>> I’m a bit jealous! :-)
>>
>> What’s it like?
In a word, fun. It has bags of character, and is an absolute joy to drive.
The story of how I ended up with one started slightly unusually in that I was lucky enough to secure a place on the Nth Degree Experience event that Hyundai ran at Millbrook in 2018. Essentially, they hired the entire proving ground, brought along a small fleet of i30Ns, and the lucky guests got to spend the best part of a day in the company of instructors and professional drivers, thrashing them around while participating in a series of challenges. There was a timed 0-60 run, lapping the high speed bowl, driving the famous Hill Route while being scored by an instructor, and then a couple of flat out, ragged edge passenger laps of the outer handling circuit with a pro racing driver. They even fed us during the day as well. It was a really enjoyable day.
When I got back in the M140i and drove home, a niggling thought started in my head that not only was the Hyundai a b***** brilliant car to drive, but that I actually preferred pretty every aspect of the way it drove (engine / straight line speed aside) to the BMW. Where the BMW engine completely dominated the experience, and the rest of the car was 'so-so', the i30N was a brilliant package. The whole car seemed to be set up to feel good, and to encourage hard use. The M140i, much as I loved it, was a hot rod engine in a chassis that barely coped. Fun of course, but it could also be frustrating. But none of this really mattered when reality dawned that I was 18 months into a 4 year PCP, so nothing was going to happen for a while.
I got rid of the M140i in November 2019, driven by an upcoming major service, brake pads and tyres, and an offer from the dealer to take it "as was" and clear the finance with no money owing. Then we decided to move house and take on a bigger mortgage, then Covid hit, and here we are,18 months later. Apart from a brief, disastrous dalliance with 15 year old Audi A3 diesel, this is the first car I've owned since. I was forced to buy used, as I'd inadvertently timed my decision to go ahead absolutely smack bang in the middle of a facelift model being launched. The old pre-facelift model was out of production, and the new revised model wasn't yet available. I decided to buy a used one rather than wait, and found a dealer demo with 9,500 miles on it, in the colour I wanted (black) for £22,750.
Here she is:
imgur.com/gallery/8W0aiKm
It's an interesting car. It has a set of very trick electronic dampers which are far more effective than the ones on the M140i, a proper electronically controlled limited slip differential, a strut brace that runs across the boot floor, and virtually every suspension and steering part is bespoke to the N model. Also, there are multiple configuration settings for everything from engine response to the auto rev matching, stability control, differential, dampers, steering weighting and exhaust note and so on. There's a full N mode that dials everything up to max attack which is too extreme for broken British roads, or a Custom mode that allows you to pick and choose each setting, and then save it to a steering wheel button.
General wisdom is to set everything to max apart from the steering weight and dampers which you do to taste and for the local road conditions. This gives a car that sounds outrageous, goes really well, and makes a frankly ridiculous noise. Never mind pops and burbles, there's a full blown rally car anti-lag crack from the exhaust on the overrun and on gearchanges that sounds like a gun being discharged. And the brakes are absolutely tremendous. They coped with flat out laps of Millbrook without even getting whiffy, so there's nothing on the road that troubles them. And an absolute corker of a 6 speed manual 'box with a short, precise throw that's a joy to use. On a good bit of road, it makes me smile in the way the M140i used to off the lights. Absolutely beautifully set up.
And then there's the rest of it. Fully loaded spec-wise with everything as standard. Heated seats and steering wheel, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support, navigation, folding mirrors, keyless entry, very supportive and comfortable seats with electric adjustment and 2 preset memory (handy when I'm 6ft 2 and SWMBO is 5ft 5). And a comprehensive 5 year warranty, including non competitive track day cover, and 5 year breakdown cover as well if you keep up the Hyundai service history. To watch these things being abused all day at Millbrook, with nothing breaking or falling off was a massive confidence boost.
If you can look past the badge, they are absolutely cracking things.
Last edited by: DP on Thu 10 Jun 21 at 18:54
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New Car Negative Depreciation :-) new
New Car Negative Depreciation :-) new
