2021 Hyundai i20 N

[djgritt]

After a quartet of Abarth 595’s, from Base to Competizione trims, my wife had a moment of sensibility and turned to the newest Ford Puma offering with MHEV technology and a whole host of toys that she had never had with the Italian rollerskates.
That was a great daily driver and was trouble free but after a year she was feeing that it missed some performance and excitement and with the mad used car market of 2021, we took an opportunity to change and upgrade at no extra cost to us and have now ended up with the new and highly rated Hyundai i20N.

We got really lucky, passing a dealer who had an unregistered stock model on their forecourt and just stopping to look…
A deal was agreed and closed on the same visit and a mere 7 days later we picked it up. Other buyers with earlier factory orders are still waiting and will be until November or so!

First impressions are good - it is a nice drive, responsive and comfortable and the whole package is well put together to achieve the result of being a very competent hot hatch.
The levels of kit/toys are good and this will be good for the daily duties ahead.

Our spec is simple - factory with the option and N division specific Performance Blue paint.

We have a few plans but all green-lit by the wife so nothing too extravagant…
- shortened Reg plates
- Black roof wrap to mimic the factory Black roof option (much cheaper way than the option itself)
- OEM Black Hyundai logo Badges
- removal of ‘Hyundai’ text badge from Bootlid
- LED lamp swaps (Reg plate, Reverse & Indicators)
- Sideskirt ‘N’ badge coloured inlays (once available)

Pics:

[Court_S]

That’s the second one with a reader’s car thread on here

I like these, I think they’re cool little things and are a bit differ to the usual Fiesta ST.

[21st Century Man]

Great car, great colour. Shame they don't do something similar with the i10.

[loftylad]

Very nice. Looks great.

Like you say, I’ve just had my factory order pushed back by at least another 6 weeks. (Ordered months and months ago) Think I’ll be lucky to get it by November.

[ecsrobin]

I like these along with the i30N so will follow with interest. List of changes seems good (although have never understood LED numberplate lights) how much was the factory black roof option?

[JimbobVFR]

I like that a lot.

RE: the numberplate lights, I'd probably also change to LEDs, the old yellow light looks out of place IMO on a sharp looking modern car where all the other white lighting is LED or Xenon, its the st cheap ones that are far too bright that look ste. It took me 2 attwmpts to find suitable LEDs for my Bongo, the first lot I bought were far too bright.

I'd be tempted to remove the Hyundai and the i20, just leaving the nice little N logo or remove the lot

[djgritt]

Thanks for the positive comments all, appreciated!

Court_S said:

That’s the second one with a reader’s car thread on here
I like these, I think they’re cool little things and are a bit differ to the usual Fiesta ST.

Yes agreed regarding the Fiesta, and seeing the new one revealed this week has cemented the decision, they’ve softened it too much!

21st Century Man said:

Great car, great colour. Shame they don't do something similar with the i10.

A small warm supermini to rival the Up! GTi would be great!

loftylad said:

Very nice. Looks great.
Like you say, I’ve just had my factory order pushed back by at least another 6 weeks. (Ordered months and months ago) Think I’ll be lucky to get it by November.

I am a bit gutted to hear from those in your position, we do feel a bit guilty that we got into one so quickly. It’s a bit like Hyundai didn’t quite expect the take up as well as being impacted the the chip shortages affecting everyone else.
But, so far we can say it will be worth the wait!
What spec did you got for? Did you add extras? They’ve temporarily dropped/frozen the options now to help reduce production times and get them out of the door…

ecsrobin said:

I like these along with the i30N so will follow with interest. List of changes seems good (although have never understood LED numberplate lights) how much was the factory black roof option?

The reg lights are just standard halogen and look out of place against all the other modern lamps. Luckily I have some sensible LEDs already from another project which give a restrained white light rather than the ridiculous bright ones that you see sometimes.
Factory Black Roof was a £500 or £550 option - I had my Focus ST roof wrapped in August for £150 so definitely a saving to be had!

JimbobVFR said:

I like that a lot.
RE: the numberplate lights, I'd probably also change to LEDs, the old yellow light looks out of place IMO on a sharp looking modern car where all the other white lighting is LED or Xenon, its the st cheap ones that are far too bright that look ste. It took me 2 attwmpts to find suitable LEDs for my Bongo, the first lot I bought were far too bright.
I'd be tempted to remove the Hyundai and the i20, just leaving the nice little N logo or remove the lot

Yeah as above I have some nice sensible LEDs to fit already to avoid the ultra bright mess!
She may decide to drop the i20 badging eventually but will see how it looks when the others are done

[loftylad]

djgritt said:

I am a bit gutted to hear from those in your position, we do feel a bit guilty that we got into one so quickly. It’s a bit like Hyundai didn’t quite expect the take up as well as being impacted the the chip shortages affecting everyone else.
But, so far we can say it will be worth the wait!
What spec did you got for? Did you add extras? They’ve temporarily dropped/frozen the options now to help reduce production times and get them out of the door…

Don’t feel guilty at all! I wanted one with options, so was prepared for a wait (albeit not as long as it’s now going to be!)

I went for Polar White with Contrast roof and BOSE, so basically every available option. Lol.

The wait is doing my head in...meant to have been getting it last week.

[bencollins4]

Awesome. Saw my first one today in white but performance blue is my preferred colour should we take the plunge. I did want Bose but that looks to be unavailable at the moment. How do you find the standard stereo so far?

[CrippsCorner]

They're crazy little cars. Not a fan of all the styling but can't wait to see one on the roads... and props for getting something different!

Why the roof wrap though! Personally don't like black roofs, and also the blue is a lovely colour, I'd want to see of much of it as possible

[Max M4X WW]

Absolutely love it, I really want a red one. I doubt it will be long before there is a red and blue one on here too!

[Fletchie]

Was similar to you OP in managing to avoid the long wait that others are experiencing and who order long before us.

I wanted a i30n, but with the current prices considered it was just too expensive, researched the i20n, looked on autotrader & a local(ish) dealer had one in stock, took a test drive, enjoyed it, then the salesman said one of our other branches has one unregistered the colour you want... so did a deal there and then. 14 days later (could've been 7 days but was on holiday) picked it up.

So far, its a very good car. Understand the looks can be abit marmite, but it drives very well, corners brilliant, pretty quick, and lovely interior with all the digital dash etc (IMO)

Hope you enjoy your one, i went for white, but it does look great in performance blue!

Will keep an eye out for the upgrades you talk about :-)

Edited by Fletchie on Sunday 19th September 22:18

[djgritt]

bencollins4 said:

Awesome. Saw my first one today in white but performance blue is my preferred colour should we take the plunge. I did want Bose but that looks to be unavailable at the moment. How do you find the standard stereo so far?

Standard stereo so far seems fine to be honest - we had B&O in the Puma which was excellent and this isn't up to that level, but then neither was the Bose in my previous Mazda6!

CrippsCorner said:

They're crazy little cars. Not a fan of all the styling but can't wait to see one on the roads... and props for getting something different!
Why the roof wrap though! Personally don't like black roofs, and also the blue is a lovely colour, I'd want to see of much of it as possible :smile:

We're only wanting to do the wrap as we would have selected the black roof from the factory option list, but as we managed to get a stock car we didn't get the choice. We also think the factory option we want to copy looks good as it isn't just the roof centre but also the edges and pillars too:

Max M4X WW said:

Absolutely love it, I really want a red one. I doubt it will be long before there is a red and blue one on here too!

There's also a Black one already here and White below - almost the full suite, just need members with the Silver, Dark Blue and somebody brave enough to go for the 'Brass', ie Brown/Bronze, colour... (which I weirdly like the idea of!) ha

Fletchie said:

Was similar to you OP in managing to avoid the long wait that others are experiencing and who order long before us.
I wanted a i30n, but with the current prices considered it was just too expensive, researched the i20n, looked on autotrader & a local(ish) dealer had one in stock, took a test drive, enjoyed it, then the salesman said one of our other branches has one unregistered the colour you want... so did a deal there and then. 14 days later (could've been 7 days but was on holiday) picked it up.
So far, its a very good car. Understand the looks can be abit marmite, but it drives very well, corners brilliant, pretty quick, and lovely interior with all the digital dash etc (IMO)
Hope you enjoy your one, i went for white, but it does look great in performance blue!
Will keep an eye out for the upgrades you talk about :-)

Cheers, good to know another is here too. I bet you're in the same boat as us trying to get a handle on all the features and settings - there are so many to go through

[djgritt]

The little 'N' is doing great so far - the wife is loving it, often actually using her custom N Mode profile a lot more than I expected too.

She is quite the sensible driver so her mode isn't as aggressive as it could be and she mostly has it for the exhaust & steering adjustments, whilst keeping ESC firmly ON in the tightest setting.
She does like the Rev Matching though, giving the car blips on down shifts, occasionally getting a little overrun pop and bark from the exhaust - I hear her approaching the house with it too.

We also fully set up the Bluelink app with the car now which seems very good and similar to the Fordpass app - tracking journeys & economy, vehicle status, location, allowing remote lock/unlock etc.

She's also achieved over 40mpg from her first tank of fuel which isn't atall bad for a new thing like this!


I also kept up with some of the changes she wanted/was interested in - mostly the lighting items:

Genuine 'N' Model floor mats which help finish off the cabin nicely;


LED Reg Plate lamps - generic CANBUS friendly W5W Wedges which I've used on my own cars so can vouch for their reliability and 'sensible' level of light:



OSRAM Diadem Indicator bulbs to kill the full Fried Egg effect indicators - these are still normal PY21W bulbs rather than LEDs, again something I've used loads in the past too;


LED Reverse Lamps - another generic CANBUS friendly item, W16W Wedges again currently in use on my Focus ST without issue. These are rather bright in the dark... you can see the floodlight effect on the reverse camera screen in the cabin




We'll be contacting the people who did the roof wrap on my Focus soon to get a quote for the roof wrap on this to replicate the OEM option, and hopefully we'll then get this done before Christmas.

Edited by djgritt on Tuesday 1st February 09:45

[anonymous-user]

I entered the Car Throttle competition to win one of these so I am sure I will be adding my own updates once it arrives.

In all seriousness these look great, having not owned a hot hatch for 20 years they always seemed the best all round car to me.

[djgritt]

Approaching 5k miles now and this has loosened up quite nicely now - engine seems more responsive, exhaust is much more shouty and pretty much everything else is still great.

We are still due to get the roof and pillars wrapped to mimic the OEM Black Roof option, but otherwise we've partially de-badged the tailgate and also fitted OEM accessory black badges. We are considering Black 'N' badge overlays too, yet to be decided.








The wife is also intrigued by the idea of a GPF removal section to free up some response and more noise when the valve is opened up, but she can't be bothered with the hassle of it if the car needed any warranty work etc.
She seems quite happy with it as it is so we'll see...

[djgritt]

Another update - finally had the car booked in for it's biggest change so far, and the day started like this:




And ended like this:










Very pleased with the full roof wrap, and it does make quite a difference to the appearance - I can see why the Black roof been a popular option with other owners who made factory orders.

[loftylad]

djgritt said:

Another update - finally had the car booked in for it's biggest change so far.




Very pleased with the full roof wrap, and it does make quite a difference to the appearance - I can see why the Black roof been a popular option with other owners who made factory orders.

That wrap looks factory! A pillars and the lot. Very nice indeed.

After waiting an agonising TEN MONTHS, I finally pick mine up next week.

[djgritt]

1 year in with this pocket rocket! Brilliant, brilliant car. Definitely a keeper.

12k miles covered and counting.

No issues thus far other than killing the very soft factory fitted Pirellis on the front - rears will likely need doing by Christmas…

Serviced at Hyundai for less than £170 which we thought was pretty reasonable.

It’s been comfortable and perfectly economical when needed - see below onboard data from a round trip of Dorset -> Commonwealth Games -> Dorset - and the wife typically averages 40-41 on her daily duties of ~36 miles per day. It was very handy to be able to achieve this regularly when the fuel prices spiked…



Took it to Haynes Breakfast club recently with a small group of local-ish owners. Reinforced our thoughts that the black roof was a must, and also interesting to see a couple of the other colours and some with mods (the white one is owned by a tuning company, CTC Performance, as their own development & demo car and it has some smart touches):







Best shot so far:





Plan to fit a simple plain tint Sunstrip soon as seen another with this and it looked good (not those ‘Chameleon’ tints! Yakkk!)
Still considering a GPF bypass (resonated) but have minor underlying warranty fears, considering it’s the wifes daily…
Soon to order some shorter Reg plates too, not been a priority though.


Also starting to see more of these around and more owners appearing online which is good. The factory order situation is still a nightmare it seems - some people who ordered around the time we got this are only just receiving them! Dealer stock pricing is nor very firm for cancelled orders or demo stock, clearly there is still strong demand… which is perfectly understandable as they are that good!

[Court_S]

The black roof does look good, especially when you see it with cars without it.

Starting to see a few on the roads now; I’d certainly like a go in one.