Daily Driving the Hyundai Elantra N & Kona N With Hoonigan

Vin Anatra:
Ron and Vin from Hoonigan here. And today, we have the Hyundai Elantra N and the Kona N.

Ron Zaras:
That’s right, here at Hoonigan, we get to drive a lot of cars. So anytime we get a new vehicle, this is the way we go. We take it up Malibu into some canyon roads, it gives you a really good idea of how a car handles, how it drives on the daily, and to be honest, how it retrieves snacks.

Vin Anatra:
California has some of the best roads ever and some of the worst traffic ever. So it’s a really good way to test a car, how it is for everyday life. Grueling traffic from Long Beach to Los Angeles, and then the best canyon roads to go get some of the best food.

Ron Zaras:
Yeah, this is what we would call our perfect morning with a car. So let’s do it.

Vin Anatra:
You know you’ve made it in life when someone films you eating a ham sandwich.

Ron Zaras:
Well, we got two ham products.

Vin Anatra:
You got a ham product?

Ron Zaras:
I got a ham product.

Vin Anatra:
Bust it out.

Ron Zaras:
Let’s compare. What did you get?

Vin Anatra:
I’m a sweet boy, but I went savory.

Ron Zaras:
Same.

Vin Anatra:
I went with the ham, butter on some sort of bread, and an iced coffee. Which pairs well with this freezing cold weather, but I’m looking warm for you guys.

Ron Zaras:
So usually when we do these runs, you got to wake up pretty early to beat the traffic on the way up. So we pick a rendezvous point, that’s this place. Because we can wait on our usual stragglers, get everybody together, enjoy a coffee, a pastry.

Vin Anatra:
Caffeine up, then go drive.

Ron Zaras:
Which is a great combo, honestly.
All right, we’ve got to stop filming.

Vin Anatra:
Mm. All right, driving the 2022 Hyundai Elantra N. I have to say, the first thing that stands out when you get in this car is how great these factory seats are. I would say, they’re some of the best factory seats I’ve sat in. And beyond being just super comfortable and supportive, what they do is they let you know immediately that you’re in something special, especially when you’re in a sedan. When you get into a sedan, you have a different mindset. This car really lets you know that it’s a bit more than just your average commuter.

Ron Zaras:
All right. For the first leg of this journey, I am in the Hyundai Kona N. Now, N from my research, N is Hyundai’s Performance Division. Just like you have BMW’s M, or AMG, or Volkswagen R, it’s the racing division.

Now, you may be thinking, “Why would a Kona need an N version?” I mean, why not? This has the same motor that Vin’s Hyundai Elantra N runs, which is 2 liters, 276 horsepower. It’s got the 8-Speed dual-clutch gearbox. So it’s the same thing that’s developed for that car, but in a roomier, more spacious kind of crossover type vehicle. But it doesn’t handle like a crossover, it doesn’t even look like a crossover. It’s more like just a really utilitarian fun car.
I applaud when manufacturers do stuff like this. I mean, nobody else has really made a fast crossover. And to me, that’s a ballsy move. I got to applaud Hyundai on doing that.

So here I am, rolling around in comfort mode, right as we’re entering the canyon here. I just push this one button, and it brings me into N mode. The dashboard does all this cool stuff, there’s a flame that comes around. Immediately got a G sensor, full response from the engine, I’ve got a tighter steering, suspension stiffens way up, and exhaust pops. Which coming from a car like this, it’s kind of wild It. It’s cool to me to hear.

Vin Anatra:
As we’re getting into the canyons right now, we can just click it into N mode, where I actually had custom spec’d mine. And the way I run this car is, engine in Sport Plus, steering in Sport Plus, which gives you a nice heavy feel on the steering wheel, which I like. The ELSD is in sport, the ESC, which is traction control, I keep that off. But I keep the suspension in normal because the canyons are bumpy, I don’t really want to be having that super stiff ride. I put the transmission in Sport Plus, and then I put the exhaust on Sport Plus as well, so it opens up the valves, makes it a lot louder, as you could hear. It’s even got some really nice crackles and pops on diesel, which is fun.

It’s really awesome that you could make all these changes on the fly and really have a few different types of vehicles just at the click of a button. And also, since this car is a proper sport sedan, it comes on some Michelin Pilot Sport PS4S, which is their high performance summer tire. These come in a 245 all around, which is a ton of grip and it pairs really well because this car makes 276 horsepower.

Ron Zaras:
This thing is ridiculous. Car and Driver took this thing on track and it beat AMG car. A C63 AMG, it beat on track. Granted it was a bit older of a car, but still that’s ludicrous. That’s not anything you would ever expect from a Hyundai.

Hyundai’s made very reliable cars for a long time, and to a certain extent, fun cars. They had the Tiburon, the Veloster N, which we’ve done a lot with. And to me, some cars I hold near and dear, like the Hyundai Accent WRC from the early 2000s. I know Hyundai’s been in performance for quite some time, but really, for them to blend performance and comfort and a really nice kind of, I would call it a somewhat luxurious interior, it’s a cool thing.
This thing has no place being as quick as it is.

Vin Anatra:
The craziest part is, Hyundai really went the extra mile with adding fun features for the driver. And this car in particular, has what they call N Grin Shift mode, which is basically a scramble boost button or a push to pass, as you’ve seen in racing. It actually gives you 20 seconds of increased horsepower and sharper shifts. So you can hit it, and you have 20 seconds of just being able to blast it.

I think it’s so awesome that Hyundai is making cars like this still. This car is made for enthusiasts, and it’s so cool that they’ve thought through all of the items.

The perfect morning in Malibu with some really fun cars, some of the best roads, best scenery.

Ron Zaras:
Yeah, I agree. And this is a spot that we usually stop at to either have anything from a burrito, to a cookie, to more coffee, to whatever it is you need.
So then from here, you kind of go your separate ways. Whoever’s got to go back home, whoever’s got to go to work, kind of break out from here.
But honestly, this is such a fun car. Used for groceries, used for canyon runs.

Vin Anatra:
That’s my favorite type of car.

Ron Zaras:
Dude.

Vin Anatra:
Well, there’s only one thing left to do. Head down to the beach, cruise down PCH, go home.
All right, so that’s a wrap. The perfect morning with the Hyundais, ended up Pacific Coast Highway.

Ron Zaras:
Perfect morning, kind of turned into perfect afternoon. We had a little more time in the canyons than we originally anticipated because, genuinely, these N cars are a really good time to drive.

Vin Anatra:
Yeah. It’s crazy that you take the same 4-cylinder, 2-liter turbocharged 8-Speed DCT package and split it with the two completely different cars. You got the sport touring Elantra N, and then you have the hot hatch crossover canyon ripper in the Kona.

Ron Zaras:
Dude. Shocking car, first of all.

Vin Anatra:
Yeah.

Ron Zaras:
Just absolutely mind-blowing. But-

Vin Anatra:
That thing will hurt some feelings.

Ron Zaras:
Oh. Dude, 100%. And it has. That thing has hurt some feelings on the track.
But I just want to take a moment and realize that we’re in front of a Hyundai Elantra and a Hyundai Kona, both developed at the Nürburgring.

Vin Anatra:
Insane. Insane.

Ron Zaras:
It’s kind of a crazy world to be in.
But dude, I’m all for it. Big props to manufacturers like Hyundai for even just having the idea to do stuff like this.

Vin Anatra:
Yeah. While every one’s going to appliance based vehicles, they’re making performance cars. It’s sick.

Ron Zaras:
Appliances. It’s so true though. I don’t know, there’s a visceral feeling. Bangs, and pops, and turbo noises, and all the right stuff. I don’t know. I had a really good time in these today, genuinely so.

Vin Anatra:
Yeah, these are great.

Ron Zaras:
Yeah. So that concludes what we call, our perfect morning. Turned into a perfect day. We stop here at Will Rogers Beach, nice little view, maybe we’ll catch a bite a little later. But yeah, this is the Hoonigan way. When we get a car, we bring it here, take a day through the canyons, and we’re out.

Vin Anatra:
And nothing makes a car a complete package like being able to drive in the canyons, have a lot of fun with it, and then not hate sitting in an hour and a half of traffic to head back to Long Beach like we’re going to do right now.

Ron Zaras:
Honestly, underrated comment. Because if you’re in anything that we might have built…

Vin Anatra:
Yeah.

Ron Zaras:
It’s like no AC, super loud, hard bushing everything.

Vin Anatra:
The worst car for car things.

Ron Zaras:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Vin Anatra:
This is a good car for car things, and a good car for a fun thing.

Ron Zaras:
Yeah. Chuck on a podcast, put it in comfort mode and go straight home.

Vin Anatra:
Hell yeah.

For more on this, and all the Hyundai Automotive products see: https://www.youtube.com/@hyundai