Tow Hitch

andron said:

I just purchased a 2020 N line, loving it so far. my only complaint is that I cannot find a tow hitch that fits the EGTN. I want one so I can use my hitch mounted bike rack, but it looks like people recommend using a roof rack instead. since I already have the hitch mount rack it would be nice if I didn't have to spend another 500 on cross bars. Has anyone had any luck getting a hitch to fit?

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Found this on the Hyundai (Canada) website.

The tow hitch will most likely work just fine. It's the fact that for liability reasons, Hyundai doesn't "recommend" that you tow with the car. Even if it's just for a bike rack. But in Europe, it has a tow rating and many people do, to a degree. I have seen some threads here and there about it. So that's why there's no OEM offerings for sale in the US. -And if you have a look around for mods in general for these cars, you'll find it's thin on the ground. I had a heck of a time even trying to get a US shop to fabricate a dang A-pillar gauge mount (they ended up "giving up" and refunding me). The aftermarket support for these cars in the US, just plain sucks, and it's disappointing. But also not surprising, because it isn't a volume vehicle here.

With regard to the exhaust, they design and market the vehicle as a sporty compact. Most manufacturers these days assume if you're going to tow or be "active", you'll get a CUV/SUV. Think that's bad, bet you'd love to see the muffler on the i30N. Most compact vehicles have a roof rack available, but in some cases that too may be limited by the panoramic roof. Tall, this car is not; I'd venture toward a roof rack. But I understand if people don't want to reach up for a bicycle, especially if you have physical issues with stretching or lifting above your shoulders.

I have a quick-disconnect front wheel on my bike. I just pop it off, and throw it in the back with the seats down and an old sheet laid down so I don't get chain grease and crap on the carpet and seatbacks. Could probably fit it with the wheel on, but, don't want to marr the interior. Have fit 2 bikes back there before, as well.

Kona would fit the bikes easier. A vehicle similar in size and dimension to our cars, that is also a 4 door hatch, which has the same powertrains (except the GT gets the 2.0 Nu GDI as base engine, Kona is Atkinson Nu 2.0) + available AWD + an EV option + an imminently-arriving full N model on top of it.The Elantra GT was never quite the vehicle for our market, but it was Hyundais' way of bringing a hatchback to the US and existed on it's own until the Kona came around in 2018, which is more aligned to US tastes all-around. The GT is a low production vehicle, in a form factor that Americans typically still ignore (compact hatch), not on stilts (typical passenger car ride height if not lower), has a model that basically competes with it sitting on the same lot (Kona), based on a costly European car (no North American platform sharing and has somewhat better interior materials than other Hyundais while somehow costing about the same), an aftermarket that largely doesn't care (find far more mods for the Elantra Sport and Veloster), and there is effectively ZERO marketing for the vehicle in this country. It's frequently shoved in the back of US Hyundai advertisements and marketing materials, or omitted entirely.

And lastly.... Hyundai decided to make the Veloster N the initial N.A. halo model (not just porting over the i30 N much less the Project C) because they felt that would be a better fit for our market. I would once again say as I have many times now... that I would NOT be surprised if 2020 was the last model year in America for this car. Especially when all of the powertrain options listed with the '21 refresh, not a one of them appears appropriate for the US market. The 1.5 Hybrid MAYBE, but our market only ever had the 1.6T as the N-Line/Sport option, and there's been zero talk whatsoever about N or N-Line models being hybrid. Usually a "Performance Hybrid" is something your Marketing department puts front and center.

Even here on the West Coast, in the SF Bay Area... the most prominent dealer lots will have something like 100 Elantras to 200 Konas to 250 Tucsons and 250 Santa Fe, sitting next to 15 Velosters, and maybe -10- Elantra GT... 8 of which are the base model, 2 N-Line, and only one of those N-Line is the DCT with Tech Package. If you can even find one. And unfortunately, anecdotes and dealer searches are the only way to get an IDEA of production numbers because in North America, Hyundai lumps nameplates together... so Elantra sedan and GT, despite not being the same platform, are lumped into the same sales number. Sold 100,000 Elantras? No real easy way to see how many of those are GT.

This is also why, with the 2021 Elantra getting a hybrid option, it's likely the Ioniq Hybrid option will cease to exist after 2020MY. Redundant. Ioniq Electric MAY still exist.

I understand this is a long post for something as simple as "where's the tow hitch for these cars?" But I wanted to give some perspective to why this is the case, at least in America.

Exeno said:

Most compact vehicles have a roof rack available, but in some cases that too may be limited by the panoramic roof. Tall, this car is not; I'd venture toward a roof rack.

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I'd love to have a real roof rack as well. I have the Thule kit that clamps to the door frame but I really don't like it. i don't like that it interferes with the door seal and I really don't like that it touches the paint. I'm also paranoid when using it because it's not bolted down to anything... it's just clamped on.

It works just fine, it's never budged even loaded down with a big top box, but I'd love to have a factory option (or aftermarket) like my wife's Santa Fe that is bolted to the roof rails and really secure.

/end thread hijack

trey

Here is the Elantra GT N-line with a receiver and my bike rack. There are two threaded inserts on both sides of the frame that are obviously for attaching something like this. I had my brother in Canada order it and send it to me (US). They are available at Canadian dealers. I also ordered something else from the Niagara Falls Canadian dealer and they were super happy to ship to me, so that may be worth a shot. The part number for the GT-N is G3H03AP200 GTN. There is another version for the non-N EGT.