I ran out of time somehow editing my original post. I'm a chatterbox who was never very good at summarizing things. Anyhow, my FULLY INTENDED post is below. Maybe I can get the other one deleted.
Common rumor places the Kona announcement somewhere in July; so next month we should hopefully know. And the announcement will include the date they intend to start taking orders and when production starts, if it hasn't already. The Elantra GT announcements and updates, in the US, tend to come sometime in Autumn. If you like the Kona, and you've been inside and driven any of them, you're off to a good start. But '21 is a facelift year and they are putting the Smartstream engines in it, as well as making interior changes and what appears to be not-insignificant exterior changes (Santa Fe style grille, etc). So the current model may only give you a GENERAL idea.
I personally am waiting on the official announcement, and confirmation of rumors that it will be the first AWD N car. If the Kona N remains FWD, then I'll pass and pick up a Stinger instead when my lease is up. If it does go AWD, and I don't see why not, then it's my top pick. There may be a bit of time before they hit dealer lots, too, so that's something to consider. I have a few things going on right now, myself, personally. So I'll be glad to have an excuse to wait a few more months. If you're able to wait one more month and confident you'll find the car you're looking for, then I'd suggest that. So you don't have buyers remorse. With everything going on right now, a lot can happen in a single month.
I don't have an inside track, either, or inside contacts or anything of the like. I just read a TON of automotive news, not just on Hyundai-KIA. I check Korean Car Blog and the various other (minor) Kona forums, as well as just taking stock in Hyundai's general model and powertrain announcements to try and piece together the rumors, spy shots, interviews, and official announcements, to get a prediction. ****, there was a strong rumor that the Veloster would have got the 2.5T along with the wet DCT for 2021, but it only got one of those things. There's also planned production of a Venue N-Line and a true-to-form Tucson N-Line, but the powertrains in those depend mightily on the platform and what vehicles in it's class tend to have. ie: the Sonata N-Line gets the 2.5T, but it's also a larger vehicle and a more expensive vehicle class. If you want the 2.5T in the Veloster, too, you may want to make that thing AWD.
There are two reasons that I, personally, am not keeping my N-Line after the lease.
1) My partner's 2018 Sport is rock solid with no issues and AWESOME build quality. My N-Line's build quality is not that great. I don't have problems, but I have small trim issues and noticeably uneven panel gaps, and just a series of unfortunate events that have made me brand it my "bad luck car". We are buying his out after the lease 100% for sure. I overlooked the panel gaps because it was tough at the time to find an N-Line, and I wanted out of my boring 2017 Elantra sedan
2) It is simply and quite frankly, "not enough car" for me. It's not fast enough, and it's FWD. I had fever dreams of modifying it, but I gave up about 10 months into ownership. It's just been a series of unfortunate events that have soured my ownership. I still enjoy driving the car, but I fell out of love with it. I also have become far more financially well-off in the past 5 years and want something a bit more rowdy.
So really, I don't have your answer. It's a difficult decision because sometimes these N-Lines are hard to come by. But if rumor is true, and production ends after 2020, and the EGT is really what you want, then why not? So long as 201HP is enough for you, and you can tolerate FWD without Torque Vectoring (that the Veloster has on all models). At least the Stability Control does a good job in full-throttle sweeps and turns.
Thanks for the detailed response...a lot to think about. I think i am going to wait. There are still a ton of EGT N lines available within a 100 miles of me and it doesn't look like dealers are moving them that quickly or at all. The one i test drove has been sitting on the lot since January and is still available. I'm pretty confident many of them will still be available by early Fall.
By then, we'll have much more information on the Kona N and i can make a better decision. Also have to consider- can pick up a EGT N line well under 300 on the lease with nothing down. Kona N will likely start north of 30k.
