Hyundai i30 N 2022 review

When Hyundai launched its N spin-off performance brand, eyebrows were raised.

Was Korea’s number one automaker, hardly associated with performance in the past, really ready to take the fight to a German great like the Volkswagen Golf GTI?

Yet, to the surprise of many and the delight of even more, Hyundai took its shot and didn’t miss. In its original incarnation, the i30 N was manual-only, track-ready and warranted, and sharp in all the areas where it counted. The only issue? While it launched to critical acclaim, its sales potential was ultimately held back by the lack of an automatic transmission.

Hyundai's eight-speed auto i30 N. (Image: Tom White)

As three-pedal enthusiasts will tell you, this is where things can go very wrong for a performance car. Many (quite rightly) curse Subaru’s continuously variable automatic WRX as an example of a car that trades away its soul in favour of chasing sales, and while the Golf GTI has only gone from strength to strength after converting itself to dual-clutch automatic-only, many still lament the loss of one of the best three-pedal setups for daily driving on the market.

Fear not, though, if you’re reading this and thinking the i30 N’s new eight-speed automatic won’t be for you, you can still buy it in manual guise for the foreseeable future.

For everyone else curious to see if this auto version still has the chops, read on.

Keywaylock
25/06/2022
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