Test Drive with Nik Miles – 2022 Hyundai Kona N

Hi, I’m Nik Miles at Dick Hannah Hyundai of Portland and I’m going to show you this. This is the brand new 2022 Hyundai Kona N. Imagine taking a hot hatch sports car and a cool family SUV and marrying them together. You get all of the performance you want in a small little SUV and that means you can stick your whole family and get sports car performance but still get the versatility of an SUV. We’re going to put it on the road, we’re going to see how it performs, and we’re going to take a look at the outside and the inside. Now, let’s get it on the road and get going.

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Hyundai of Portland Kona N

So, here’s the thing, this car makes me do bad things. When I say that, it is so much fun to drive, that I constantly want to drive it, and I want to drive it racecar style. But you have to remember there’s these little white signs on the side of the road that tell you you’re only supposed to go certain speeds and you have to be a responsible adult, which I have to remember sometimes that I’m not on the Nurburgring which is by the way where this vehicle got tested.

So, let’s talk about some of the features. Now these N models are really developed by Hyundai for the racetrack. This was tested on the Nurburgring and it was also tested on the racetracks in Korea and they really developed these vehicles to be race cars. Now Hyundai has a massive race presence outside the United States and that race presence has brought them many trophies around the world and they’re really sort of introducing their racing presence in the United States now. They’ve also have the first hot hatch with the Kona and this is an experiment in doing SUV race vehicles. This has an eight speed wet dual clutch transmission and that makes all the difference when you’re shifting at speed. Now, I’m going to make sure that I have a clear road and just show you a little bit that like, it wants to fly. This vehicle, you put your foot down and it really just wants to go. I have no trouble now, 276 horsepower and all of it is available almost immediately. This thing is really fast off of the mark. I have rarely come across a SUV with such dynamic driving qualities. I think this is a home run for Hyundai and I have said so many times when I have driven this in the past.

Now you should also know this vehicle doesn’t only come equipped with a great engine, great driving dynamics for the track, but it also has a lot of race car features in it that you would normally not find in a vehicle like this. Launch Control comes in the Hyundai Kona N. It also comes with distinctive driving modes, great exhaust sounds. If this car drives past you it’s really hard not to head turn when you see it.

It also comes with really nice interior features, the bucket seats, it comes with nice interior, it comes with something you probably wouldn’t find in a vehicle of this racing stature. It has good comfort. It has really nice driving features as well. A lot of times you wouldn’t find such nice driving features in a race car like this if you had built it yourself. So, Hyundai has given you some features that are absolutely excellent with the vehicle as well.  Now you have your race mode buttons on the steering wheel, your end buttons now that gives you your custom buttons, your custom one, your end button, and then you can go to your normal button.

It also has a lot of safety features in the vehicle as well. It gives you your attention level, which is something new that I know have been putting in their vehicles. If it feels you’re not paying attention in the vehicle it will tell you that your attention level is not high enough.

Now just because this is a performance SUV doesn’t mean it is void of tech. A 10.25-inch infotainment screen. It has Hyundai’s latest infotainment system in here. It also gives you everything that you need. It has like a game-like display in here. It almost looks like a video game. Of course, it has SAT NAV, it has Apple CarPlay, Android Auto as well as Race Track Map data so all of your race tracks are in here. So if you go to a race track it’s a quite convenient to have your race tracks mapped out inside the vehicle as well. It has communication data such as lap times. I mean it also gives you all of your race modes like boost pressure, all those type of things so you can keep track of everything that you’re doing on the racetrack as well. That’s super useful if you decide you want to do some amateur racing with this vehicle. I like that so I can take it to the track on the weekend.

Now, also custom modes can be set for each individual driver, which means that if there’s two people sharing this vehicle you can set the vehicle up for each individual driver. And that way if one person doesn’t like to race the vehicle and one person does, then you can set it up for each individual driver. So, the Hyundai Kona N is obviously a race SUV. You can tell that by a few things just by looking at it. First of all, a large wide stance, a lower air intake that’s much bigger than on the regular Hyundai Kona and that red stripe that goes all the way around the vehicle. Now there’s a lot of angular large body pieces as well. And when you look at the tires on this vehicle you can tell they’re Pirelli P 0’s which means they are ready for the racetrack. Now when you go around the vehicle you can also see the red calipers on the side. Now, what goes fast also has to stop fast and that means the red calipers are very necessary because braking is very important when you drive a race SUV.

Now the back of the Kona N is very pretty as well, racecar pretty that is. You have your big arrow wing here at the back, a big brake light up at the top. Now that is important because when you’re traveling behind this vehicle at speed you want to know that the vehicle in front of you is braking on the race track. And finally, those huge big exhausts at the back. And since we’re back here, let’s see how it sounds on a cold start.

And once you get into the trunk there is actually room to store stuff in the back here. 19.2 cubic feet of space in the back of the vehicle which is enough room to grab a few bags of cement from Home Depot.

Of course, this is a Hyundai which means it gets a 10-year 100,000 mile warranty. It also now comes with a three-year complementary maintenance program and a five-year roadside assistance program. And, if you’d like to put this brand new 2022 Hyundai Kona N into your driveway you can come down to Dick Hannah Hyundai of Portland or you can get them online or give them a call. They’d love to put you in one for a test drive.