Hyundai i20 N 2021 UK first drive

We only have 90 minutes with this LHD-market car, so don’t spend much time pootling. Suffice to say that the i20 N’s suspension is quite pliant at low speeds, and progress at a canter decently refined by the class standards. There’s an underlying robustness, sure, but nothing of the bone-clattering rigidity you used to experience with the Cup-chassis’d Renault Sport Clios, and there’s also less reactivity than you’d get from the current Fiesta ST. Contrary to what the exterior suggests, you could live with this set-up, happily. 

However, on any half-decent road, you should just do as the car tells you: go into N mode, by pushing the juicy blue button nestled up next to the airbag cover. One press gives you Hyundai’s standard dynamic presets, while two will bring up your own preferences. It’s a little overwhelming at first, because you can programme engine response (three settings), steering weight (three), ESC leniency (three, including fully off), the rev-matching function (three, amazingly) and the grenade factor for the exhaust (you guessed it). 

There's even a driveline option for left-foot braking. Normally the ECU would drop torque output while the brake pedal is depressed, in order to avoid damaging the engine, but if the ESC is fully off, this measure is disabled. 

Today, we have everything ramped up, except for the steering, which is in the medium setting, and the rev-matching, because the i20 N’s pedals are positioned almost perfectly for you to do it yourself. And, actually, the ESP, which is set to midway Sport. Owners might also think twice about having the exhaust at maximum attack while driving along local routes, because it is quite fruity on the overrun. Memorably so, your neighbours may opine. 

What’s quickly apparent is that despite their startling similarity on paper, the i20 N has a very different personality to the Fiesta ST. Beyond the occasional bobble, the body is neatly controlled, yet the Hyundai is evidently more softly sprung than the Ford, and its gait more sat-back. It seems happier to let the road ahead of it roll underneath its 18in wheels, dealing with bumps and ridges calmly and assuredly, rather than constantly needing to get up and at the next bit of Tarmac. 

The steering feeds into this sense of security and composure. It’s measured and accurate, not especially quick but nimble enough, and shuns the light elasticity of the Ford’s rack for a more hefty flavour of linearity you can confidently lean on. I don’t want to turn this into an imaginary twin test, but there’s also less torque steer in the Hyundai. Just a pathological resistance to understeer as the LSD hooks up on the exit of bends. If you like serious-feeling hot hatches, you’ll like the i20 N, because that’s what it is, only shrunk. 

And playfulness? Yes, actually. Though you do have to go looking for it. You know the powerful brakes on this car are intuitive because you rarely if ever acknowledge them, and it’s on a trailing brake that the Hyundai becomes joyful. It’ll cock a wheel without thinking, but remains stable and true to the line of your steering, even as the outside front Pirelli is clinging on for dear life. 

You might even get a little lift-off oversteer out of this chassis, though these early impressions suggest the i20 N is neither as forthcoming nor as balletic and plain silky as the hyper-agile Ford in this respect. Then again, nothing is, and the main thing is that there is still plenty of life in the more neutral Hyundai’s handling. It, too, is an entertainer at heart.