[JP_N-Line]

Just want to start off by stating I never purchased my N-line with the intention on autocrossing it. I'm currently looking at buying a dedicated weekend car/ autocross car (NB miata) but figured I should do an event to see if I like the club.

The event was a great success, beating out some WRX's, genesis 3.8 etc. My car is a 6 speed bone stock minus a muffler delete and poor man intake, in Canada we are blessed with 500 treadwear all seasons.

Likes:
The car handling was great for a stock car. Very stable and predictable. The car was overall balanced with a touch of understeer, a larger rear sway bar would likely help. Even with the all seasons, I was able to power out of corners relatively well even with the open diff. I drove with traction control off but stability on; there was lots of unforgiving walls and figured the stability would save me if I pushed it to hard. I don't believe the stability control was a hinder to my driving speed as I did not feel in interfere with power coming out of corners. I was able to lug the car around in second gear as the course was pretty tight

Dislikes:
I struggled with air intake and coolant temps all day. After my first run, the coolant temp read 105 deg C (almost 220F). I left the car idle to hopefully bring the temp back down however the continued to climb to 110 C. At this point I shut the car down as the temps were climbing. The temperature gauge did not indicate the car was this hot, the only reason I knew was because I was reading coolant temp directly from the OBDII. I ended up turning the heater to full blast and was able to slowly bring the temps back down. The intercooler got heat soaked very quickly as well, hitting over 70 C after my first run. I know this is a common problem with this car when pushed hard.

Final thoughts:
The GT is a very solid platform for autocross, and can be competitive in its class with simply tires, rear sway bar and intercooler. People at the event were pretty shocked a Hyundai was going around the track that quickly. I'm new to autocross (however not new to motorsports) so I'm sure a good second was left on the table with a simple driver mod. Either way, the event was great fun and everyone was super friendly. If you've contemplated attending autocross, I would definitely suggest giving it a try!

 

[jetrep]

What was ambient temperature?

 

[Exeno]

Glad to read about your experience.


The N-Line has a thicker swaybar in the back, so it does rotate easier than the '18 Sport; which most definitely needs a thicker rear bar.

The traction control balances the power cut VERY well, considering it doesn't have the Veloster's e-Diff. I've never AutoX'ed my car, but there's plenty of tight turns and winding hill trails and such here in the Bay Area to take advantage of. Many of those turns and sweeps were full-power, and the car definitely pulled the MINIMUM it needed to and still keeps the power on. There's the expected understeer, with lift-off bringing the car back in line (predictably so) -but the surprising part is it just doesn't cut the throttle ANYWHERE NEAR as harshly as most standard cars you'd drive. I imagine the better stock tires on the 6-speed models are better at this than the S1s on my DCT.


There's a few vendors like SXTH Element, who have a replacement intercooler and piping available. But I have a feeling a little bigger bumper cutout of the back plastic, is in order. Or even just simple removal of the plastic subframe cover, if that's AutoX legal.

 

[JP_N-Line]

Ambient temperature was pretty warm, around 28C.

I also agree the traction control does do a pretty good job, I've had it interfere pretty badly on the street before but that was mainly due to a to of wheel spin around a corner, so it was doing its job.

I have looked at SXTH's hot pipe and intercooler kit, but as mentioned I have no intention on continuing to autocross this car. I drive it nearly 25-30K kms a year and enjoy that I can run 87 octane and get 6 L/100km. The car will remain stock, maybe a tune if I get bored with it down the road.

 

[Midenginedriver]

That is interesting. I used to Solo2 back when I had a 69 Z/28. early 70's. Then later- about 20 years ago- after the divorce then lady friend now wife, we purchase a used Civic CRX Si and ran that a year. Fun. She even enjoyed it. I enjoy driving the N-Line. I like it better than the 2017 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport I traded in. I wouldn't mind doing several laps at a track. My N-Line is a 2020 with the 6 speed.

 

[JP_N-Line]

Since this post I realized how much potential this car actually has.
I've slowly started doing some minor mods and this car can hang in the top of its class! (STH)

I plan on taking it out to a bunch of events this summer coming.

I definitely recommend taking it out, even in stock trim its a good ride.

 

[mikl613]

Its like it was tested and tuned or a race track or something