The best front-drive performance cars come from Hyundai?

J.G.
By J.G. Pasterjak
Nov 1, 2023 | Honda, Hyundai, Civic Type R, Honda Civic Type R, Elantra N, Track Test, Hyundai Elantra N | Posted in Features | From the April 2023 issue | Never miss an article

Photography Credit: Chris Tropea

Since its introduction as a 2018 model, the latest Honda Civic Type R has sort of been the standard by which other compact high-performance cars are measured. Heck, we even led off a track test of the Hyundai Elantra N by mentioning the Civic R in the first sentence. But does the mighty R still deserve to be mentioned as the default El Jefe of the class?

Well, recent developments are certainly making us question that assumption.

The release of the Veloster N, the Toyota GR Corolla, and now the Hyundai Elantra N has certainly given the Civic R lots of company, if not lots of competition, in the super-powered compact segment. 


With the Elantra N, Hyundai continues its long streak of wins, continuing along its path of building some of our favorite cars right now. As a regular car, the Elantra scores high marks by being just the right size: large enough to be comfortable and spacious but small enough to feel tidy and easy to park. 

The trunk is epic. Honestly, the car probably could have worked better as a Civic-style hatchback because the trunk opening is slightly short vertically, but anything you can fit past the threshold will find so much room for activities once inside. 

In the cabin, Hyundai channels ’90s and ’00s Toyota with excellent ergonomics, great visibility–seriously, it’s refreshing to not have windowsills right under your earlobes–and, perhaps best of all, buttons! Hyundai is killing it with UX, which is to say it’s providing actual, tactile buttons, knobs and switches for key functions while leaving DIC menu diving or touch controls to more secondary functions. And the company keeps doing it while turning out clean, uncluttered and handsome interiors. 

The seat/wheel/pedal arrangement is likewise excellent. It’s very similar to the Veloster N’s and probably shares a lot of the same geometry, although we marginally preferred the Veloster’s layout. But both cars have excellent headroom for helmets, along with enough vertical seat adjustability to get the steering wheel right up in your face, where you have a much more natural arm sweep for 9 and 3 rotation.

Also like the Veloster N, the Elantra N is serious business mechanically, and on paper it should be the more potent machine. Both share the same 2.0-liter four, available with a six-speed manual or eight-speed DCT, but the Elantra N uses a larger turbocharger to produce 276 horsepower and 289 lb.-ft. of torque versus 275/260 for the Veloster. With a curb weight just 40 pounds heavier than a similarly equipped Veloster, the Elantra should have a straight-line advantage, but our track testing showed nearly identical acceleration curves. 

As just a car–not necessarily a track car–the Elantra N also excels, offering everything from plenty of torque to a comfortable interior. At the far end of the car’s deep trunk, you’ll find a tubular brace painted in can’t-miss red. Photography Credits: David S. Wallens (Trunk, Engine), Chris Tropea (Interior)

To the Track!

On track the Elantra felt composed and pushable, although maybe not quite as urgent as the Veloster. The Elantra adds about 3 inches of wheelbase to the Veloster, and that could explain why it had less of a willingness to jump into a corner–but understand that we’re talking about fractional differences here, and track and environmental conditions could have had just as much of an effect. 

Overall, the Elantra N was an exceptional track companion, with fantastic steering feel and a perfect steering ratio for the capability of the chassis. It’s a car that does an excellent job of feeding info back to the driver and responding to inputs consistently and exactly the way a chassis is supposed to. 

While that sounds like something every car should do, that’s not always the case. And even when it is, communicating the dynamics to the driver is frequently a muddled game of telephone that requires learning a specific language to understand. The Elantra, on the other hand, just speaks physics.

This extremely communicative nature makes things like corner entry under trail braking a real joy, with excellent feedback coming from the brake pedal, the wheel and the chassis itself. And remember, we’re heaping this praise on a car with factory alignment settings and 240tw tires. Throw some camber and better rubber into the mix, and performance will only improve.

Regarding lap times, the Elantra trailed behind the Veloster N by about 0.6 second, with the Civic Type R evenly splitting the difference between the two cars. Diving deeper into the data, the Veloster appears to be making up the time during corner exit in a couple of slower sections, being quicker to get the power down out of tight corners. 

These two traces show how the Veloster N (red trace) slightly outpaces the still impressive Elantra N (blue trace). The Veloster N was faster through the high-speed kink (1), resulting in a faster exit and higher top speed at the end of the next straight. Both cars, however, had excellent entries into the constant-radius Turn 8 (2). And despite the Elantra’s listed additional torque, the acceleration curves (3) look identical.

That may be due to the shorter wheelbase helping the car rotate earlier, but it’s also easily explained by track conditions, debris and rubber at exits, tiny differences in the programming of the electronically controlled limited-slip diffs of each car, the phase of the moon or a number of other factors. The rest of the data traces are unsurprisingly identical, and you’d be excused for not knowing they were different cars.

We mentioned earlier that despite the rather minimal power and torque discrepancies, acceleration was identical, and this was true in most cases. There were a few laps where the Elantra outdragged the Veloster through a second- and third-gear acceleration zone, although the thrust through the third- and fourth-gear zones was practically cut and pasted between both cars. With a true power difference, we’d expect the opposite to be true, so we’re chalking up our testing discrepancies to margin of error.

Fractions of a Second

And really, that’s the whole story with the Elantra versus the Veloster. While one turned a faster lap than the other–a 1:21.49 versus a 1:22.08 around our 1.55-mile track–they did it at different times of the year at a facility that had seen 18 months’ worth of weather and events in between. And the data looked all but identical save for a few tiny morsels we had to hunt for.

Oh, and it’s probably worth mentioning that we tried the N Grin Shift system. When activated, it allows for 20 seconds of overboost and supposedly alters the shift algorithms in the eight-speed DCT. And, uh, we couldn’t tell the difference, and neither could the data. Acceleration curves looked the same and shifts appeared just as quick. 

We should mention that the Florida International Rally & Motorsport Park, our official test track, doesn’t have any 20-second straights, so we had to pick our spot for what we thought would be the most fruitful activation of the system. Regardless of where we tried it, though, we noticed no real acceleration difference on the FIRM’s short straights. 

[How we track test cars and what the numbers mean]

Perhaps Road Atlanta’s back straight or Road America’s long uphill start/finish straight would be more opportune venues, but we saw no measurable benefit. It’s a cool-looking button, though.

R or N?

Comparing the Elantra N’s on-track data trace to the Civic Type R’s shows more differences than with the two Hyundais, but they’re still more alike than different. The Honda’s slightly faster lap time of 1:21.79 seems to be mostly a result of superior thrust early in third gear, launching the Civic off the FIRM’s medium-speed corners with a bit more authority. 

On shorter straights where we were holding third, the Civic held the advantage, but as soon as a third-fourth shift was required, the Elantra’s quick-shifting and closer-ratioed eight-speed DCT erased and then overcame the disadvantage. Again, we’re talking about tiny fractions of a difference here that we really need data to discern, not giant, noticeable differences.

Photography Credit: Chris Tropea

The conclusion here is that the Elantra N–at an MSRP of $32,150–is every bit as capable as anything else in its class at a far more favorable price than some of its most notable competition. In autocross and time trial competition, it will likely end up classed against the Civic Type R, and our best guess is that the Honda will still be the top choice for autocross for the immediate future due to its superior initial off-corner thrust and its platform’s deeper knowledge base. We won’t be surprised to see Elantra Ns snatching a few trophies in increasing numbers in the national Solo scene as more cars enter the marketplace, however. 

For time trial use, we think things may be even closer–particularly when the Hyundai is equipped with the DCT, as quicker shifting and additional ratios make up for its lack of rated power. And with a tuned ECU, that power advantage the Honda holds off the showroom floor could evaporate altogether, making the Hyundai a top competitor against the Type R.

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Comments
Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
3/7/23 10:21 a.m.

If I had the option of replacing my current car with anything (within reason), the Elantra N is at the top of my list.

CrashDummy
CrashDummy Reader
3/7/23 10:49 a.m.

Will you guys be putting the new Type R on track as well? The N is certainly impressive compared to the old Type R but the new one may have raised the bar further.

 

How much lap time would the N give up with the manual trans? It's not as fast but that's still what I'd want in a daily driver. The manual trans N vs. manual trans R would be a little more apples to apples. 

 

Looking at your list of FIRM lap times that Triple Threat MX-5 is pretty damn impressive. Not a lot of fancy mods on that thing and it's faster than some impressive cars. 

DirtyBird222
DirtyBird222 PowerDork
3/7/23 11:16 a.m.

Certainly more attainable and you won't find as many dealers throwing mark-ups on it either like you do with Honda. I'll never not complain about the Honda/Acura dealer experience and it being one of the worst out there. 

Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
3/7/23 12:03 p.m.
CrashDummy said:

Will you guys be putting the new Type R on track as well? The N is certainly impressive compared to the old Type R but the new one may have raised the bar further.

We promise that as soon as we get our hands on the new Civic Type R (and also a GR Corolla), we'll be taking it to the track. Stay tuned.

RadBarchetta
RadBarchetta New Reader
3/7/23 1:58 p.m.
DirtyBird222 said:

Certainly more attainable and you won't find as many dealers throwing mark-ups on it either like you do with Honda. I'll never not complain about the Honda/Acura dealer experience and it being one of the worst out there. 

If you think the Honda dealer experience is bad, just wait until you meet your Hyundai salesman when you go looking for your Elantra.

DirtyBird222
DirtyBird222 PowerDork
3/7/23 3:05 p.m.
RadBarchetta said:
DirtyBird222 said:

Certainly more attainable and you won't find as many dealers throwing mark-ups on it either like you do with Honda. I'll never not complain about the Honda/Acura dealer experience and it being one of the worst out there. 

If you think the Honda dealer experience is bad, just wait until you meet your Hyundai salesman when you go looking for your Elantra.

I had a very pleasant experience buying my Kona N. I was in and out of the dealership in less than 45 minutes, including loading it on a trailer. 

Every Honda/Acura dealer I've ever been too or communicated with made the experience of dealing with my ex-wife look appetizing. Even when I worked for a Honda dealer for a few years, the salesmen somehow made my life as a tech miserable. I swear Honda must've taken a page out of the Veteran Affairs handbook on how to treat customers when training their sales and F&I folks. 

calteg
calteg SuperDork
3/7/23 3:08 p.m.

I love everything about the Elantra except the looks. It's a (quick) ugly baby for sure. I guess you could buy one in black to try and downplay the catfish mouth

Powar
Powar UltraDork
3/7/23 3:21 p.m.
RadBarchetta said:
DirtyBird222 said:

Certainly more attainable and you won't find as many dealers throwing mark-ups on it either like you do with Honda. I'll never not complain about the Honda/Acura dealer experience and it being one of the worst out there. 

If you think the Honda dealer experience is bad, just wait until you meet your Hyundai salesman when you go looking for your Elantra.

I bought an Elantra N a couple of weeks ago, and the sales experience was nothing short of perfect. In and out with a quickness. No attempts at upselling anything that I didn't need. No ADM. Just an excellent car sold painlessly at MSRP.

Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
3/7/23 3:31 p.m.

In reply to calteg :

I'll admit that it does have some polarizing looks.

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter)
Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
3/7/23 3:47 p.m.
Colin Wood said:

In reply to calteg :

I'll admit that it does have some polarizing looks.

Way less so than the CTR though, it's a little different as opposed to 4th grade work book doodle.   

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