Hyundai i30 N Line Review: It’s Not Just A Cash-In

To the Hyundai i30 N Line, I would like to offer an apology. An apology for writing it off as a mere cash-in on the newly established ’N’ name. For scoffing at its mere 138bhp output. For assuming it would provide an underwhelming, forgettable driving experience.

The reason is simple: I was wrong on all counts. And I found this out when ‘our’ i30 N long-term test car was taken back by Hyundai. To ease my pain, the Korean firm’s UK press people brought along an i30 N Line to live with for a week, and it very quickly proved that it shouldn’t be underestimated.

The concept is nothing new. You take an ordinary model, sportify it to a mild degree, and use a name that’s derived from the angry bastard version of the car that sits at the top of the range. BMW has M Sport, Mercedes has AMG Line, Audi has S Line, Jaguar has R Line, and… I could go on all day.

The recipes of the Something Sports and Something Lines of the motoring world vary. But in the case of the i30 N Line, it’s been given the same front bumper design as the i30 N, a nice rear bumper complete with a twin-exit silencer, stiffer suspension and fancier 18-inch wheels. The one crucial difference between this and common-or-garden i30s is the choice of rubber for those nice rims: Michelin Pilot Sport 4s, the factory-fitted tyre of choice for the non-Performance i30 N.

The only slightly less capable sibling of the highly impressive PS4 S, these tyres make the i30 N Line react to your inputs much more keenly than it might have done otherwise. They also provide plenty of grip and traction.

Yes, if you drive one of those like a ‘proper’ i30 N you’ll probably find yourself explaining to the farmer how you managed to understeer into his freshly ploughed field and asking if he’d mind awfully using his tractor to drag your mildly sporty Hyundai back onto the tarmac, but the N Line really does take a lot more than you’d expect before giving in to understeer.

The steering is quick and surprisingly aggressive off-centre - rather like its big brother, but to a lesser degree - You can even sense a faint whiff of the rear wanting to come forward if you lift at the right moment while loaded up in a corner. Body roll is well contained, but despite the stiffer setup, the ride remains nicely smooth.

There’s no escaping the fact the 1.4-litre inline-four turbo looks a bit limp on paper, having enjoyed the 271bhp 2.0-litre of the i30 N Performance for six months. Indeed, it’s over 100bhp down even on the entry-level N. And in reality, the N Line is not fast, with a 0-62mph time of 9.2 seconds. But it doesn’t feel all that slow either, and its power and torque deliveries inadvertently encourage you to thrash it. It’s a little lethargic under 4000rpm, so to make good progress, you’re best off red-lining it to ensure the revs don’t drop below that mark when you shift up.

It’s a smooth, refined unit, and it even makes a reasonably nice noise at higher revs. Do I wish the current i30 range had a pokier engine - N cars excluded - to complement the satisfying chassis? Certainly, but the 1.4 does work better than you’d think.

Inside, it’s hard to distinguish the N Line from the ‘real deal’, although that’s more of an indictment of Hyundai’s designers having done very little to liven up the interior of the hot hatch. This car loses the bright blue, steering wheel-mounted driving mode buttons - since it doesn’t have any modes to flick between - but it does at least have a sportier N-branded gear knob.

The infotainment system is fine, being perfectly serviceable but noticeably clunkier than the sort of thing you’d get in a VW Golf. The incessant beeping the car makes the moment you switch off the ignition is both needless and borderline infuriating, while the fan coming on full blast every time you turn the car on - regardless of how you had it set before - is plain baffling.

Minor annoyances aside, it’s just as easy to live with as any i30, but with a light sprinkling of i30 N magic livening up proceedings. The undiluted N experience would still be our choice, but should that currently be out of reach, or if you’re simply not after something that quick, you’ll find the N Line isn’t a poor relation.