HYUNDAI 130 N FASTBACK
Loud, Fast and Extremely Fun
“The meeting location will be revealed at 6 pm the night before.” Keeping the best of the best driving roads in South East Queensland a secret is tough work, especially when you have 30 plus cars of different heritage and pedigree coming together to drive them. Our invite arrived from the DriveMasters Club via email with specific instructions all designed to keep these roads “off the map”. This is to minimise traffic and increase the enjoyment that tight and twisty roads provide in the early hours on a Sunday morning.
The choice to bring along the Hyundai i30 Fastback N was an easy one; it’s a pure pocket rocket. Thanks to its coupe-like styling it is a smidge faster than the hatchback. Offered only in a 6-speed manual for now (a dual-clutch auto is coming), there are no illusions that the N does mean something more than just cosmetic bits on the inside and out. After our driver briefing and rush back to the car, we fire up the turbo four-cylinder and join the chorus coming from the Porsche GT3 opposite, along with BMW M3, Ford Focus RS and others.
Before we depart, we hit the big fat N mode button located on the bottom of the steering wheel and that changes the i30 Fastback N from a quick little runabout into a sharper, stiffer and louder version of itself. We used the standard N mode for this drive, but there is the ability to tune the settings to your exact preferences. If you like a softer ride, you can loosen the adaptive dampers with electronic controlled suspension, or turn on the active exhaust system if you want to heel-toe your downshifts or let the car rev-match for you and make you sound like a pro. Our review model didn’t have the Luxury Pack or Panoramic Sunroof fitted, giving us the bare-essentials and for our purpose, it was more than enough. The Luxury Pack adds front and rear parking sensors, LED courtesy lighting, automatic wipers, 12-way power adjustment for the front sports seats, which now get suede inserts and leather bolsters, front seat cushion extension for the passenger, heated front seats and steering wheel, solar