However, the more laps – and the more instruction, of course – you get under your belt, the more the track starts to flow beneath you as the weight and physics of the body start to help you rotate through turns. For any shortcomings brought on by the Kona’s body type, Hyundai has found a way to tune the dampers and steering to allow you to really feel what’s going on beneath you. And, to start trusting the impressive grip the Kona provides.
Then, you start seeing 100 km/h at a certain point instead of 95, you start landing your inside wheel closer to the cone that marks the apex, instead of being passed it’s you doing the passing and instead of the instructor telling you to “turn in now”, he’s telling you how he performed the stunts in one of Drake’s music videos (it’s the video for his song “What’s Next”, if you’re asking).
Getting more comfortable on the track (and with the Kona) also allows for some experimenting. The big one for me was finally remembering to use the car’s N-Grin Shift feature, activated by the press of a wheel-mounted button and freeing up an additional 10 hp for 20 seconds. In addition to allowing for higher speeds down the track’s sweeping Andretti Straight, it also quickens shift times which is a nice transformation, albeit for a limited time.
Stepping into the Elantra N is a vastly different experience.
You sit lower, the seats hug you more and right off the bat, you can feel the increased grip and stability provided by the lower centre of gravity and the more-aggressive rubber. Add a limited-slip differential on the front drive wheels (there’s none to speak of on the Kona, as it relies on its AWD tech to help power it out of turns) and a wonderful “pop-pop-popping” through the twin exhaust outlets on the overrun, and it’s easy to pretend you’re in a red-blooded touring car.
Safe to say it comes as little surprise that the Elantra N forms the basis of the Elantra N TCR touring car that competes in top touring car championships the world over, including the Michelin Pilot Challenge in North America, which just happened to be running a race on the very same track not five days after we were there.
While I started my day in the Kona and was still trying to come to terms with the physics of the thing five laps in, I felt more at home in the Elantra almost right away. The steering felt more direct and obviously didn’t cause the body roll it did in the Kona. Sitting lower to the ground allowed me to better feel what was going on at all four contact patches and that LSD really helps bite into the pavement on turn exit, flinging you on to the next one with reckless abandon.
There are two factors when it comes to the Elantra that did have me thinking a little more, however. One, it’s tendency to let the rear step out more easily than in the Kona and two, the fact that I also turned some laps with a manual transmission. That adds to the fun, but also adds an extra element of focus in addition to all the other data I’d been downloading all day.
Specifications sheet of Hyundai Kona N
Specifications sheet of Hyundai Elantra N
It’s great fun, to be sure, but the way I felt when I first drove the Elantra N continues now; the dual-clutch auto ‘box is so darn good that I’d have to seriously consider it for my Elantra N, whether I was planning on tracking it or not. The manual gearbox is fine, I just wish the lever feel was a little more metallic and less rubbery, the slots a little better defined. Especially during 5-4 downshifts which, on this track, happen after the long straight and into the final ‘esses’, meaning you really want to make sure you nail that first downshift. For the first few laps, I didn’t.
Plus, you lose the N-Grin Shift feature with a manual, because on manual cars, that same red button turns on/off auto rev matching instead.
Other than that, though, the Elantra N’s chassis and steering tuning provide the kind of flow through the laps that I’ve come to expect from more expensive metal in the form of the BMW 3 Series or Cadillac CT4/5-V.
Couple that with a well-fastened interior full of high-quality materials and some gauges that offer all types of race-based data – not to mention its aggressive styling -- and there is little doubt that Hyundai is taking the Elantra N and the N brand as a whole very seriously.
On both the road and track (that touring car race we talked about? Hyundai won it), the N brand is not to be trifled with, and by putting their money where their mouth is, the automaker has taken all that “pillars of the brand” marketing jargon and made good on it.
See also: 2022 Hyundai Kona N Review: How Far Can It Go?
See also: Hyundai Canada Announces Pricing for 2022 Elantra N, Kona N
