After months of talking about electric vehicles and zero emission transitions for fleets, my heart skipped a beat when I pushed the start button on the Kona N. The curated exhaust note burbled effortlessly and I could feel a tingle in my loins and my right foot instantly felt heavier.
These are the emotions that the non-EV crowd refer to when bemoaning the decline of petrol sports cars and the introduction of silent supercars. And during my week with the Kona N I wasn’t concerned about fuel consumption at all. The cost/benefit ratio was heavily in favour of smile that appeared in N Mode.
Released in 2021, I’ve waited until the final months of production before driving the outgoing Kona N, and I regret it. This is a great car!
It’s called a small SUV though I would put it in the hot hatch category. There are several drive modes though it feels so nimble and sporty in the normal setting that I hardly felt the need to hit the N button. When I did, the instrument cluster erupted in flames and the exhaust got angrier.
With the manual seat adjustments, cloth seats and manual handbrake, there’s an analogue feel that gives you enough safety and technology without over doing it. It’s the interior of a modern sports car with a look I was trying to create 20 years ago in my hot hatch with racing seats and a home made instrument cluster. The N Premium models gets some extra luxury touches, but I think that would take away some of the rawness which makes it so good.
I loved how the Kona N slipped into our family routine and I was able to drive it aggressively or passively depending on the purpose of the trip and road conditions. Around the urban landscape it darted into tights spaces and skipped through roundabouts. Then travelling around Sydney on the vast network of toll roads it was as docile as a non-performance SUV.
Being a performance the car, it’s fitted with Pirelli P Zero tyres which are awesome when pushed. However, they are low profile with stiff sidewalls and tread blocks. You really notice it at low speed in tight turns when the tread blocks start to shutter. It seems counter intuitive for a car like this, but I would opt for a more comfortable tyre because it will spend more time in traffic than on the track.
The Kona N comes with the same list of passive and active safety features as the non-performance models, and the controls on the steering wheel and infotainment system have the Hyundai family styling which is practical and contemporary.
I’ve had the pleasure of driving several versions of the i30 N though after the first time I could never create the sense of excitement and wonder. In N Mode it was too raw and in normal mode it wasn’t enough. The Kona N gave me the right about of exhaust note with a ride quality that felt sporty enough but not bone jarringly harsh in the normal drive mode which is where I spent most of my time.
The new Kona being launched this year has been designed as an electric car platform and there are no plans for a Kona N. Even if there’s performance range in the works, I fear the outgoing model is the last one to have the head turning exhaust note. I shouldn’t have waited so long.
