Hyundai i20 N review

Is the junior hot hatch the only performance car genus about which that remains true today? Possibly. Everything else has become so damn fast. You only need to punt a Honda Civic Type R along a B-road as quickly as you dare to see how even a mid-ranking performance hatchback can take the National Speed Limit in its palm and grind it to dust. Now give that car another 100bhp and two more driven wheels. All sports saloons, the vast majority of sports cars and any modern supercar you might mention will be even faster. 

But for now at least, we still have junior hot hatches. The best of the lot is the Ford Fiesta ST. To my mind the brilliant Toyota GR Yaris sits more comfortably in the class above – though its dimensions make it look like a junior hot hatch, it is so searingly quick along a road it wears that label as inauthentically as would Mako Vunipola a Girl Guides lapel pin. 

And it is the Ford that Hyundai has so clearly targeted with its latest N model. In terms of power, weight, size, performance, price and mechanical layout the pair are almost like twins. The Hyundai has four cylinders and the Ford just three, but all other differences are inconsequential. With the i20 N you get 201bhp, a six-speed manual gearbox, 0-62mph in 6.2 seconds, a mechanical limited-slip differential as standard and plenty of comfort and convenience equipment like Apple CarPlay and wireless phone charging. 

What you don’t get is subtle, under-the-radar styling. There’s a lot going on here, from the very angular lights front and rear to the creases down the flanks, the fussy wheels and the reflective red flashes across the lower part of the rear bumper. Inside there’s endless black plastic that’s hard to the touch, a steering wheel so festooned with buttons it looks like a late-stage Scrabble board and seats that are set just a fraction too high and lacking in thigh support. 

Hyundai calls its drive mode system N Grin Control. There are three settings for just about everything – including the rev match system and exhaust note – bar the dampers, which are passive. Select one of the sportier modes and a ring of fire graphic burns its way around the digital instrument display. Two weeks after driving the car I’m still undecided if that’s entirely naff, or quite fun. 

The wheelbase is short and the springs quite taut, so the i20 N inevitably bounces along a bumpy road like Tigger. But it’s just busy, not jarring or uncomfortable. The steering is crisp and quick, so the car feels darty and agile as it shoves its nose into corners. Like the Fiesta ST it has plenty of cornering grip, but also the kind of neutral balance that means the car pivots itself into bends, the rear swinging around slightly so that the front can stay glued to its line. I have tended to find the larger i30 N a bit prescriptive in the way it corners, always with the front axle just washing out slightly and the rear oppressively stable, but this is different. 

Here you can chuck the car around, rotating it into an apex and flattening the throttle pedal an instant later to use the LSD to drag you away and through the exit. You brake almost to the point of ABS intervention, use every ounce of grip the car has into corners, then rev the punchy turbo engine out to the redline gear after gear as you power away. 

And at no point while you squeeze the car’s neck so hard its eyes start to bulge do you worry for your licence or liberty. It is quick when driven hard, but not obnoxiously so. Its compact size means you always have some margin for error, so that when you park up, shut the car down and walk away, you feel as though you’ve had everything the i20 N has got to give. 

I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to drive a modern performance car and be left feeling that way. The i20 N is far from perfect, because its engine seems to keep pulling for a moment after you lift off the throttle – which can cause a split second of panic as you surge towards a corner – and the control weights aren’t as well matched to one another as they are in the Fiesta ST. The Hyundai’s engine also tends to wilt as it nears the redline, so there isn’t as much reward for wringing it out as there should be and, ultimately, the Ford finds its way along a road with a greater sense of flow and rhythm. 

Yet when a car is as entertaining to romp along in as this, such criticisms seem unimportant. What is important is that there are still performance cars being built and sold today that you really can fling overarm at a good road – and they’re known as junior hot hatches. 

Hyundai i20 N

Engine: 1598cc, 4-cyls, turbo
Transmission: 6-speed manual, FWD
Power: 201bhp @ 5500-6000rpm
Torque: 224lb ft @ 2000-4000rpm
Weight: 1190kg (DIN)

Power-to-weight ratio: 169bhp/tonne
0-62mph: 6.2 seconds
Top speed: 142mph

MPG: 40
Price: £24,995

Ti rating: 8/10