I just received an invite to the Hyundai Nth Degree Experience. Sounds like a chance to abuse an i30N at the Milbrook proving ground, will be great to see how it compares to my 275 Trophy. Anyone else attending?
Can't beat a dry weekend to give it a good thrashing. Feedback is good from people who have already had the experience. Think it's giving people some difficult decisions
Well Sunday was great fun, always nice to abuse somebody else's car! I really enjoyed the alpine loop at Millbrook (same road as Bond flipped the Aston on in Casino Royale) the instructors were great and the hot lap was stupidly fast. I was taken out by an ex touring car driver and left the car grinning like a little kid. The i30N is a great car, quick, very stable with loads of grip. The engine was responsive with plenty of low down torque but it did run out of steam a little if you were chasing the red line. The adjustable suspension is great with Sport feeling well damped and compliant. N mode is shockingly hard to the degree it would make the car slower anywhere with more than the slightest bumps. The pops and bangs from the exhaust are borderline ASBO (made me grin), but it did have it's weaknesses too. The EDiff is quite effective but the car still struggles to put all it's power down at times (tyres possibly passed their best). The rear end is very planted but that does make it harder to get the car rotated, it is not nearly as happy to turn in on a good lift. Steering feel is not up there with the Megane but was accurate and quick enough. The gear box was nice and mechanical with a pretty short throw. Standard spec has an insane amount of kit including electronically adjustable dampers and an active exhaust. Launch control, shift lights on the dash etc. The interior is a pretty nice place to be and certainly a step up from the meg but considering it is based on a 2009 model I think that can be excused. The media and nav is fast and very easy to use and it comes with a 5 year warranty (I was told they warranty it for track day use, although somebody said 1 per year, which if true is no help) One aspect of the interior I did vastly prefer was the Sport and N mode buttons are on the steering wheel, not tucked away like an afterthought. After having a pretty good blast in the I30N I didn't come away feeling the performance was a step up, in fact in all aspects of driving the car hard I preferred the Meg (biased maybe) from the adjustability at the rear to the sharpness of the front end. Brakes were good but I cannot fairly compare as I run different discs, pads, lines and fluid. In most aspects it felt good, sometimes really good but never great. Overall it was a great day out and a chance to drive a car that on paper should have been very similar to my 275 Trophy. In reality if I needed more doors and optional comfort settings it would certainly be worth a look at the price, but I don't! A great first effort from Hyundai but I will stick with the Meg thank you.
I am sure the values will crash and if they do and the aftermarket kit is extensive then we will see a lot of them on track.
My feelings likewise. But that is OK as clearly Hyundai would like to build a car culture here around such products otherwise why bother. Its a bit like how Honda were always the car for old people but all the type R products and JDM imports have turned that on its head.
