We finally got our hands on an Elantra N...

...and it's on the trailer, ready to head to the FIRM tomorrow to lay down a time. Looks just like this one, except on a trailer in the dark in my yard:

Any predictions? The Veloster N is our current FWD champ, just edging out the Civic Type R by a tenth+ of a second. And from what I've heard from people I'm inclined to believe, the Elantra N is every bit as fast on track if not faster than the Veloster. So it heads to the track with some high expectations already.

Post any questions here and I'll try to get them answered if applicable between apexes. Maybe someone start a lap time pool and, who knows, daddy gets a new pair of shoes...

Manual or DCT?

In reply to Slippery :

DCT. Apparently it's a no-cost option and is HIGHLY selected. After having driven DCT versions of the Veloster and Sonata I can see why. It's very, very good.

Whys it on a trailer?  

I really enjoy my much more pedestrian Elantra GT Sport.  Excited to see what you think.  

Everything I've seen is the DCT is bundled with the sunroof, and is like a few bucks more than the three pedal. 

I am VERY curious to see more on this. 

Do the Kona N next . . .

I saw two of them absolutely slaying at a local autocross this summer. I turned to the guy I was working course with and said "You know, if you had told me 5 years ago that an Elantra would be a competitive autocross car, I would have been highly skeptical."

JG Pasterjak said:

In reply to Slippery :

DCT. Apparently it's a no-cost option and is HIGHLY selected. After having driven DCT versions of the Veloster and Sonata I can see why. It's very, very good.

Is it actually highly selected, or is it the only thing that's actually available to buy? I did a search on the Hyundai website. There are 8 Elantra Ns within 250 miles of me. 0 are manual. Reminds me of the 2.oT Accord; I was never able to find one of those to test drive either. All the local dealers only stocked automatics. Then the manual was discontinued because "nobody is buying it." Well, we can only buy what's actually available (outside of special ordering a car you've never even test driven).  

nocones said:

Whys it on a trailer?  

I really enjoy my much more pedestrian Elantra GT Sport.  Excited to see what you think.  

Making a 90 mile drive to the track and  finding you have a nail in a tire is a huge waste of staff time and resources.

NickD said:

I saw two of them absolutely slaying at a local autocross this summer. I turned to the guy I was working course with and said "You know, if you had told me 5 years ago that an Elantra would be a competitive autocross car, I would have been highly skeptical."

I started that craze back in 2007 with an XD. Except it wasn't competitive. But it was fun. 

So where we at on the report back?

Predictions, it will be fast but the Michelin Pilot Sports 4s will chunk on you.

I predict a hair faster than the Veloster N.  The DCT Elantra can get more camber (for ??? reasons), but also comes with wider wheels than the Veloster.

I can't imagine anything at your local track being tight enough for the extra size to be much of a penalty.

I'll go more into the data on the full review, but the bottom line is I like it A LOT. Sadly, I was not *quite* able to run down the Veloster N, though. Although the time was what I'd consider almost within the margin of error, particularly the week after central Florida got a lot of wind and rain. The cars felt mostly similar, but there were a few places where I felt like the Elantra was struggling relative o the Veloster and I have a feeling those will show up on a closer inspection of the data. 

As an all-around package, though, the car is just pure wow. Hyundai is absolutely killing it these days.

Hmmmm.....I've been thinking about a replacement for the Integra. I wonder if one will actually show up in the mid west to test drive any time soon.

Sometimes I'm stuck in my head waiting for Nissan to bring me a new Datsun 510 or Sentra SE-R when in reality it's in the Hyundai showroom right now.  
 

JG Pasterjak said:

In reply to Slippery :

DCT. Apparently it's a no-cost option and is HIGHLY selected. After having driven DCT versions of the Veloster and Sonata I can see why. It's very, very good.

There is already a recall on the DCT's causing loss of motive power. (No remedy or fix yet). At this point I'd get the manual or wait on getting one until the issue is fixed. 
 

I am very tempted to trade the Stinger for an Elantra N but they are very hard to find right now. My original plan was to get the 2023 Kia EV6 GT but that went out the window since it is not available for the $7500 rebate since Kia/Hyundai was excluded from the updated Federal Tax Credit list. Besides that they are actually even harder to find than the Elantra N and a lot more expensive. 

I can vouch that the Elantra N is pretty amazing on the track. I am a novice for sure, but the car is stable, planted, plenty of power and the brakes are up to the task as delivered from the dealer. I did (3) 20-min sessions at Track Night In America without any fade or drop in performance.

My first time out, I did put the car into limp mode at the very end of my first 20 min session. I had the DCT in auto and the default shift RPM was a bit too high. I figured it was the factory setting, but apparently the ECU got mad about all the redline shifts. You can program the shift point, and moving it down a few hundred RPM solved the problem my next time out. 

I ran the stock Michelens the first time, and they were impressive. I swapped to 18" BFG Rival S the second time out, but didn't notice too much difference, but that's more about me not pushing 100% in the corners. Looking forward to hearing more about the EN from GRM. When I had an AW11 MR2, they dropped their project car. When I had a Fiesta ST, they ignored it completely. Hoping the EN gets some ink, it really deserves it. 

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

How does it compare with the civic si? It seems more attainable than a civic type r yet better than the civic si.

In reply to Andy Neuman :

IIRC, GRM has it faster than the Civic pirate car at the FIRM. Which would make it a lot faster than the 1.5T si. The elantra N-line/GT would be the competitor for the Si with its 1.6T

ProDarwin said:

I predict a hair faster than the Veloster N.  The DCT Elantra can get more camber (for ??? reasons), but also comes with wider wheels than the Veloster.

I can't imagine anything at your local track being tight enough for the extra size to be much of a penalty.

The DCT Veloster N gets more camber stock than the manual Veloster N because it weighs ~100 lbs more. The EN both manual and DCT have about the same amount of camber standard. Source: I have one 

To add another anecdotal evidence to the pot, I have around ~10 days on my EN scattered between HPDE's and SCCA TT. The car has never had a hiccup, and tuned I make ~320whp. Stock pads still holding up great (albeit, I've replaced them once for wear). 

bobzilla said:

In reply to Andy Neuman :

IIRC, GRM has it faster than the Civic pirate car at the FIRM. Which would make it a lot faster than the 1.5T si. The elantra N-line/GT would be the competitor for the Si with its 1.6T

We're about to drop a new web item that has ALL of our lap times on it, so look for that like within five working days.

As to the question at hand, the Veloster N was slightly faster than the Civic R which was slightly faster than the Elantra N which was considerably faster than the 11th gen Si. All were tested on different days, though, and the Ns and R were so close I'd almost place them within a fair margin of error for varying track conditions.

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

nope. The VN was faster. I will not accept excuses. 

goingnowherefast said:

ProDarwin said:

I predict a hair faster than the Veloster N.  The DCT Elantra can get more camber (for ??? reasons), but also comes with wider wheels than the Veloster.

I can't imagine anything at your local track being tight enough for the extra size to be much of a penalty.

The DCT Veloster N gets more camber stock than the manual Veloster N because it weighs ~100 lbs more. The EN both manual and DCT have about the same amount of camber standard. Source: I have one 

I've heard the DCT guys were able to get something crazy like a full degree more camber in street class, making the DCT car the must-have for solo.  I'd love to see more detail on it, but that difference seems too significant to just be drivetrain weight.

I really liked the Elantra N I drove, though I only got to spend time with it doing silly on-ramp things and highway driving, no track time :-( But it's a fun sedan and has a ton of personality. Mine was a 6MT which I found pretty good, I do really like the DCT (have driven in Veloster N and Kona N now).

Mannnnny auto media people were like "OMG you have to try the Kona N next it's so fun!" when I said I'd driven the Elantra. I did, it's not. Elantra has more sense of occasion and is a more cohesive package IMO. And the Veloster N was the most fun of the trio but despite asking for fun weird cars, not enough people liked that kind of weird so it's dead now.

Worst part of the Elantra N is having to look at the nose of it. Otherwise it's terrific.

Interesting that the DCT Veloster N models can get more camber overall, wonder why that is.