2024 Hyundai Elantra N at Lightning Lap 2025
From the March/April 2025 issue of Car and Driver.
Class: LL1 | Base: $34,850 | As Tested: $35,320 Power and Weight: 276 hp • 3242 lb • 11.7 lb/hp Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport 4S; 245/35ZR-19 (93Y) HN
The Elantra N's appearance at VIR this year constitutes a Lightning Lap mulligan. When we had an Elantra N at the 2023 running of our track event, we rued that Hyundai hadn't sent a second set of tires, so we set its official time on well-worn rubber. We posited that a fresh set of running shoes would improve the N's lap time by more than a second.
Hyundai took us up on our offer and sent another six-speed-manual version of its compact sports sedan, this time with the extra rubber needed to set the fastest possible lap. The 2024 N we drove is essentially the same as the 2022 model we ran last time but with a handful of minor updates aimed at making it more trackworthy, including urethane rear-suspension bushings, a revised front fascia claimed to improve engine and brake cooling, and new forged wheels that reduce unsprung mass by a claimed 33 pounds.
As to that prediction, we were, um, close. The N's 3:06.4 lap time was 0.9 second quicker than before, with the added grip of the fresh rubber showing in Turn 1, where we recorded a peak of 0.97 g versus 0.95 for the older car. The N was quicker this year in all but the final sector and zipped 0.4 second quicker through Sectors 2 and 4, which zigzag through multiple lefts and rights. Its improved time came despite lower straight-line velocity—mysteriously, its 129.0-mph top speed was 4.9 mph down on the older N's. Oh, and to put its lap time into perspective, it's a half-second quicker than the 518-hp Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG we ran in 2011.
Nothing about the Elantra's basic nature changed since we pushed its limits two years ago. It remains great fun to sling around VIR thanks to sharp steering, approachable handling limits, and strong brakes—as happy on the track as it is fun on the street.
Back to Lightning Lap 2025
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