2022 Hyundai i20 N launch review
The Hyundai i20 N pint-sized hot hatch is finally in Australian showrooms after a long wait. Here’s how it drives.
- Perky turbo engine, fun chassis, plenty of grip, good brakes
- Widescreen digital instrument display and infotainment screen
- Personalised settings for driving modes, for road and track
- It’s hot-hatch quick, but not as fast as Hyundai’s 0-100km/h claim
- ‘Rev hang’ means it takes too long for the revs to drop away after gear-changes
- Suspension is a bit busy on bumpy roads, though not bone-jarring
Introduction
Meet the 2022 Hyundai i20 N, the South Korean car maker’s first pint-sized hot hatch.
It’s the smaller sibling to the Hyundai i30 N, which is a Volkswagen Golf GTI rival.
The i20 N is designed to compete with the Ford Fiesta ST, Volkswagen Polo GTI, and Suzuki Swift Sport.
In the right hands, and in the right conditions, the Hyundai i20 N has shown itself to be faster around a race track the regular version of the Toyota GR Yaris – and it’s a fraction of the price.
In Australia we get one model. Priced from $32,490 plus on-road costs, it is priced about the same as a Ford Fiesta ST and Volkswagen Polo GTI – and is significantly cheaper than a Toyota GR Yaris (now listed at $49,500 plus on-road costs). The only options available for the Hyundai i20 N in Australia are metallic paint ($495) and a black roof ($1000).
Given its track prowess and budget price, will the Hyundai i20 N create the same instant hype from hot hatch fans as the Toyota GR Yaris? We’re about to find out.
The Hyundai i20 N is the performance version of the i20 hatch sold in Europe.
The regular Hyundai i20 is no longer sold in Australia because the market for city hatchbacks is declining.
In the same way Ford Australia now only sells the Fiesta ST, Hyundai Australia is only offering the i20 N.
In another coincidence, both of these hot hatches are only available with six-speed manual transmissions, the last of a dying breed.
As you might expect, Hyundai has made sure the i20 N has all the important ingredients for its city-sized hot hatch: a potent engine in a small, lightweight package.
In this case a 1.6-litre turbo petrol four-cylinder pumps out a healthy 150kW and 275Nm paired to a six-speed manual gearbox that drive the front wheels (versus a 1.5-litre three-cylinder with 147kW and 290Nm in the Ford Fiesta ST).
A mechanical limited-slip differential and grippy Pirelli tyres – developed especially for this car – help provide cornering grip (versus a mechanical limited-slip differential and Michelins on the Ford Fiesta ST).
Meanwhile big brakes – 320mm discs up front and 262mm at the rear – deliver excellent stopping power (versus 278mm and 253mm discs on the Ford Fiesta ST).
As we would discover, the Hyundai i20 N brakes are able to handle a lot of punishment on a race track.
Sports-tuned suspension and a lightweight body help complete the key ingredients.
The Hyundai i20 N tips the scales between 1210kg and 1235kg (according to the brochure); the Ford Fiesta ST splits the difference at 1218kg.
Given their similarities, these featherweight champions are destined to become fierce rivals.
| Key details | 2022 Hyundai i20 N |
| Price | $32,490 plus on-road costs |
| Colour of test car | Performance blue and with black roof |
| Options | Black roof ($1000) |
| Price as tested | $33,490 plus on-road costs |
| Rivals | Ford Fiesta ST | Volkswagen Polo GTI | Suzuki Swift Sport |
Inside
Hyundai has sweat the details, with a grippy steering wheel, alloy pedal covers, sports seats, and two widescreen 10.25-inch digital displays; one is for the instrument cluster and the other is for infotainment.
The infotainment screen also unlocks a range of sport modes, including track maps, lap timing, and personalised settings for throttle response, exhaust note, and stability control.
There is a digital tab for launch control, and a bright red button on the steering wheel to unlock rev-matching technology for perfect downshifts.
The settings inside the driving menu seem endless. And the instrument cluster has a range of display options.
The sport seats are comfortable yet snug. Back seat space is a bit squeezy (but fair for this size of car), plus there is the flexibility of folding the rear seats down to create a larger cargo area in the back of the hatch.
The boot floor comes with a handy elastic cargo net; under the boot floor is a skinny ‘space-saver’ spare wheel and tyre (which is better than a can of goop).
| 2022 Hyundai i20 N | |
| Seats | Five |
| Boot volume | 310L seats up / 1123L seats down |
| Length | 4075 mm |
| Width | 1775 mm |
| Height | 1440 mm |
| Wheelbase | 2580 mm |
Infotainment and Connectivity
The eight-speaker Bose audio is supported by wired Apple Car Play and Android Auto (our preference until wireless Apple CarPlay is sorted) via the 10.25-inch infotainment screen.
There is wireless phone charging pad, plus two USB ports and a 12V socket up front, and one USB port for rear passengers.
AM/FM and digital radio with embedded navigation are also part of the package.
There are dials and buttons for the infotainment, as well as the digital tiles on the touchscreen.
The digital dash display is also 10.25-inches wide.
There are endless menus on both the infotainment and instrument screens, which will no doubt take owners some time to explore.
Safety & Technology
Euro NCAP crash-testing of the regular Hyundai i20 hatch has been delayed due the global pandemic, so there is no safety score or star-rating for now.
Six airbags are standard. The Hyundai i20 N lacks a centre airbag between the front seats, which other manufacturers of cars this size have deemed necessary to achieve a five-star score.
Crash-avoidance technology includes autonomous emergency braking (but not radar cruise control), lane-keeping assistance, blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, lead vehicle departure alert, tyre pressure monitors, a rear-view camera, and front and rear parking sensors.
Conspicuous by its absence: there is no speed sign recognition technology.
| 2022 Hyundai i20 N | |
| ANCAP rating | Unrated |
| Safety report | Not yet tested in Australia or Europe |
Value for Money
The intervals for routine servicing on the Hyundai i20 N are 12 months or 10,000km, whichever comes first.
Most other cars have intervals of 12 months/15,000km, however many performance cars have 10,000km intervals.
Under Hyundai’s capped price program, routine servicing costs are $309 per visit over the first five years or 50,000km.
Routine servicing costs for the Hyundai i20 N are dearer than for the Ford Fiesta ST, Toyota GR Yaris, VW Polo GTI, and Suzuki Swift Sport.
| At a glance | 2022 Hyundai i20 N |
| Warranty | Five years / unlimited km |
| Service intervals | 12 months / 10,000km |
| Routine servicing costs | $927 (3 years) | $1545 (5 years) |
| Fuel cons. (claimed) | 6.9L/100km |
| Fuel cons. (on test) | 8.0 to 9.0L/100km |
| Fuel type | 91-octane regular unleaded |
| Fuel tank size | 40L |
Driving
The good news: the Hyundai i20 N is a blast to drive on the race track. The gear ratios and engine power delivery perfectly suit Wakefield Park Raceway.
The exhaust, though still muted (even in loud mode) has a bit more bark to it than the prototype example tested.
But it doesn’t crackle and pop like, say, a Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG. Nor does it have the Mercedes price tag.
The rev-matching technology works a treat (cue commenters who will now bang on about the sheer joy of perfecting the ‘heel and toe’ technique as if they’re the second coming of Peter Brock) and gives you one less thing to worry about as you line up the next corner.
There are two custom driving modes and three stability control modes: normal, sport (which allows some slip), and off.
The chassis is forgiving enough with stability control switched off on a motor racing circuit, but leaving it half way on (in sport mode) around a track doesn’t impede vehicle speed – and it’s there as a safety net if you really mess up.
Getting the embedded lap timer to work requires some patience and a glance at the owner’s manual; so too does finding the launch control tile on the digital display. Please, Hyundai, could a future update make these features more accessible on the infotainment screen?
As with our preview drive of the prototype, the Hyundai i20 N is so much fun around a race track, you may never want to stop.
The brakes and the tyres hold on for more laps than they do in most other road cars put through their paces, but you will reach the car’s (and your) limit eventually.
Having exhausted ourselves before we wore out the car, it was time to hit the road.
The media preview drive covered mostly backroads, though we did thread through some residential areas and encountered the occasional speed bump, to get an insight into how the Hyundai i20 N handles the daily grind.
Although the Hyundai i20 N is still a great road car, it does come with some compromises, which are more apparent away from a race track.
When you’re driving flat-out on a motor racing circuit, the engine revs cleanly and smoothly.
On the road, you notice the engine has what boffins call “rev hang”, which means the revs don’t drop away as quickly as you might prefer when changing into a higher gear. It is rather annoying until you learn how to drive around it.
There is also a touch of turbo lag in commuter driving. Not Mitsubishi Cordia Turbo bad, but there is a brief delay before the turbo spools up. And the gearbox can be notchy when grabbing first or reverse when it’s cold.
The engine revs high at about 2400rpm in sixth gear at 100km/h (which explains the fuel consumption of 8 to 9L/100km on the open road rather than a more miserly number).
At least the engine can handle regular 91-octane unleaded petrol, even though it meets Euro 6 emissions standards.
The sports suspension is awesome on a race track, but on the road it can feel busy (though, pleasingly, not bone-jarring).
The same goes for the tyres. The Pirellis have superb grip, but can be noisy on coarse-chip surfaces. But grip equals friction, which equals noise.
Hot hatch fans will likely live with these idiosyncrasies because they appreciate this is the price you pay for owning a fun, pint-sized car.
The other surprise was the 0 to 100km/h time. Of course, hot hatches are not just about straight-line speed, they are more focused on how well they wriggle between each corner once already on the move.
Nevertheless, it’s one measure of performance – and Hyundai has made quite a bold claim of 6.2 seconds for the 0 to 100km/h dash.
This would put the Hyundai i20 N in close company with the Renault Megane RS and VW Golf GTI manuals.
We thought such a sharp performance time might be possible if the Hyundai i20 N could nudge past 100km/h in second gear (GPS, not speedometer).
However, the Hyundai i20 N tops out in second gear at 99km/h GPS (102km/h on the speedo).
I briefly sat the engine on the rev limiter in second gear a couple of times to double-check (sorry Hyundai, also don’t buy a near-new secondhand red one in the next couple of months).
But the engine wouldn’t rev past 100km/h on the VBOX in second gear.
This partly explains our best 0 to 100km/h time of 7.3 seconds (and 6.4 seconds 0 to 90km/h, according to a breakdown of the data), after a few botched starts with either too much wheelspin or not enough revs to stop it falling in a hole.
Launch control, which hovers around 4000rpm, initially fried the front tyres.
The 0 to 100km/h time we recorded is slower than the number we posted for the current generation Ford Fiesta ST in 2020 (a real-world 6.9-second 0 to 100km/h time, though also slower than Ford’s claim).
We will give the Hyundai i20 N another go when we don’t have the time pressure of a preview drive, but for now, we are more than a second away from Hyundai’s claim.
Before the commenters unload, we launch more than 100 cars a year. Conditions were not ideal when we tested the Hyundai i20 N, but they weren’t rubbish either. And we have previously achieved decent times from the same stretch of tarmac.
| Key details | 2022 Hyundai i20 N |
| Engine | 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol |
| Power | 150kW @ 5500-6000 rpm |
| Torque | 275Nm @ 1750-4500 rpm |
| Drive type | Front-wheel drive |
| Transmission | Six-speed manual |
| Weight | 1210kg to 1235kg |
| Turning circle | 10.54m |
Conclusion
In summary – based on this preview drive – the Hyundai i20 N is a ripper on a race track.
And it’s liveable around town if you’re a hot hatch fan, but the suspension might be a touch too firm if this is not your type of car.
Our main takeaway from this, however, is that we are lucky to have a car like this at all.
This could well be the first and last analogue hot hatch – in pint-sized form at least – from Hyundai.
The next one of these could be hybrid or electric, so enjoy it while you can.
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