2021 Hyundai Veloster N: Track Day Heat to Wake Up the Main Street

Bringing the N to the Street

Alas, no track days were on the schedule for me. Instead, it was a few laps around my Old Dominion home, plus a single endurance lap to and from Draper Valley Overlook. Pit stops included a trip to the grocery store with my mom, and an unplanned trip to my local Mr. Tire. The latter occurred following a trip to McDonald\’s, when the TPMS alerted me to the right rear losing pressure, falling to 27 psi compared to the 36 to 40 psi the other three Pirellis held. A patch stopped the leak, allowing me to safely continue my review.

All of those laps meant I needed to pit for fuel at least once before the Veloster N went back home. Hyundai says the hot hatch manages 20 mpg in town, 27 on the open road, 22 combined. I pulled in 22.8 mpg. Ride quality was good, though low-profile tires like the ones on this ride will make bumps more noticeable. It\’s one thing to respect them at Sebring, another when going to the laundromat.

And of course, I\’d rather have a fourth door. Or two long ones. The asymmetrical two-one configuration feels like a throwback to the Nineties, when the second-gen Saturn SC was one of a few models to offer such a configuration, before everyone realized it would be better to have a fourth door overall. At least the one on the Veloster line isn\’t a sliver, though.

In Closing

If you ever wanted to drive a race car on the street, the Hyundai Veloster N is your pit pass to bring the experience home. It\’s also one of the few machines around to easily head from the street to the track from the factory. You may want to buy some all-seasons for the rest of the year if you want to keep driving after the last checkered flag drops, though.

Photos: Aubernon Highway/Cameron Aubernon