N DIVISION’S THIRD ACT
THOUGH MANY of us never venture much further off-road than the Woolies carpark, we’re obsessed with SUVs. Then there are those who want these bulky, high-riding load-luggers to also perform and handle like sports cars. To please them, engineers at Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Land Rover and Jaguar, among others, have spent countless hours on this Mission Impossible.
The Kona N is Hyundai’s attempt at rewriting the laws of physics, its first performance SUV.
Hyundai’s latest N model marries its strikingly styled small SUV with go-fast hardware from the impressive i30 N hot hatch, including the new 206kW and 392Nm iteration of the 2.0-litre turbocharged four banger and the N-spec version of the new eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.
The suspension features heavy-duty components such as redesigned steering knuckles, plus new springs and electronically controlled dampers.
The front-wheel-drive Kona N also gets the N-spec electronically-controlled limited-slip differential, a revised power-steering system with
