It’s wild to think Hyundai’s N division has been around for a decade. It sure doesn’t feel like it, given that we first tasted the fruits of Hyundai’s proper-hot-hatch labours in 2019. But every gearhead across this content — from the Atlantic to the Pacific; from the Kennedy Channel to the Gulf of America Mexico — knows everyone else gets the good stuff before we do, and just like that, we remember lusting after the i30 N like it was yesterday.

Fitting, then, that for once, we get something before someone else. That something is the 2026 Hyundai Elantra N TCR Edition, and that some else is the United States of America. Take that, suckers!

What’s new for 2025—er, 2026?

Fresh off a thorough de-uglifying last year, the standard Elantra N carries over mostly unchanged. No complaints there; we always appreciated the N’s knack for offering Civic Type R numbers for GTI money. Then there’s this bewinged Elantra N TCR Edition, celebrating the sub-brand’s 10th anniversary worldwide by drawing inspiration from its own racing efforts.

TCR, or Touring Car Racing, has been around since 2014. It’s reserved for front-wheel-drive production cars with four or five doors, powered by small turbocharged engines capped at two litres of displacement. It’s no coincidence that sounds a lot like the Elantra N’s formula, and hardly surprising the N division has been tearing up the track globally ever since the Elantra N’s launch in 2021.

To that end, this production-spec Elantra N TCR Edition leans heavily into its racy persona, for better or worse. The first thing you’ll notice is the huge-ass wing on the trunk. It’s a swan-neck wing, meaning it’ll win brownie points among bench racers because the wing mounts curve over and attach to the the airfoil like they would on a 911 GT3 — or on the actual Elantra N TCR race car. It’s obviously made of carbon fibre, it can be adjusted eight ways, and it looks either wicked or ridiculous. Granted it does add a tangible amount of rear-end stability, you’d have to be going really, really fast on a bouncy straight to notice a difference.

Very neat! What else do you get?

The next thing you’ll notice are the wheels, and what’s behind them. The Elantra N TCR Edtion rolls on 19-inch forged wheels finished in black — they really should’ve been white, like the race car — wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 summer tires. These are legit tires, standard issue on countless Porsche GT cars, Corvettes, and AMGs — and here they are on a Hyundai, of all things. Peeking through the wheels up front are four-piston monoblock brakes with two-piece aluminum rotors, all lending to less weight at each corner.

Like any good infomercial, but wait, there’s more! Hyundai threw a lot of Alcantara in the Elantra N TCR Edition’s cabin. In addition to the seats and door panels, it’s now on the steering wheel, shift knob, and handbrake lever tastefully accented by powder blue stitching that matches the seatbelts. You also get floor mats and door sills with the “N Performance” logo, and “TCR Edition” puddle lights, because of course you get puddle lights.

The rest of the cabin is fairly standard issue. It’s comfy, roomy enough, and well-put-together. If we had to nitpick, the all-black-everything feels a little dreary and maybe somewhat claustrophobic, but the blue accents and ambient lighting brighten things up. A software upgrade to Hyundai’s latest infotainment would be nice, if just for wireless CarPlay and Android Auto. I was going to complain about the cool-looking rear strut brace impeding cargo space when you fold the seats, but not only is the Elantra’s 402-litre trunk properly roomy anyway, you can easily unbolt the brace for Ikea runs.

Powertrain, performance, and driving impressions

Hyundai’s legit Elantra N TCR race cars put out 350 horsepower, but regardless of how big the wing is on the back, all production-spec Elantra Ns kick out 276 hp and 289 lb-ft of torque from a 2.0-litre turbo-four. It sits in the same middle-ground as other spicy compacts like the WRX and GR Corolla: perhaps not quite as potent numbers-wise as the Civic Type R and Golf R, but more juice than the Civic Si and Golf GTI. Now, whether you’ll able to actually outrun any of ’em depends on your footwork, and whether you’ve picked the Elantra N’s six-speed manual or eight-speed dual-clutch automatic.

Our tester featured the former. The shifter is pretty good — not as excessively tall like the WRX, not excessively vague and rubbery like the GTI and Golf R, but lacking the crispness of the Civic Si and Type R. The clutch, on the other hand, dampens the experience. There’s next to no feedback through the pedal, making it nearly impossible to feel where it starts to bite. Everyone at the office stalled at least once pulling into or out of a parking spot.

Once you get used to the clutch, the Elantra N TCR is a riot. There’s a hint of turbo lag off the line, but it builds boost forcefully and keeps going strong the way up to redline. Its steering is well-weighted and surprisingly communicative. There’s a bit of extra road noise on account of the Cup 2s as well, but the sheer grip they return belies the Elantra N’s front-wheel-drive nature.

In fact, torque steer is pretty much nonexistent; it’ll naturally want to undesteer, but with the Cup 2s, adaptive dampers, and limited-slip diff all working together to keep the shiny side up, it has no right to hold a line through a tight corner as well as it does. What did surprise us was the Elantra N’s manners when settling down; it rides so much better than before, but we didn’t count on Hyundai toning down the pops-and-burbles so much, for better or worse.

Is the Elantra N TCR Edition worth it?

This is very much the tricky part. At a hair under $41,000 to start, the “regular” Elantra N is incredible value given its performance credentials right out of the box, but that works against the TCR Edition’s favour. The forged wheels, upsized brakes, and Cup 2s are absolutely welcome additions, niceties like the extra Alcantara bits inside make the touchpoints feel appreciably nicer, and the wing is distinctive if nothing else.

Trouble is, those extras bump the 2026 Hyundai Elantra N TCR Edition to $47,599 as-tested for our stick tester. Spec the dual-clutch automatic and you’re knocking on the door of $50,000—and at that point, heavy hitters like the Golf R and Civic Type R aren’t much of a stretch. You’ll have to really, really dig the wing in order to justify the ask. Otherwise, stick with the standard N — for the money, it doesn’t get any better right out of the box — and get yourself a set of Cup 2s.