In a testament to enduring enthusiasm for a pocket-size, track-ready daily in the Australian market, Hyundai’s i20 N TTR hits the tarmac again for 2025. It’s all about shameless, veritable fun in the latest N emblazoned hot-hatchette as public road amusement prevails.
How much longer a car like this – small rigid chassis, manual transmission, overboost, and an obvious nod towards high performance tomfoolery – is going to last is one of those difficult questions we all try to avoid.
Do we get an i20 N while ever a Yaris GR or Polo GTI exist? We’ve already seen the Fiesta ST apparently succumb to market trends. Whatever the case, we got a new i20 N this year, so let us celebrate appropriately.
Let us live as we did in our Civics and Charades as 19-year-olds – in the moment. This year’s i20 N TTR has landed with some subtle but tasteful upgrades in the styling and driver convenience departments.
Hyundai saw no need to tamper with the heart and soul of an almost perfect manifestation of the hot hatch either. Front end revisions start with the bumper and grille. A small change making a big aesthetic difference is the blacked-out Hyundai badge.
The combination means the messiness of the old grille has been tidied up and matured. Deep fog light housings and a distinctive lip draw the nose wide, and the same goes for the back end.
Flared hips, a low-set diffuser and extended roof spoiler draw the body wider than a car in its class ought to dare. It’s an optical illusion that allows you the full benefit of the size novelty, but without a shrinking in road presence.
Meanwhile, TTR red N brake calipers peer through freshly styled 18-inch alloys. These wheels are beautifully paired with the i20 N, almost like four purebred Huskies staring back at you from their forever home.
Sitting fairly flush with the guards too, the whole setup has a rebellious stance, one that hints at the car’s essence of punch, handling, and play. Punch comes from the savage little 1.6-litre Smartstream turbocharged inline four-cylinder.
The package produces 150kW and 275Nm, or a 304Nm torque limit when you hit overboost (in other words, keep your foot down and be rewarded with an extra 29Nm for critical overtakes).
Despite the TTR trim carrying an extra 25kg above the 1210kg unladen weight of the base model, power to weight still sits somewhere around 122kW/t. By comparison, you’re thrashing a Polo GTI.
You are getting thrashed by a Yaris GR though, and you’re not an embarrassing distance behind your i30 N big brother, at 145kW/t. Hyundai know that the power needs to be converted to play, however, and a phenomenal handling prowess speaks to that.
A finely tuned setup starts with Macpherson struts up front, but being the smallest N car there’s no fully independent suspension in the rear, with a semi-independent coupled torsion beam used instead.
Don’t be put off by this – Hyundai’s Nürburgring testing is pretty evident given how sharp this thing feels at both ends of the car. It’s also stiff, light and compensated for by that incredible mechanical front differential, even in the wildest of conditions.
So how does all this translate into user experience? What can you do with it? Well, about as much as you dare according to your proclivity for attention and risk taking. You can simply enjoy the reassuring grumble heard at low RPM and latency of what’s at your disposal.
You can give it the odd squirt and chirp into second (which never gets old) before merging back to the left. You could also live perpetually in N mode. That’s our preference – blow out the combined 6.9-litres/100km consumption and recognise the freedom this car gives you.
You are likely going to hit somewhere between 7.0-litres and 8.5-litres/100km unless you are the tamest of drivers. We spent the first 100km or so of this road test wearing in a brand-new set of Pirelli P-Zeros, then it was grip aplenty.
Do your absolute worst because this thing glues itself to the road like a climate protester. For the more technical hairpin laden adventures, torque steer is wrangled and smoothed out really well.
That leaves all the consequential stuff – the line you pick and an exit strategy – up to you. On the dirt, the rally pedigree shines through and it’s just a case of whether you’re ballsy enough to experience that bizarre sensation of a FWD power slide.
Once you get your eye in, you get some decent hang before bringing it back under your feet. Meanwhile, moving through all six gears is a marvelous affair.
With short throws, smooth but decisive shifts and a nice bit of weight to the clutch, it is a ‘box poised for performance driving. That said, the clutch isn’t so heavy as to be unbearable for everyday use.
Similarly, the ride in suburbia definitely has a coilover-esque bob and bounce, but it is by no means oppressively harsh. On the inside, styling is clean and smart, and irrespective of some reviews, everything felt robust too.
The i20 N now runs a 10.25-inch infotainment unit and the same size customisable TFT instrument cluster in another good example of preventing what is ultimately a “driver’s car” from lagging behind in tech and interior functionality.
Through the bigger screen all your Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity can be managed, and you can pick what to blast through the seven-speaker Bose audio system.
“N Grin” customisation (throttle response, rev matching, diff locking etc.), launch control and other hooning essentials can also be fiddled with through the touch screen. Over-the-air (OTA) software updates and integrated LED interior mood lighting have been added.
This full spec TTR gets the whole suite of SmartSense safety and driver assistance technology along with N-embroidered race seats too. You definitely feel strapped-in sitting in these but there’s sustained comfort.
We put down some serious kilometres during this road test and never had a hint of cramping or restlessness. Massive storage capacity is something you’re not really looking for in this car, but there’s ample room for you and the passenger.
Likewise, there’s useable leg room in the rear, and a clever concealed floor compartment in the boot once you lift out the insert. Quibbles? Any? Maybe a good sign is that they’re easy to narrow down and there’s only two.
Whether it’s across the board we can’t say, but our test vehicle did have a fickle wireless charger and was pretty patchy despite different phones, case on, case off and so on. A low-key but previously echoed complaint is that of the high beams.
In a world with off road light bars burning through our retinas, Hyundai could afford to give them a bit more oomph – we’d like to drive fast at night, too. This car can and will bring consistent fun to your slow trudge of a week, track days or a back road thrashing.
The last time this writer had the same feeling was back in 2022, ripping a 595 Competizione around some unsealed access roads. And yet the i20 N isn’t facetious like that. It’s a serious driver’s car and a catch-me-if-you-can commuter.
But at the same time, it’s a polite, stylish, well equipped, comfortable runabout, all-in-one. Let’s enjoy it while we can and hope it stays for the future. Current pricing puts the TTR variant at $36,500 before on-roads.
You can find out more on the Hyundai Australia website, or by talking to your local dealership. To get a low rate finance quote, talk to Australia’s best reviewed car finance broker; Credit One. To see a great range of vehicles for sale, check out OnlyCars.com.au.
Our test vehicle was supplied by Hyundai Australia for independent review purposes. Exhaust Notes Australia has not been paid to review this vehicle.
