Hyundai’s fab street racer comes up to speed with a two-pedal paddle shift transmission.

 SEVEN thousand dollars is the price fans of Hyundai’s original hot hatchback, the i30 N, will pay for the pleasure of not having to exercise their left foot.

That’s the premium Hyundai New Zealand has announced for editions on sale from next month in two pedal form, with much anticipated eight-speed wet clutch DCT.

Arriving with a host of other updates for the car, the transmission’s provision means the i30 N family doubled – with the traditional six-speed manual version of the hatchback and liftback continuing.

The first costs $58,990 in manual and $65,990 in DCT, the second is $62,990 manual and $69,990 DCT. The obvious competitor, Volkswagen’s Golf GTi, which is DSG-only, kicks in at $61,490.

The transmission delivers with a refreshed look for the car. A redesigned front end that gains a wider grille, bigger air intakes, and sharper-looking headlights with V-shaped LED daytime running lights are evident. Tweaks to the rear include a new-look bumper with a wider diffuser flanked by round exhaust tips. 

The hatch seems to have adopted the revised and, yes, improved suspension tune that came with the liftback. The 19-inch alloy wheels are now foreged alloys, for weight-saving, and wrapped in bespoke (hence the HN designation) 235/35 Pirelli P Zero tyres as standard.

Power from the 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine turbocharged rises from 202kW to 206kW and torque climbs 39Nm to 392Nm. The Golf makes 180kW/370Nm.

Hyundai’s hottie has a maximum speed of 250kmh regardless of shape and transmission and the DCT can go from 0-100kmh in 5.4 seconds, an improvement of 0.7 seconds over the original manual.

Hyundai here claims the engine offers ‘flat power’, which it says “ensures high responsiveness and improved acceleration for even more fun on the road or on the track.

 “Flat power provides more torque and power at lower rpm, thus utilising more of the engine’s potential in everyday driving situations. The new i30 N maintains maximum torque between 2100 and 4000rpm and achieves maximum power at 6000rpm. This improves acceleration in the mid- and high-speed range and delivers a consistently high performance.”

With the DCT drivers can choose to enter manual mode and shift gears either by using the paddle shifters on the steering wheel or the gear stick. If the driver decides to use the gear lever instead of the paddles, the gear lever comes with sporty, race-style shifting logic: to downshift, push forward, and to upshift, pull back.

The DCT operates via a gear lever or paddle shifts and enables three new N performance functions: N Grin Shift, N Power Shift and N Track Sense Shift. N Grin Shift (NGS) releases maximum power of the engine and transmission for 20 seconds – “performance that is sure to bring a grin to the driver’s face.”

N Power Shift engages when the car accelerates with more than 90 percent of throttle, thereby mitigating any reduction in torque by using upshifts to deliver maximum power to the wheels. This enhances fun to drive by giving a “push feel” when upshifting,mthe brand claims

N Track Sense Shift purportedly recognises when the road conditions are optimal for dynamic driving, for example on a racetrack, and activates automatically. Selecting the right gear and shift timing provides optimal performance, “just like a professional race car driver.”

Hyundai NZ hasn’t offered thought about whether i30 N sales might accelerate now it has a transmission the majority of buyers mind consider more covenient, however it has been previously pointed out that sports models of his ilk are generally niche anyway and, besides all that, being only manual since it released three years ago hasn’t kept the i30 N from achieving more than 100 registrations.

A little brother, the i20 N, is coming out later this year and, like a probable arch rival, the Ford Fiesta ST, only avails in manual.