From Focus RS500 to Megane Trophy R and Civic Type R Limited Edition to Audi A1 quattro, limited run hot hatches for a whole lot of money aren’t really anything new. They are for Hyundai, but the new Drive-N i30 has come straight from the textbook: just 75 from the 800-unit run are coming to the UK, and each will cost £38,190. Which, for a car that launched five years ago with five less horsepower for £27,995, probably looks quite a lot.
Still, also in best flagship hot hatch tradition, the Drive-N arrives crammed with kit. You can read all the details here, but the salient points are a standard DCT gearbox (which would add £1,975 to the price already), standard N Light Seats (another £600, usually) plus a couple of no-cost pearl paint choices - Phantom Black and Serenity White - that would normally add another £585 to a £34k i30 N.
The white is in fact unique to the Drive-N, there along with the dark bronze bits (including Nurburgring coordinates on the wings), red accents and a numbered badge as the extras not normally on the i30N options list to attract buyers. Hey, there’s even some new safety kit, including Rear Collision Avoidance Assist, Safe Exit Assist and Blind Sport Collision Avoidance Assist that hasn’t yet been seen elsewhere in the i30 N range. So don’t say your £38k doesn’t buy anything.
Offered just as a hatch and exclusively with the dual-clutch ‘box, the Drive-N is in the Hyundai UK pricelist and therefore, presumably, on sale now. Not just Jaguar that can add gold wheels and charge more money, y’know…
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