While many automakers have been getting out of the business of building a sportier trim level for their compact cars, Hyundai is getting in…and at an affordable price, too.
The 2021 Hyundai Elantra N line will feature a 201-horsepower version of the car’s 1.6-liter 4-cylinder engine (up from 147 in the standard car). It’s tweaked to make most of the extra power easily available at neighborhood speeds. A 6-speed manual transmission is available with the first three gears with short ratios for stoplight-to-stoplight fun. If you don’t want to shift your own, the automatic is a dual-clutch 7-speed. And you’ll still get the same five seats and four doors as buyers of the more traditional Elantra.
The performance model will carry a starting price of $25,095 ($26,195 with that automatic transmission). We’d like to say that will be less expensive than the benchmark Hyundai used when designing the car – the Honda Civic Si – but we can’t. That’s because Honda no longer sells the Si for 2021. These things are getting rare. A more direct comparison might be the Volkswagen Jetta GLI, and the N Line does beat that on price.
Don’t confuse the N Line with the even sportier Elantra N. That model comes next fall, which competes with the Honda Civic Type R.
