At the introduction of the Kona crossover in 2017, Hyundai indicated it had chosen a name evoking travel, active sports like surfing or snorkelling, and premium coffee. A bucket of mild roast diluted with a half-gallon of oat milk and sugar is de rigueur these days among the athleisure set, and the coffee grown in Kailua-Kona is a popular and well-recognized varietal. Anyway, here’s what happens when Hyundai’s N division starts pushing whole beans directly up the nose of this little crossover.
Meet the Kona N, as in KonaN the (adorable) barbarian. The third model joining the lineup in Hyundai’s sport-oriented renaissance, the Kona N joins the delightful [and not-long-for-this-world] Veloster N and buttoned-down Elantra N as the wild child of the bunch. It looks like a deranged robotic piranha, and it mostly drives like one, too. That’s a compliment.
Credit for the creation of the hot hatchback segment is a subject of fierce debate among the European marques, but here it’s the Koreans that are extending the breed. While it is taller, wider, and generally plumper than the likes of an early Volkswagen GTI, the Kona N is brewed from a recipe that is entirely familiar. Take a small and practical hatchback, and drop a double shot of espresso under the hood.
Hyundai’s N division has already proved its barista bona fides at knocking out invigorating machinery. The Veloster N was a total surprise to some, especially considering that, on paper, it was slightly less powerful than some rivals. Incredibly, it proved to be not only quicker than the mighty Civic Type R, but also (more importantly) more engaging. This despite having an engine with all the personality of an inkjet printer.
It’s the same deal with the Kona N, just with a little stronger pour on the jittery juice. Hyundai takes the standard Kona, widens the fenders to accommodate 235-mm-wide Pirelli summer tires on 19-inch wheels, straps on a rear spoiler, and finishes off the rear with a couple of exhaust tips sized like potato cannons. It is as subtle as a K-pop backbeat, and just as catchy.
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The engine is the same as the rest of the N range, a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder that produces a peak of 276 hp from 5,500 rpm to 6,000 rpm. Torque is 289 lb-ft, available in a broad chunk from 2,100 to 4,700 rpm; this is a 29 lb-ft gain over the Veloster N, but the same as the Elantra N. Pop the hood and there’s the usual dollar-store Batman-costume-abs engine cover. This four-cylinder turbo doesn’t thrill in any particular way, but it’s certainly powerful enough.
The only transmission option is an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic, and all-wheel-drive is not available. Good thing too, because the weight and complexity of four driven wheels would spoil the Kona N’s personality. At 1,515 kg, the Kona N already weighs as much as a normal Kona AWD, and the weight would balloon another 50 or 75 kg above to add all-wheel-drive. That’s assuming the penalty wouldn’t be greater with the need to beef up the transmission to get the power down with added grip. Cost would go up, too.
That’s the technical argument against AWD, but the personality argument basically boils down to: whee! Hyundai poached a number of BMW M division execs to get the N division up and running, and there’s a bit of that M-at-its-best dynamics baked into these cars. What’s a front-wheel-drive BMW feel like? Well, remember when Mini used to be fun? Like that.
Driven gently, the Kona N is much like any other crossover of its segment, roomy enough to live with everyday, tall enough that traffic isn’t all door handles at eye-level, and relatively comfortable. The suspension’s a bit stiff and the tire roar is not inconsiderable, but neither ride nor cabin noise is unlivable. The price, $42,544, is the one painful hurdle. It’s not much of a stretch to a Golf R. Happily, the Kona N makes a convincing case for itself.
Hit one of the two steering-wheel-mounted N buttons, and here’s where the Kona goes KonaN. With a shorter wheelbase than the Veloster and more torque, this little crossover loves to rotate into the corners, cocking a rear wheel, then scrabble out with torque steer tugging at the steering wheel.
Where the Elantra N carves off a slice of the corner, the Kona N clamps down and gnaws away. Steering is quite heavy, the wheel itself thick-rimmed — again, like a BMW M product. But while modern Minis can feel a bit overwrought, the Kona N feels finely tuned to deliver this over the top performance. It fizzes and pops along a back road, and the added height of it being a crossover fades into the background.
It has all the joy that has slowly leached out of the modern VW GTI. The GTI is still a great car, but there’s not much of a sense of humour to the drive. The Kona N likes to give its drivers the giggles.
And there’s a third way to drive it, one that’s probably more relevant to 80 per cent of what its owners will actually to. There’s a small red button on the steering wheel that’s labelled “NGS.” This stands for the silly initialism “N Grin Shift,” but it’s basically a Porsche feature. Tap it, and you get twenty seconds of overboost good for an additional 10 hp. More importantly, the entire car is galvanized for action, dropping to the lowest suitable gear and responding instantly to the throttle.
It’s like what happens to your cat when you open a can of tuna. Porsche offered something similar in the 911 a generation back, calling it the Sport Response Button. In both cases, it’s maximum attack at the press of a thumb, ideal for making a pass or blitzing down a short on-ramp. Then back to your regularly scheduled commute — mixed-use consumption is rated at 10.4 L/100 km, which really just depends how judicious you are with the boost.
It’s exactly why caffeine was so quickly integrated into our daily lives. You get a quick jolt to get you going, and then on with your day. Thrills wrapped in a practical everyday package, the Kona N offers hot-hatch excellence for the crossover era. There are few driving experiences more satisfying than giving it the absolute beans.
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