Drive The Alps
Despite having to momentarily lift my right hand from the steering for changing gears, with a front that tugs almost as if it wanted to suddenly break my neck, the i30 N Performance is anything but a damned traitor.
Words by Alessandro Marrone / Photos by Daniél Rikkard
I finally understand what Linda Blair felt in the movie “The Exorcist”. The i30 N is possessed, really, it attacks the curves as if it wanted to tear the asphalt under the wheels, grits its teeth, emits deep sounding noises and launches itself towards the following hairpin shaking the steering wheel and reminding the infamous assassins of the golden age of automobile when hot-hatches were still young, with the difference that the speeds you can reach thanks to its 275 horses grounded thanks to an electronic self-locking device are clearly higher than what could have been done decades ago. The grip of its Pirelli P Zero sports tires, once warm, is endless and they shake the last few things remained intact in my skull thus allowing the bottom of the last drops of fuel to be extinguished while the Korea war seems to go crazy from the two tailpipes at the back. If this were a movie it would be the fateful moment when the extravagant opening scenes leave room for the prologue and therefore …
A FEW HOURS EARLIER
I am at the wheel of the i30 N, finally, I dare say. My fault, but amidst the upheavals that occurred in the early part of 2020 and the intention of meeting this car on an occasion that took the appearance of an alpine climb, I preferred to wait a few more months and do things such as to allow the first road going sports car of the Korean company to be able to vent its arrogance and make me understand if it really is a valid alternative to the acclaimed and well-known queens of the segment, cars like the Golf GTI Performance and the Megane RS. If the first step is represented by the “simple” 250 horsepower i30 N, the Hyundai guys let me get my hands on that atomic bomb called Performance, which for a handful of thousands Euro more adds 25 horses (for a total of 275), improved brakes, self-locking differential and 19-inch wheels that fit markedly sporty compound.
The i30 N Performance is the illustrious child of an accurate project born and developed in the ultimate furnace for sports cars, the Nurburgring, but the “N” also symbolizes the research and development center in Namyang (South Korea), where this Hyundai has gone from being an ambitious target to something ready to upset your internal organs. Despite a sober look that embraces the philosophy that for decades has made hot-hatches suitable for perfect daily coexistence, the red lip at the front, the more muscular bumpers and the spoiler at the rear betray a wolf who will never dress sheep’s clothes. Not bad, also because once you start your 2-liter 4-cylinder turbo, the grumbling emitted by the exhaust sweeps away any good intention you may have brought here. But if so far everything seems to perfectly fit your ideal sports car on a budget, it is by opening the door that I am favorably surprised (even more, yep), in fact we have three pedals and a manual gearbox, a 6-speed with a precise clutch and short shifts that only ask you to treat it with the right vigor, especially when out of the corner of your eye you will see the LEDs increasing in intensity as the red area approaches.
Time to quench the thirst of the i30 N Performance, which to be honest will drain the 50 liter tank at supersonic speeds only depending on the type of driving you will adopt. With full force and the photographer on board we head towards our beloved Alps, the ideal playground to check the goodness of a project developed on the most demanding and winding circuit on the planet, but also the one most likely close to the diverse kinds of road you can meet out there in the real world. Personally, I have never been fooled by clichés and indeed I have always welcomed interesting news from brands often held up as boring or far from the sports elite that most people tend to mistakenly see as a private circle. The i30 N Perf. is a contemporary car, with a display from which to manage satellite navigator, radio (trust me, it will always remain off in favor of another sort of music) and the available driving modes, which are Normal, Eco, Sport and finally N Mode and N Custom. Where the first three driving modes listed do not need big introductions, pressing the button located under the right spoke of the steering wheel (another great touch) you will recall a ready-to-race predisposition for all the mechanical aspects of the car. I’m talking about stiffening the suspension, the steering, an exhaust that rumbles like a rally car, differential and rev-matching in the most exasperated setting, ideal if you don’t want to do heel-toe, but still avoidable through the appropriate button (always on the right), or settable on an intermediate parameter. The N Custom mode is then the one that allows you to go to personalize on each item related to the engine, rev-matching, electronic differential, exhaust system and so on.
It is amazing how a simple button can turn a car at ease even while grinding kilometers in total relax and turning it into an asphalt-hungry beast. In N Mode there is nothing else to do but to go down heavy and it is here that I appreciate how Hyundai preferred to enhance the driving experience with a manual gearbox. It is almost as if I have pressed an On/Off switch, the i30 N Perf. has not only increased its volume, but the more abrupt and sudden movements immediately prove to be the ideal feedback to tackle the hairpin bends and plant the throttle on the floor sooner than I thought possible. Grip through corners is endless and the front only widens when I am asking for that, maybe pushing the gas in a mixture of confidence and arrogance that let me realize that there are no numbers capable of describing these epic moments.
If through the tightest corners the stiffness of the frame means that the wonderful landscape of the Col Agnel remains almost invisible to my eyes, too busy peering towards the approaching switchback, the brakes prove to be the tireless lifesaver fueling the desire to increase the pace. The dialogue between the car and the driver has become something intimate, the seat is perfect and despite having to momentarily lift my right hand from the steering for changing gears, with a front that tugs almost as if it wanted to suddenly break my neck, the i30 N Performance is anything but a damned traitor. In fact, it took the violence of the coffins on wheels that we will never get back and combines it with performances that realistically put in trouble any God-given supercar. In this very moment it seems I have discovered for the first time what it means to drive on high-speed tracks and bewitched by the outbreaks given to the mountain at each gear change and during the most agitated climbs, I reach the summit and decide to continue north, chasing other curves to throw into the ravenous mouth of the Korean predator.
I have to pinch myself and find out if I’m awake. I imagined that this Hyundai could have been an excellent car, but nobody had prepared me properly. I never thought I would be dealing with one of the best sports cars I have ever driven in my life and mind you that I am not restricting the argument to hot hatches only. The involvement is like an icy shiver that climbs up your back, the same that is massacred by a hard set-up like that of a marble board, counterpart that in front of a precise front end like a scalpel requires, however, firm hands, especially when the road surface has been plagued by severe atmospheric agents. I cannot make any kind of comparison, I have no interest in the numbers declared by the brand and which do not do justice to an object of this level. 6.1 seconds on the 0-100 kph and a maximum speed of 250 per hour are nothing compared to the adrenaline that assails you when your eyes are focused on the twisty road ahead, while with the kick-down you take advantage of the over boost, a momentary increase in maximum torque which from 353 Nm then becomes 378 Nm.
As a diabolical invitation to enter through a gate from which you will no longer be able to exit, Namyang’s exorcism has now overturned any concept of sports car on a budget – the 250 hp i30 N starts at around € 32,000, the Performance with 275 hp and all the goodies that make it a deadly sharp blade can be yours for just over € 37,000, but on both you can get interesting discounts. I swallowed other kilometers on these fascinating mountain roads, interrupted only by a few stops that allow the photographer to capture a day that confirms us to be in front of an amazing object, something alive, exciting and emotional, a car that puts its avant-garde solutions at disposal for old-fashioned driving sensations. The i30 N Performance is a car that transmits every single effort that takes place under it and allows you to play with its thousand settings, filtering its drivability only in those moments (and they will be rare, trust me) in which you will simply use it for moving from home to office. It is one of those cases in which you will do that along the longest and most winding road, fulfilling the promises of a car that embodies pure performance.
IT ALWAYS ENDS WHERE IT BEGINS
And so here I am again at the top, at over 2,700 meters, where the air is finer and the traffic is now a distant memory. Taking advantage of the last lights of the afternoon, I decide to go up and down again along the curves of the Col, this time without the haste that characterized the rest of the day, a continuous shot that dried the tank in the most fun way possible. With rev matching disabled, the electronic suspension in Sport instead of Sport + and the window completely open I let the grunt of the exhaust to be that melody that cradles my thoughts about this light blue lightning bolt. To describe a weapon of mass destruction like this would be difficult even for a volcanic mind like that of a certain Kubrick, but there is something behind all this primordial desire to explode Newton-meter and horsepower, there is an unexpected reason that regulates chaos, the universal disorder that once interrupted lets everything we know to be swallowed by an infinite and indefinite silence. The i30 N Performance is not a tome of existential philosophy, but it is something that distorts concepts and preconceptions, a bridge between an increasingly rare way of understanding sports driving and the inevitable assistance of the most sophisticated technology, this time only focusing on pure driving experience, as I haven’t felt for some time. From today a new letter will be able to awaken primordial sensations in us enthusiasts, such as those that attack you as you launch yourself towards a hairpin bend overlooking the precipice. In these places where defects are accentuated and errors are certainly not ready to grant second chances, the i30 N Performance has left its mark. This Hyundai is not a simple hot hatch, it makes you feel your heart leap.
HYUNDAI i30 N PERFORMANCE
Layout – front-engined, front wheel drive
Engine – 4 cylinder 1.998 cc – turbo
Transmission – 6-speed manual gearbox
Power – 275 hp @ 6.000 rpm
353 Nm @ 1.450 rpm
Weight – 1.509 kg
Acceleration – 6,1 sec.
Top Speed – 250 kph
Price – from € 37.850