Hyundai i30 N Performance Video at Nurburgring

Recent footage of the Hyundai I30 N Performance has many people raising eyebrows at what looks to be a really fun car.

Testing is taking place at the world renowned Nurburgring race track where many if not all sport cars test strut their stuff on the legendary track that is nicknamed “The Green Hell.” After viewing the footage, here are some of the things we noticed that were very different from the normal trim models.

 Suspension

Watching the video, the handling characteristics were very visible. As compared to the regular model the car is lower which obviously gives it a better lower center of gravity. However, in many sport models across all type of brands the suspension as far as the shocks and springs has only had a minor change. But when looking at the footage based on the limited amount of body roll, and weight transfer forward under heavy braking, it looks as though the suspension has gotten a serious upgrade. The reason this is mentioned is because ideally during “performance driving” in a professionally enclosed race track suspension  should be tight during turns and shocks/springs stiffer for better dampening as well as other changes in suspension. However, because manufactures focus on the general consumer, the suspension is designed to be soft for comfort and overall better ride quality in normal driving. The sacrifice is the performance handling which the higher you go; the harsher the ride quality is for many consumers. With that said, it’s very refreshing to see that Hyundai although very aware of this compromise has continued their efforts in developing a real performance line of their vehicles that we look very much forward to experiencing personally.

Engine/Exhaust

One often very important factor for many performance enthusiasts is the exhaust tone of the car. Hyundai again seems to have paid attention to the people, listening to the car accelerating out of a corner tells us that the “N” line will have a performance exhaust since normally the regular models have a very quiet exhaust. Furthermore, Hyundai also stepped up the aesthetics of the exhaust with the signature dual exhaust look that is popular in sports cars. There is much debate as to the amount of power the car will have. In such a debate, costs in motor and body structure design make it difficult for manufacturers to offer a relatively inexpensive sports car. Although horsepower is often a commonly sought factor when looking for a performance car, we aren’t sure what the final details will be but there are talks about the 2.0T might be option for this model, same engine found in the Sonata. We do hope however, that the car will have enough horsepower to for us to smile and enjoy and based on the footage, that looks to be the direction the i30 “N” series will take.