To fully appreciate the 2022 Hyundai Veloster N DCT, we need to travel back in time, but not too far back — a decade should do the trick. Ten years ago, we’d just met the Veloster for the first time. It was a wacky little thing with so much potential to become a wacky and spunky little thing, particularly when Hyundai dropped a turbo-four under the hood. But that potential was never fully realized; it was a solid proposition on paper, but in the real world, it never really measured up to the titans in the sport-compact segment.
Fast forward a bit to 2019, and Hyundai had finally seen the light. After tantalizing us with the forbidden fruit that is the i30 N — basically a spiced-up Elantra GT hatchback — Hyundai served up the Veloster N. With a punchy turbo engine, all the go-fast bits you’d expect, and available only with a six-speed stick, it was an enthusiast’s dream. At long last, the Veloster became what it should’ve been all along: a perfectly imperfect firecracker that lived for track days, autocross weekends, and twisty roads.
And just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, Hyundai went ahead and turned it into a rocket. The 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine remains, pumping out the same 275 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque as before. It’s punchy and properly raucous, and for 2022, there’s a little button on the steering wheel labelled NGS — hit it, and you get an extra 18 lb.-ft. of torque for an extra 20 seconds. Your tingling spidey senses might pick up the extra shove, but that’s not the front-page news story here.
No, the big news here is the addiction of the eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Enthusiasts will bemoan the fact that the Veloster N is no longer the manual-only enthusiast special it once was. Well, pipe down: the DCT only broadens this car’s appeal, and in this day and age where crossovers and autonomy are taking over, you should be happy Hyundai even bothered with the Veloster N in the first place, rather than offering some other blob-shaped crossover with a big grille, and whose natural habitat is a shopping mall parking lot.
Besides, the eight-speed is a great transmission. Shifts are snappy and almost telepathic when you want them to be, and unobtrusive and smooth when you don’t. Generally, DCTs can be jerky and shudder at lower speeds, mostly as they age, but the Veloster N’s stays unfrazzled. In fact, it transforms the car quite a bit — with the stick, the Veloster N is playful and fun, emphasizing good times over lap times. With the DCT and its lightning-quick reflexes, not to mention the seemingly endlessly configurable drive modes, it’s a track-day rocket.
Yet that performance is also accessible on a daily basis, for better or worse. The good news? That well-sorted chassis and suspension that’s a boon around an autocross course or twisty road will leave you giggling around a tight on-ramp. Underpasses and tunnels will become your best friends thanks to the raucous exhaust note, with its whip-crack on full-throttle upshifts and snap-crackle-pop burbles on downshifts, especially in its most vocal setting. And the transmission’s snappy shifts, coupled with the engine’s relatively minimal turbo lag, means the Veloster N is very effective at merging and passing.
The bad news? There’s a bit more road and wind noise than you’d expect, and particularly nasty bumps and potholes can be jarring — and there are a lot of those in Ontario this time of year. That raucous exhaust note can get on your nerves on longer highway jaunts in loud mode, but fortunately, solving that problem is as easy as flipping back into one of the less intrusive drive modes. And although the Veloster N easily puts the power down in the summer thanks to its limited-slip diff, super-sticky Pirelli P-Zeros, and all sorts of electronic wizardry, anything more than half-throttle off the line in winter is met with copious amounts of wheel spin, even in the dry. If you insist on giving it the beans, make sure you’ve got a rolling start.
Of course, going fast is half the battle. You also have to look fast, and the Veloster N delivers on that promise, too. Outside, you get the de-rigeur 19-inch wheels riding on rubber bands, an aggressive aero kit, and a ton of red accents — after all, red is the fastest colour — among other visual bits and bobs. It certainly isn’t as outrageous-looking as the Honda Civic Type R, but it ain’t a sleeper, either, at least compared to a Volkswagen GTI. The optional satin grey paintwork doesn’t help; Hyundai calls it “Shooting Star”, and it’s a $1,000 option, by the way.
As for the interior? Well, you certainly don’t buy a Veloster N for its plushness, that’s for sure. The Veloster N’s economy car roots are rather apparent here; while the amount of hard-touch surfaces is acceptable in a base, $25,000 Veloster back when they still existed, it’s a tough sell with the N’s price tag exceeding $40,000. But we can live with that, because the rest of the cabin is up to snuff: the low-slung seating position and a generous range to the meaty steering wheel’s adjustments mean it’s very easy to find the perfect driving position.
As well, the new-for-2022 sport seats are exceptionally supportive, keeping you glued into place when you decide to explore the car’s handling limits. Surprisingly enough, headroom, legroom, and cargo space is generous all around, although the three-door configuration — not to mention the weight of the front doors themselves — take a bit of getting used-to.
Price-wise, Hyundai keeps it simple. The Veloster N starts at $37,899 with the six-speed stick, and the dual-clutch automatic is a $1,800 step up. Factor in another grand for satin grey paint, and you’re looking at just over $40,000 as-tested, before any fees and taxes. That’s solid value, especially when you consider the Veloster N’s kit — you even get all the active safety bits you’d expect these days, save for adaptive cruise control. An odd omission, but we’re nit-picking here.
Your buck goes pretty far in the world of hot hatches. The 2022 Hyundai Veloster N DCT isn’t the most refined or best-rounded choice, but for the money, it’ll without a doubt put the biggest smile on our face. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what being a hot-hatch is all about?
