2025 Hyundai i20 N gets mild boost

The Hyundai i20 N has been gifted a modest update for the 2025 model year, with a subtle nose job via a new grille, blacked-out badging, new alloy wheels and ambient LED interior lighting rounding out the cosmetic changes.

The infotainment suite also cops an upgrade through the addition of Hyundai’s Bluelink connectivity services, which includes the ability to remotely send navigation destinations to the car via an phone app, as well as remotely monitor the car through geo-fencing controls, speed alerts, and a valet mode.

Besides that, however, the i20 N is largely the same.

That means the mechanical package continues to offer 150kW and 275Nm from a turbo 1.6-litre petrol four, with that power going to the front wheels via a six-speed manual – no automatic. In fact, if you’ve been holding out hope that a self-shifting i20 N would drop in a mid-life update as it did with the i30 N, we have bad news. Hyundai never had an i20 N auto in the pipeline, and with the i20 N now withdrawn from the European and UK markets (which provided the majority of its sales volume), the odds are nil that Hyundai will see any business sense in engineering an automatic version for the future.

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But the good news is that the compact corner-carver remains one of Australia’s most affordable performance cars, with the i20 N’s retail price rising just $510 to rest at $35,500. Were it not for the continuing presence of the ZC33 Suzuki Swift Sport, which is currently priced at $32,990 drive-away, the i20 N would be the most accessible performance car in Australia by a generous margin (the Volkswagen Polo GTI starts at $40,390 before on-roads).

Yet though it’s only in its fourth year of production, the i20 N is something of an endangered species. Having already been killed off in Europe in a purge of all petrol-powered N models, the i20 N really only lives on in RHD form for Australia and New Zealand - It was never exported to the high-volume US market or offered in other key RHD markets like Japan, Hong Kong, India or South Africa.

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With only 233 being sold in Australia so far this year (a 50 percent drop versus the same period in 2023, when supply was heavily constrained) the i20 N is on unsteady foundations. Reading the room, a second generation for the nameplate is virtually a no-go, so if you’ve ever harboured a desire to try out South Korea’s ‘cornering rascal’ for yourself, now seems like an opportune time.