2025 Hyundai Elantra N Consumer Reviews
Pricing
Base (Editors' Pick) - $35,545 MSRP
Edmunds suggests you pay
$34,68072 for sale near you
Prices based on sales in CA thru 4/14/25
We have a limited number of reviews for the 2025 Elantra N, so we've included reviews for other years of the Elantra N since its last redesign.
Excellent value, but there are a few let downs
Tom loves cars, 09/30/2024
2025 Hyundai Elantra N 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl Turbo 6M)
3 of 4 people found this review helpful
Recently I drove the 2025 Elantra N with serious intent of possible purchase. I had watched several video reviews on everyone's favorite site for watching videos of all sorts, and the impression I had was that the Elantra N was a strong alternative to the Civic Type R, but at significant cost savings. My experience was positive overall, and I would recommend the Elantra N to anyone who isn't bothered by the one thing that kept me from purchasing it. I will start with the positives. This car is very, very quiet. I can't say much for certain about wind and tire noise on the highway, because I didn't actually drive it on the highway. However for most modern cars that offer a sporty ride, wind and tire noise are mostly moot because the noise level from the engine and exhaust and from under the hood is so loud that you don't even notice wind noise and tire noise. I do not like any car where the engine/exhaust/under-hood noise is so loud as to be intrusive, and this is how it is with the majority of modern performance cars. But not with the Elantra N, I am pleased to say. I pushed it very hard several times, and the engine noise never once was bothersome. It was more like a luxury sedan in this respect, and I liked this very much. This was an outstanding feature of the Elantra N that I hadn't expected. Another way in which the Elantra N was a pleasant surprise was the ease of clutch operation (in the manual version, obviously). Clutch engagement was sufficiently smooth that stalling the engine was no issue whatsoever. And clutch effort was surprisingly mild. I suspect that the main reason that most people don't like manual transmissions is because either the effort is too great or else the engagement is too abrupt, such that it is too easy to stall the engine, especially starting off on an uphill slope. With the Elantra N, there are no worries of this sort. If all manual clutches were like this, automatic transmissions would possibly not have become nearly as ubiquitous as they now are. Because of this excellent manual clutch, the Elantra N is really, really fun to drive. As for steering and braking, there is not much to say. I didn't notice much positive or negative about either, but if there had been anything particularly undesirable with either, I would have noticed it. I should possibly mention, though, that if you are looking for the kind of ultra-tight steering feel that you get in the Civic Type R (or Acura Integra Type S) when you put the steering in Sport+, you won't find that kind of steering in the Elantra N. Most people probably would not like that kind of steering anyway. I almost forgot that there is one thing about the braking that I really liked and that certainly deserves mention: the manual hand brake. It has been a long, long time since I have encountered a really good manual hand brake like this one. Perfectly located, and with the perfect amount of travel. I've never understood what made so many other manufacturers switch to an electronic parking brake. In one car I drove a few months ago (Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing) the switch for the electronic parking brake was found on the dash to the left of the steering wheel, which was just weird. There are some things about cars that were perfected a long time ago, and that did not need to be reinvented. The manual hand brake positioned conveniently, on the driver's side of the console, is the perfect way for a parking brake to be implemented. I don't know why some reviewers have been critical of the quality of the interior. I thought the interior was very nicely done. And I was able to position the steering wheel perfectly for me, whereas in most other cars including cars that are way more expensive, when the seat is positioned ideally, I can get the steering wheel almost close enough to reach it comfortably, but not quite. In case you're wondering, I do not have really long legs (or short arms). The problem is that most cars are just not designed to let you get the steering wheel as close as it needs to be, in order for it to be comfortable. This might be an air bag thing, i.e., the air bag needs to be further away in order for it to be safe. Said differently, in order for the air bag to not be hazardous, the steering wheel needs to be too far away, in the nearest position, for you to reach the steering wheel comfortably. This is something that a lot of people pointed out back when air bags first came out, but everyone eventually stopped talking about it. Anyway, with the Elantra N, I was able to get the steering wheel as close as I wanted it to be. Finally, I come the one thing that kept me from seriously considering purchase of the Elantra N. It is a terribly unfortunate thing, because Hyundai did a very impressive job with this car in most every respect, but then blundered badly when it comes to the driver's seat. I much prefer power seats, because I find it much too difficult to get the seat adjusted appropriately with manual seats. But not all manual seats are the same. There are some I can tolerate, but in order for me to tolerate a manual seat, the granularity of the adjustment of the seat back in particular needs to be very fine. The seat in the Elantra N was okay in this respect. The problem was with the seat bottom, and with the seat bottom, there were two things that combined to make the seat impossible for me. In many economy cars, you find a manual seat where there is a single adjustment for the seat bottom. You can raise and lower the seat bottom, but when you do, the tilt of the seat bottom doesn't change, or if it does, it doesn't change in a way that helps. Alas, the Elantra N has this type of seat bottom. I just wish that car manufacturers would stop using this cheap, cheap kind of seat, which is simply awful. Compounding this too-cheap seat design, the shape of the seat bottom has a pronounced dip for the derrière, with a correspondingly pronounced high rim at the front edge. This does not go well with the lack of ability to adjust the tilt of the seat bottom. Especially in a car with a manual clutch. Even if I had been interested in the car with the dual-clutch tranny, I would have found this seat intolerable. With the manual clutch tranny, this seat was doubly intolerable for me. It is a crying shame that Hyundai would have made a car that is as nice as the Elantra N is overall, only to defeat the effort by doing something like this. What were they thinking?
- Safety
- Technology
- Performance
- Interior
- Comfort
- Reliability
- Value
Lives up to the hype
Bradley, 01/31/2025
2025 Hyundai Elantra N 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl Turbo 6M)
0 of 0 people found this review helpful
I came from a Focus RS to this car wanting something that was more reliable and a better daily. What I got was an excellent daily and an exhilarating driver's car. The performance fights with the level above but the cost fights with the mid tier. There are some creaks here and there, but this car is engaging to drive at the edge. When pushing at 6/10ths on a back road, the car is still relaxed. Once it gets up to a 7 or 8, the car comes ALIVE. The front diff tangibly pulls the front end through the corner, the power is certainly underrated, and there are no other new cars you can buy that are under 3200 lbs, as spacious as this car, the power, the performance, the SOUND. Cannot beat the value this car provides.
- Safety
- Technology
- Performance
- Interior
- Comfort
- Reliability
- Value
2025 Hyundai Elantra N for sale near you
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