Hyundai i30 N drives round the UK looking for rough roads. Should be easy.

The Hyundai i30 N – the first performance model from Hyundai’s new ‘N’ division – has hit UK roads to shake down its suspension on the worst the UK can offer.

James May won’t be impressed that the Hyundai i30 N – the hot hatch take on Hyundai’s new i30, and the first model from its ‘N’ division – has been honed at the Nurburgring.

But the former Top Gear presenter will probably be impressed by Hyundai’s efforts to make it work in the real world, not just at the Nurburgring, with Hyundai now making the most of one of the UK’s USPs to make the i30 N as good on real roads as it promises to be on the track.

Fresh from winter testing in Sweden, the i30 N is now running round the UK to find the worst roads there are – we shouldn’t be too difficult – to ensure the i30 N is fine-tuned for the real world and that its adaptive suspension is properly sorted for road use.

Albert Biermann, Hyundai’s Performance boss, said:

We are getting closer and closer to the final development stage of the i30 N.

The road testing serves to check if the driving performance of our first Hyundai N high performance car can meet our future customers’ requirements. We have to make sure that on these challenging UK roads the driving performance is also well suited to everyday use. There are plenty of fun and challenging corners out here – the N Team loves corners!

As well as the winter testing and the UK road challenge, Hyundai is sticking a couple of i30 N prototypes in to the ADAC Zurich 24-hour race at the Nürburgring at the end of this month, complete with the same 2.0 litre turbo and six-speed manual as the production cars for more track feedback.

But it’s the feedback from the UK roads that will make the i30 N a car you can live with for the 95% of the time your hair’s not on fire.

Hyundai i30 N on UK Roads Video