Hyundai i30 Fastback N 2019 first drive

The Hyundai i30 Fastback N is proof that its Korean maker doesn’t intend to hang around with the roll-out of its new breed of performance models. It’s only eighteen months since the launch of the i30 N hatchback and now, having already introduced the Veloster N in markets other than ours, the firm is piling in with model instalment number three.

And these are early days, you might think, for i30 N hatchback buyers to be trading in their cars. But, from an engineering perspective at the very least, working so quickly probably is a smart move. Hyundai uses a great many proprietary components for these cars, after all, and it stands to reason that the more development opportunities they can lever into a short space of time for the various driveline, suspension, steering and electronic governance systems in the N-brand armoury, the more quickly those systems – and the cars they’re attached to – should improve.

Welcome, then, to 'Hyundai N-car v3.0'. Based on the elongated 'coupe-like' i30 Fastback introduced to the UK late last year, the i30 Fastback N uses the same 2.0-litre turbocharged ‘Theta’ petrol engine as the upper-level ‘Performance Package’ version of the hatchback N, as well as the same rack-mounted electric power steering system, adaptive dampers, electronically locking front differential and active exhaust.

But thereafter the Fastback N differs from its sibling with the software tuning of those various electronically controlled systems, and in a few finer suspension details: rear axle wheel geometry, front axle rebound spring calibration, anti-roll bar bushing and bumpstop stiffness. Perhaps most tellingly of all, the i30 N hatchback’s front suspension has been softened off slightly for this car, in terms of both vertical and lateral stiffness, with the aim of creating a more rounded, sophisticated performance character.

From behind the wheel, this is a pretty minor and incremental shift in course and agenda. The Fastback N’s driving experience feels at least 95 per cent the same as that of its hatchback relative.

To access the car you duck your head past a slightly lower roofline than the i30 N hatchback has on your way into the driver’s seat, where you’ll find a welcome extra dose of colour around the cabin in front of you; there’s a bit of red stitching here and red trim there, the likes of which the i30 N hatchback was crying out for.

The driving position might be a touch lower than that of the i30 N hatchback, but if it is, it can’t be by much. The controls are well laid out, with the exception of pedals that are still too widely spaced to allow you to bridge the gap between brake and accelerator pedal with your right foot for heel-and-toe gearchanges.