Hyundai’s N division has been on a wild experience over the previous years from launching its very first scorching hatch, the i30 N, to now having a fleet of fashions headlined by the all-electric Ioniq 5 N. Australia has confirmed to be a very essential marketplace for N, a lot in order that from January by October final yr, some 31.7% of all Hyundais offered domestically had been both N or N Line fashions.
In its efforts to domesticate an enthusiastic group of householders, Hyundai Australia has organized an N competition for every of the previous 5 years and final month, we headed to Sydney Motorsport Park for the newest iteration. It proved to be simply as pleasing as final yr’s occasion and reveals simply how robust the N model has grow to be.
N enjoyable
The 2023 occasion was held throughout a weekend in December and on the Saturday, included a drive alongside among the finer roads round Sydney. Nevertheless, the actual motion began on Saturday night and ran by all of Sunday with attendees given the possibility to drive their automobiles across the Sydney Motorsport Park.
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Images Praveen Caldera/Carscoops
Greater than 500 N automobiles attended the occasion, the overwhelming majority of which participated within the observe classes. Homeowners had been break up into teams of roughly 25 and will drive in a handful of 10-15 minute slots late Saturday night and Sunday. As with final yr’s occasion at The Bend Motorsport Park simply exterior of Adelaide, the complete suite of N automobiles attended, together with the i20 N, i30 N Hatch, i30 N Sedan, and Kona N. Nevertheless, it was the Ioniq 5 N that was the actual spotlight.
Proving that EVs can enjoyable
As an attending media consultant, we had been lucky sufficient to be given free rein to the complete fleet of Hyundai N automobiles, albeit not the Ioniq 5 N. Whereas a fleet of Ioniq 5 Ns had been in attendance, they had been being pushed solely by Hyundai’s racing drivers and people locals who had positioned an order. Thankfully, we had been in a position to soar into the passenger seat of the driver-focused EV with rally driver Brendan Reeves behind the wheel and went for a number of scorching laps. We had been blown away.
Learn: See The 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N In Each Coloration In Over 110 Images
Hyundai has already allowed a bunch of journalists to check the Ioniq 5 N however we’ll have to attend till subsequent month to move again to Sydney Motorsport Park and soar behind the wheel ourselves. However, even from the passenger seat, it grew to become instantly obvious that Hyundai has cooked up one thing very particular.
First is the sound. The carmaker has developed three artificial sounds for the Ioniq 5 designed so as to add to the driving expertise. The primary of those sounds, generally known as Ignition, goals to imitate the sound of the model’s ICE fashions and funnels the noise by 10 inner audio system. We initially thought this was a little bit of a gimmick however after leaping inside, are actually utterly offered on the thought. The system nearly completely mimics the sound of a turbocharged four-cylinder and even replicates the cracks and pops of Hyundai common N fashions. It’s not fairly the actual factor but it surely feels nearly as genuine as an everyday N mannequin.
Then there’s the sheer pace of the factor. Hyundai has geared up the Ioniq 5 N with a pair of electrical motors combining to provide 641 hp so it comes as no shock that it appears like a ballistic missile off the road. In fact, loads of EVs are fast however what makes the Ioniq 5 N particular is the added enjoyment it offers, and this was evident even from the passenger seat.
Regardless of weighing round 2,200 kg (4,850 lbs), the Ioniq 5 N feels gentle on its toes and simply as reactive to steering inputs because the i20 N and i30 N. Reeves additionally performed round with the torque distribution settings to kick out the automobile’s tail and it seems straightforward to manage on the restrict.
Our favourite a part of the Ioniq 5 N was not the sheer efficiency, nor its dealing with credentials, however reasonably the E-Shift perform. This mode mimics the texture of Hyundai’s eight-speed dual-clutch transmission and is operated by the paddle shifters mounted to the steering wheel. Some lovers might scoff on the concept of a pretend gearbox like this however we thought it was sensible as a result of it feels a lot like the actual factor and even enables you to bang into an imaginary rev restrict.
Images Praveen Caldera/Carscoops
The opposite Ns
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Sydney Motorsport Park is an excellent circuit and proved to be exceptionally well-suited to the i30 N and i20 N, each of which we drove for a number of classes. Like final yr, we loved our time within the i20 N essentially the most, regardless that the i30 N, notably in sedan guise, is extra polished and considerably faster.
Storming down the pit straight in each the i30 N and i20 N, we had been shortly in a position to achieve confidence within the excellent Pirelli and Michelin rubber fitted to the press automobiles we drove. It wasn’t lengthy earlier than we had been accelerating by the great first nook at over 160 km/h (~100 mph) in each automobiles earlier than actually placing the brakes to the take a look at into the tight second nook.
Hyundai’s N automobiles have at all times been extremely approachable and when you’re assured driving high-powered front-wheel drive scorching hatches, it’s straightforward to extract essentially the most out of them. It’s hardly a shock then why so many house owners we completely happy to pay the AU$50 ($33) entrance charge and to drive from all elements of the nation to attend.
Like final yr’s occasion, the vp of the N model and Hyundai’s motorsport division, Until Wartenberg, was in attendance as was the mastermind behind the N model, Albert Biermann. The pair held two question-and-answer classes for attendees concerning the Ioniq 5 N and are fairly happy with the EV they’ve helped create. They even revealed that it will possibly full two full sub-8-minute laps of the Nurburgring Nordschleife, a exceptional feat for an EV of this dimension.
As talked about, we’ll be driving the Ioniq 5 N subsequent month, so you’ll want to keep tuned for our impressions. After experiencing it from the passenger seat, now we have excessive hopes.