricted to 155mph. It claims an average 39.8 mpg. However on some of the roman rural roads, seemingly little repaired since emperor Hadrian’s time, the stiff, sporty suspension meant you felt every little bump.