HYUNDAI i20 N Line

Hyundai’s i20 N Line opens the door to affordable performance

- BERTRAND D'SOUZA

I’ve settled into my seat, the textured leatherette and the side bolsters brace my love handles firmly. The steering wheel fills my palms, my thumb rests in the groove between the ring and the arms of the steering wheel, and my fingers find themselves positioned just right on the flappy paddles behind the steering wheel. Shift the transmission lever down to ‘D’, slide it towards me and get it into sport mode. Time to rock and roll, baby! This is the Hyundai i20 N Line and while we are glad Hyundai’s performance division has finally started its journey in India after a very long time, the first offering is a watered down, tepid version of the full-blown N cars. Now I say this from the perspective of a hack, who has constantly been fed a dose of high octane petrol. When you club together performance and car, it releases copious doses of dopamine in our brain, our testosterone levels spike, and we get excited. The N Line cars though are a bit tricky. Hyundai does not usually make mechanical changes to the N Line cars as they are supposed to be more show than go. But, in a first, Hyundai India got clearances from the Namyang R&D centre to tweak the suspension, steering, and add the rear disc brakes to the i20 and still retain the N Line badge. So what you are supposed to get with the i20 N Line is a sharper tool than the standard i20. So, how deep can it cut?