Hyundai Kona N

It's been three years since Hyundai brought us their first and only N car available in South Korea, the Veloster N, and now, the N family's slightly expanded with the addition of the first-ever N crossover based on the recently facelifted Kona compact crossover. An N SUV sounds like a stupid idea because we all live in today's motoring world where SUVs are superheroes but the first-ever Kona N gets a shot of life by showing its newly found superpowers for the greater good on the road and track.

2022 Hyundai Kona N

2022 Hyundai Kona N interior

Starting at 34.18 million Korean won plus additional costs, the first-ever Kona N transformed the ordinary nimble Kona crossover into a superhero. A superhero that is ready, willing, and able to show its quirk on the road and track with its hot-hatch-like handling and performance.

Based on the recently facelifted Kona compact crossover, the N features signature red accents, large air openings on the front end, a lowered center of gravity, a double-wing roof spoiler, and other exterior upgrades to differentiate it from the normal Kona as well as its lesser N Line variant. With such upgrades, the Kona N now has a striking image of a hot hatch, making first-timers' skins crawl, hoping they want a piece of that action.

It's the same story on the interior as well because the Kona N is packed with additional features that will make speedo boys hooked for more such as the N steering wheel with two customizable buttons, a proper handbrake in case you want to ruin this ride doing backseat twist, Performance Blue accents, and some added functions on the speedo and sat-nav to check your progress on the track. Despite the additional performance-oriented goods, it still fits like a normal Kona and it's loaded with tech as well.

Under the hood, the Kona N is powered by the same 2.0L 280PS Turbo GDi engine and the 8-speed wet-type N DCT gearbox as the Veloster N. It does 0-100kph in 5.5 seconds with a Launch Control set and a top speed of 240kph. Apart from that, it comes with numerous high-performance functions that will get speedo boys hooked for more such as the N Power Shift, N Grin Shift, and the clever of the three, the N Track Sense Shift that optimizes adaptive shift for racetrack driving. It's like that signature Gran Turismo feature where it tells you the recommended gear shift while going through the corner. Long story short but you get the idea.

Anyway, there's a weird saying that the "Nurburgring ruins cars" or "when a car's built on the track, it won't be as good on the road at all". Yes, speedo boys got that memo and the Kona N may be fit for that scenario because of the fact that all N cars are developed and engineered at the Nurburgring. The addition of the Pirelli P-Zero tires, R-MDPS, ECS, TCS, N Corner Carving Differential, and N Power Sense Axle really made a difference to this front-wheel-drive hot crossover in terms of handling but as a daily driver's car, despite the list of SmartSense active safety features festooned into it, there's one major caution with this ride though; it's going to be as tense as seeing your Grandma watching disaster flicks for the thrill of it. Yes, it's front-wheel-drive only and the only good thing this hot Kona does is behave like a 2X Spicy Noodle mukbang.

The Kona N joins the long list of high-performance SUVs available in the market because, in today's motoring world, SUVs are like superheroes. You get the point but because of its hot-hatch-like dynamics and performance, this mild but menacing Kona is worth salivating for if you are prepared to spend your hard-earned cash on this. While it's not as good as the Veloster N, the Kona N is the super crossover hero you wish to have.

Available colors: Cyber Gray Metallic, Dark Night Gray Pearl, Ignite Red, Atlas White, Performance Blue, Phantom Black Pearl, Sonic Blue, and Gravity Gold Matte.

Photo: Hyundai Motor Company