Hyundai i30 Fastback N revealed

Hyundai's N division gets their hands on the i30 Fastback and turns it into a sweet monster!

After giving the i30 hatchback a shot in the arm, Hyundai’s N performance division has now fettled the i30 Fastback. The result of that is the car you see here – the second model from Hyundai N division, which is billed as the i30 Fastback N. The new go-faster i30 Fastback will be making its debut at the Paris Motor Show in October 2018.

The Fastback i30 N is mostly identical to the regular model, but it does get some N elements – there’s a wider and more aggressive grille, sporty bumper with red accents and blacked-out side sills among other visual updates. At the back, there’s twin-muffler and an integrated spoiler. Inside, it gets the same N steering wheel with red stitching as the hatchback. There are red highlights elsewhere as well.

Mechanically, the i30 N Fastback gets the same explosive powertrain as its sibling. On offer here is a 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine that churns out 248bhp in ‘Standard’ setting and 272bhp in the 'Performance' version. Both versions come with a six-speed manual transmission, which sends the drive to the front wheels. Hyundai claims 0-100km/h comes up in exactly the same time as the hatchback – 6.1 seconds. Top speed is 250km/h.

Apart from more firepower, the Performance version gets extra goodies such as bigger 19-inch alloy wheels shod with Pirelli P Zero tyres, adaptive dampers, sports exhaust system and limited slip differential.

The i30 Fastback N will go on sale in European markets in the first quarter of 2019. Like all good things, the i30 Fastback N, or even its hatchback derivative, won’t be coming to our shores as well. However, we do wish to see some of that N magic trickle down to the i20, so that we can also have a performance-oriented version of Hyundai’s best-selling hatchback in India.