Hi, Bartek Urban, let’s test Kona N. The Hyundai's sports department is not idle and after i30n, i20n, and Elantra N models, we have Kona N Yes, there is Elantra N, unfortunately, it’s not available on our market yet I say yet, because I have already heard rumors, so there is a shadow of a chance that Elantra N will reach us as well. Or at least I would like to.
speaking of rumors - it was not so long ago that I came across an article announcing that Hyundai is closing the internal combustion engine development department for the development of electric cars So all forces are going to be focused on the electric motors and the technology around them. I don't know how to interpret it and I don't know about the N sports division, but I hope that the current generations of Ns are not the last ones, because they are really great cars. Like, for example, such a Kona N. The manufacturer decided to equip this compact crossover, or even SUV with a 2-liter unit with 280 HP and make it a real sports car Well, look what Kona N looks like - this car is dripping with accents There is everything here, spoilers, ailerons, low bumpers, and huge exhaust pipes I've always wondered why these exhausts have holes like this and finally figured it out They are there to hang on sparklers. Great. Unfortunately, not every solution is brilliant, and here, for example, we have plastic dummies at the front I am also a bit concerned about that front grille, which has huge holes and it’s easy for something to fall in and possibly cause damage Another element that is weak and should clearly be improved are the rear indicators, which are in the lower lenses This is the same problem as in other Hyundais, e.g. in Tucson - the indicator should always be visible and therefore should be in the upper cover, not in the lower one.
Hyundai, correct it finally!! But apart from these elements, I like Kona N It looks fighting, aggressive - that's what it should look like hot SUV, And do you know that the tested Kona is blue? Yes, it's in Sonic Blue varnish, which in my opinion is closer to white or gray than to blue Well, I studied computer science, not painting, so I can’t know it. It's time for the trunk. The trunk in Konan has 361 liters which is quite a modest result, not to say weakly. It's nice that we have a small organizer under the floor and a spare wheel underneath it. The trunk can be enlarged by folding the seats, which is theoretically done from the cabin, but since the trunk is short, it can be done from there as well. I fit in Kona’s back, although there is not too much space here. I have some free space for both my head and legs, and I am 186 cm tall. We have at our disposal an armrest with two cupholders, a small storage box with a USB connector, newspaper holders, and the rear seat is heated It’s a pity that there are no air vents and the plastics are super hard. Fortunately, the front seats are great. It’s true that you can not order buckets, as in i30 N, but the half-cups that you can see here are perfect for an everyday car.1
Importantly, they look good, are comfortable and hold well in turns They are also fully electric and unfortunately we sit quite high. It’s like in an SUV, a bit higher, which has its advantages. The board has pros and cons as well. Its appearance is an advantage, because the board is nice and legible The steering wheel is clearly visible, with three exposed buttons two for the car settings, and one is NGS, i.e. 20 s combat mode of the car I will tell you about it later These two blue buttons are freely programmable, which is great. The car always starts in the normal mode, but you just need to press the blue button once and we have, for example, the sports mode or the N mode It can also be programmed so that all support systems are turned off, that's great The graphics of digital clocks are just as great. These are fast and nice Unfortunately, digital clocks are standard and this is a small disadvantage because their place in Kona doesn’t look good. Look, it’s like someone put a tablet in the bathtub and sealed it with a seal Well, it fits in a strange way, in my opinion, it looks better in i20. It would be best if the car had ordinary clocks as in i30 n after the lift. Unfortunately, it’s not possible. The multimedia screen was also lagging, sometimes quite significantly. This is actually strange, because I have driven Hyundais where this screen worked smoothly, and recently something slowed down again.
I hope it's a software issue because digital clocks work super smoothly and quickly. Unless it's the fault of the touch panel, I don't know As you can see, there is also an N application for the telemetry. Another disadvantage is, unfortunately, the materials - Kona N is very plastic, just listen. It's hard, but luckily almost nothing creaks. Even more importantly, there is no piano black! It's always a plus for me. You can’t complain about the lack of storage compartments, there are some, so we'll hide some of our trinkets in the car. Ok, time to look under the hood, because this is the most interesting. We have the same engine as in i30n, i.e. 2.0 turbo, R4 with 280 HP and a torque of 392 Nm Interestingly, in the offer we don’t have a weaker, 250 HP version, and there is no manual to choose KonaN is available only with 280 HP and only with a dual-clutch automatic 8-gear transmission. Next, Kona N only has front-drive es, only the front-drive, which has its advantages and disadvantages, although in the case of an SUV, probably more disadvantages. We have a front-wheel-drive i30n so I was hoping Kona N would have a 4x4, at least as an option I know that it means more weight and probably an even smaller trunk, but there is Kona 1.6 turbo with a 4x4 drive so here you could also try a 4x4 drive I know that probably with a sports drive, such as on the track, 4x4 may even be a bit disturbing, but I still say - it should be an option Instead, the manufacturer gives us additional driving modes with a different traction setting, but as you guessed, it will not replace a 4x4 It's time to check the 0-100 km/h acceleration. The catalog says 5.5 s.
First, a measurement on the wet. The result is 6.1 seconds! And now an almost perfectly dry surface. I say almost because the conditions were not yet perfect. But as you can see, the result is the declared 5.5 seconds. I think there is still 0.1-0.2 s to break, astonishing! The higher speeds are also great, the time from 50 to 150 km/h is 8.5 seconds and 100-200 is 14.5 seconds! Let me remind you that i30n was doing 100-200 in 14 seconds, which is half a second faster! But I suppose the difference is bigger, I think about 1 second, maybe more, because I tested i30n in very hot weather, and Konan was within 0 degrees. But chapeaux bas - KonaN is very fast! See this gearbox response: Great, that's how it should be! There is also the NGS mode, i.e. we have a full fire for 20 seconds, in the sense that the car is set to full combat mode So we drive in the normal mode, we press NGS, the car immediately sets the perfect gear and we are ready to attack Great for overtaking.
The car sounds great, just listen: Yes, there are no shots like that and it's not as loud as i30n, but I understand that In a sense, on the one hand, I regret it, because I love loud cars, but these shots in i30n were too loud and too artificial at times. Here it's really fun, natural, without any unnecessary outbursts The manufacturer can probably defend himself that Kona is an SUV, so it's more of a family car, and yet the i30 is more of a car for singles Or something like that. Anyway, Kona N doesn’t sound like i30n, but despite everything, it sounds very good and I like it, I respect it! I respect even more how Konan drives. It was super wet almost all day and the car was sticking to the ground and driving perfectly Really, it's been a long time since I had such a well-driven car in this class. The mechanical, electronically controlled differential worked wonders. Although, as you have heard, we have a wheel hop, the suspension is probably a bit higher than in i30 n Nevertheless, Kona N drives perfectly. I also noticed that when braking or in corners, it’s not as much oversteered as i30n, but perhaps I still had a vision here that it was a higher SUV and I didn’t try the turns as much as in i30n I also like the photo of Kona N Nice, huh? It never happened to me, but here you can see that there could be a slight help of the grater and apex on the track and the car could jump a bit. But again Kona N drives great for an SUV.
Of course, the suspension comfort suffers from this, because Kona is hard. Hard in normal mode and super hard in N sport modes If you're looking for a floating SUV, Konan is not for you. It has to be hard to take fast turns. The disadvantage for some may also be combustion, because, like in i30n, it's high In fact, it's higher, because Kona is an SUV, so it has worse aerodynamics and weighs 50 kg more than i30 In fact, it's higher, because Kona is an SUV, so it has worse aerodynamics and weighs 50 kg more than i30 If you keep shooting and driving aggressively for short distances, the average fuel consumption will exceed 20 liters. On the route at 140 km/h, the fuel consumption is about 10.5 liters. Well, it’s not low. It’s not cheap either, Unfortunately, due to the fact that Kona N is only available in one, the most powerful engine version and only has an automatic transmission, the initial price is high Conan starts from PLN 172,900.
To this, we can add only varnish for PLN 1,000 or PLN 2,600 or the Sport or Luxury package for PLN 10,000 or 13,000 respectively. You can now see the contents of the packages on the screen. My copy had Sonic Blue varnish and a Sport pack, so its price is PLN 185,400. If I were to look for competition, it seems that the only car is the VW T-Roc R which has a 2.0 turbo 300 HP engine and a 7-speed automatic transmission dual-clutch Its price starts from PLN 189,400, so it is much more expensive, we can’t even configure Kona N to this price, and there are still a lot of additions to the T-Roc. If we try to match Kona, we will reach PLN 225,000. There are also fewer emotions in Troc, and the sound of the accessory exhaust for PLN 17,000 will probably not match the serial one in Kona N. Volkswagen has one big advantage - each R has a 4x4 drive, and as I said, for some, it’s quite important.
Kona N is a really great car that gives you a lot of fun It is super fast, drives brilliantly, sounds very good and is well equipped, Unfortunately, it’s also made of poor materials, it needs a lot of fuel, it has a small trunk and it doesn’t have a 4x4 drive. The latter could be useful in an SUV Although for me the biggest disadvantage is Kona N is i30 N, which in my opinion is better in almost every respect. But I will try to answer this question in a separate material with a comparison of these cars I think that a comment from one of the viewers could be a perfect summary Kona N is the perfect car if your wife or husband tells you to buy a Suv and you want a hot hatch.
source: hyundai