It's a shame that the
Hyundai i30 isn't sold locally since the segment it belongs to is already occupied in the region by the
Hyundai Elantra.
Hyundai Asia Resources (HARI), the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the Philippines, may look to do us one better though by bringing in its high-performance variant: the
Hyundai i30 N. For the uninitiated, N is
Hyundai's sub-brand for its
high-performance models--the first model of which is the i30 N--and stands for
Namyang in Korea where Hyundai's research and development center is located, and the famed
Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany where the cars are rigorously tested.
First revealed at the
2017 Frankfurt Motor Show in June, the Hyundai i30 N eschews the various displacement Gamma and Kappa engines of the standard i30 for the
newly-developed, four-cylinder, direct-injection Theta 2.0-liter turbocharged mill that puts out
247 hp and 353 Nm of torque to the front wheels through a
six-speed manual transmission. For those looking to get a little more out of the i30 N, it's also offered with a
Performance Package that bumps up the power to
271 hp. With its
over boost function though, Hyundai claims that the vehicle's
torque can be increased temporarily to
as much as 378 Nm. Performance figures for the i30 N are 0 to 100 kph in
6.4 seconds (6.1 seconds with the Performance Package) and a top speed of
250 kph for both.
The i30 N also has
five selectable drive modes in what Hyundai calls the
'N Grin Control System' like Eco, Normal, Sport, and N Custom. It's the
N Custom though that provides the most fun as you can
tailor-fit and program the
powertrain and chassis settings like engine response, rev matching, exhaust sound, electronically-controlled suspension, and steering and electronic stability control.
"We've been getting a lot of inquiries about the i30 N since it came out so we're thinking of bringing it in," said HARI Senior Vice President for Marketing
Luigi Ignacio to select members of the motoring media at a recent event hosted by the company.
With the Honda Civic Type R being offered on a limited basis in the local market, the GTIs in the Peugeot 208 and 308 and Volkswagen Golf available on indent basis, and now with HARI mulling over the idea of bringing the i30 to our shores, the hot hatch era is certainly upon us.
