The Hyundai Elantra N is a highly under-appreciated package.
No matter what the stopwatch said during the track portion of our 2023 Performance Car of the Year test, on the street, the Elantra N is fundamentally just as quick as the much more expensive, and much more hyped, Honda Civic Type R (which used Cup 2 tires for our timed laps, good for at least half a second on their own).
It’s got great seats, great inputs, and ways to tailor each aspect of the drive to your particular taste. The steering, sound, suspension, brake feel, and differential are all individually adjustable. It even has an exhaust mode so loud you could be pulled over and falsely accused of circumventing California’s vehicle code.
While not as narrowly focused as the Type R, the Elantra N is incredibly well-rounded for daily use, canyon blasts, road trips, or track work, and at this kind of price point, it’s hard to find a better performance-to-dollar ratio in cars today.
