Hello fellows and g'day mates,
At last week i visited Auto 2018 exhibiton at Helsinki. Like the last time, there were also many cars available for a 20-minute test drive, including the i30 N.

Right from starting the engine it was clear it's something else than the basic model. Revving the engine and popping exhaust surely turned pedestrians' heads when standing at traffic lights

...they probably thought "damn ricer boys again". Well, I would be too old to get that kind of attention should I really own that car, but would love to play with it occasionally outside the city.
Unlike the basic PD I test drove earlier, the N version didn't sway sideways at all when turning the wheel; it just changed direction without any fuss. 19" wheels and stiff anti-roll bars make miracles!

Despite that, in small bumps the suspension didn't feel too hard.
There were plenty of power available; too bad I couldn't play much with it because of speed limits and other traffic on the road... and because of sales representative sitting next to me. When accelerating hard I noticed the typical torque steer problem which is unavoidable in powerful FWD cars.
It surely was fun to drive and could be one to pick should I ever win a jackpot in lottery. Also, it was nice to drive a bit with stick shift for a change as I have an automatic nowadays.


