It’s nearly 2025 and we’re suffering from a lack of positively eff-off-huge rear wings on bone stock sport compact cars. The Subaru WRX STI has been dead for years, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution has been dead for even longer, and even the current Honda Civic Type R‘s rear wing is more reserved than the enormous hoop fitted on the old one. Well, leave it to Hyundai to come along and fix this. The Elantra N TCR Edition pays tribute to racing by bolting a sedan to a wing, and it certainly seems like it’s likely coming to America next year.
With front-wheel-drive and a two-liter four-cylinder engine, the Elantra N is an ideal base for a TCR touring car, and indeed, Hyundai’s been building and selling just that. Since launching for the 2021 racing season, the Elantra N TCR car has seen reasonable success, having been driven to class championship victory in IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge for the last two years in a row. Obviously, this is something to celebrate, so in addition to amping up the visuals, Hyundai’s added some real performance goodies.
First, let’s talk about that wing. The standard Elantra N isn’t the sort of car you buy for its subtlety, but this enormous adjustable swan-neck wing with a carbon fiber element is some serious racetrack stuff. Curiously, there’s no extra-large front splitter to balance out any newfound rear downforce, which suggests that the wing either isn’t doing a ton in its default setting or vastly reduces the Elantra N’s propensity to rotate into high-speed corners. Either way, it looks mental, and sometimes that’s exactly what we need.
In addition to the wing, the other big news is a pair of four-piston monoblock brake calipers up front, an interesting upgrade because I never really craved bigger calipers on the Elantra N. Even hot-lapping Sonoma Raceway, the stock Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires got greasy long before the brakes even hinted at losing effectiveness, but for the weekend warrior on sticky aftermarket semi-slick tires, this might be just what the doctor ordered.
Those calipers sit behind a new style of 19-inch forged aluminum alloy wheel that has to be one of the best Y-spoke designs I’ve seen in years. Beefy lip, dropped centers, reasonably sized spokes, not too ornate, and you can even get them in white if you’re allergic to black wheels. Mind you, speaking of cosmetic treatments, the white wheels come paired with a properly loud graphics package that Hyundai claims won’t be available outside Korea. Expect other cosmetic touches like the blue noon marker on the steering wheel to carry over, but if you want the livery, you might need to get busy with the Cricut.
What will be available outside Korea is the Elantra N TCR edition itself, and there’s some pretty good evidence of it likely coming to America. For starters, Hyundai shared news of this car on its U.S. media portal, stating that it will be “expanding the rollout to global markets next year.” Then there’s the fact that the powertrain is identical to the standard Elantra N, a two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine hitched to either a six-speed manual or eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. That ought to simplify certification over here.
As it stands, the Hyundai Elantra N TCR Edition is the sport compact segment’s new winged warrior. Should it make it to America in the new year, expect a premium over the standard model’s starting price of $35,100 including freight, but don’t be surprised if it still undercuts some other serious competitors in the segment.
(Photo credits: Hyundai)
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My Kona N is far more fun than it has any right to be. Do want.
This has passed “wing” status it is now bigger than a wing it is now a “Waaaaang.” It might even be big enough to be considered a B.F.W (BiG F***ing Wing)
Yep, back in the ’80s ole Shel made the Dodge Omni Shelby “GLH” edition, for goes like hell. Now Hyundai has the Elantra “BFW” edition. I say add some graphics to the bottom of the doors that say “WAAANG”, ya know. If you are going to make something that looks like a a Disney cartoon character from “Cars 3”, just go ahead and lean into it.
I would put the letters on the underside of the wing!
The one with the livery and properly attached wing actually looks neat
Even me, someone whose entire design philosophy was shaped by Fast and Furious, hates this. Did they put it on backwards?
Yeah those raked forward struts look backwards. Who approved that??
Well that kinda looks like shit. But sure.
How do we make the Elantra N more EXTREME? I don’t know, just wing it.
Forget the wing, I just want that gloriously huge N graphic on the sides! The automotive world has been sorely lacking in big absurd graphics packages for decades now! Give us the N, Hyundai!
I thought I was the only one who felt this way.
From an engineering perspective, why is the structural support on the top? It interferes with the airflow and makes the support taller (and slightly heavier).
If I recall correctly, it is advantageous from an aero perspective. Keeping the underside of the wing free of obstruction helps generate more downforce than having it mount there. Starting to see more of these goosenecks on racecars and production cars.
The important airflow on a wing is actually the underside, so you want to keep that air as clean as possible.
I always thought that these were acting more like a stabilizer at high speeds. When you get going really fast, especially in a lighter weight car, the wind can flow under the car and lift it just enough to reduce traction. The spoiler catches the wind and settles the car back down to the street. Extreme versions can push down even more than the car weighs so in cornering it amplifies the traction of the tires and lets you go faster around.
I’m not an engineer and I actually very rarely know what I’m talking about and could easily be wrong on the details here but that is how it was explained to me. Most spoilers are actually stabilizers if they are in any way functional and only extreme cars are actually adding downforce.
I do love a big stupid spoiler on cars. Is it immature or boy racerish, maybe, I don’t care. I have the rest of my life to be old and boring.
I love that you said this this way instead of the opposite! It made me smile.
Daily-able car with an awesome spoiler thats stock? FRICK YEAH!!!
The Elantra N PepBoys edition.
As if it didn’t already look like one in the first place….
More serious brakes are actually a good upgrade for these cars. The stock N brakes are nothing special, they’re essentially just regular Kia/Hyundai brakes from larger vehicles. The stopping distances for the EN and my Kona N actually lag behind the competition significantly and in practice I legitimately don’t like them because the stopping distances are just a little too long for me personally when it comes to city driving…although I do have performance all seasons on my car which aren’t helping matters.
They also get very squishy and vague if you’re driving these cars seriously, which you should be. My brakes were totally numb after an HPDE day and needed a full flush and fluid change…they also got very hot and faded quite a bit while lapping. Hyundai advertises these as being track capable right out of the box…and they mostly are, but I’m probably going to do pads and fluid before my next track day.
All in all this is definitely whelming. Usually these special editions hold their value a little better but Hyundais depreciate so goddamn much that it absolutely won’t in this case…and you know their shitty dealerships are going to treat this car like a holy grail even though it isn’t.
I think you’d be better off buying a lightly used EN once some bozo like me has already taken the depreciation to the face and doing the brakes yourself…but keep in mind you’re playing reliability Russian Roulette when it comes to the powertrain. I certainly can’t recommend an N product in good faith 2.5 years into my ownership experience.
Figured you’d have some good insight here. It’s interesting to me that as there’s more performance goodies to put into reasonably-priced performance cars, it seems manufacturers have to look to cut costs somewhere.
My ’02 Mustang doesn’t have a ton of any of that, but on the plus side, I guess that means more resources were freed up to work with on what she does have – her brakes are decent and she’d hold up fine during track days back in the past. Ford’s OEM pads even resisted fading longer than I’d have expected.
That does not look like an optimal ramen tray: I am disapoint
When I was young and more stupid 40 years ago, I would mock dudes with big wings on FWD cars. How much to they actually help a FWD car in daily driving?
Saw an early 90s, otherwise stock, Camry this morning with a massive wing on it. Driven by a grizzled gentleman at least in his late 40s. Chortling is a great way to start a a Monday
I never thought I’d say it, but I’m nostalgic for the spoiler era at this point. I guess the contemporary equivalent is lower body cladding (so what I really miss is cars), but at the time, I remember how rare it became to see a sedan or coupe without one. Pontiac’s ones with the crazy little winglets on top were peak.
I never thought I’d say it, but I kind of miss Pontiacs from the ‘We add excitement by plastering cars with cladding!’ years—specifically the wings with the little diamond nubs sticking up on top of the spoilers above where the supports were.
-behind one the other day and had a little nostalgia moment.
I saw an early ’90s Pontiac Sunfire GT (the one they restyled to mimic the Grand Prix GTP’s front end) with an aftermarket spoiler in the WRX STi “box” style the other day and I though to myself “My standards must have fallen so low for me to want this.” It just looked cool.
Having an early Bugeye, I started out hating the STI wing—but now kind of like it. Maybe I’m habituated, but my theory is that, being subjected to all sorts of Xtreme Stying, they are barely noticeable these days.
plus, the video of the young lady eating ramen off one was pretty cute
They make the trunk stay closed.
A rear wing on a FWD car is almost exactly as useful as a rear wing on a RWD car.
You use downforce (or more likely reduced lift) mostly when cornering. Unless you have obscene levels of power you aren’t going to be traction limited at the speeds when aero starts to help.
What you want is balance at speed. Look at how unstable the FWD original TT was before they rushed the spoiler into production.
However in this case the standard car isn’t dangerously oversteery at speed, and with no change to aero at the front it’s safe to assume this wing does very little.
Even when ‘young and stupid’, the first thing I did to my Dodge Stealth R/T after I bought it was to get rid of the rear wing.
Mind you, it didn’t have any aerodynamic effect, but even if it did I’d still have taken it off.
I’ve always been one for ‘sleeper’ looks, and even kept stock exhausts on my bikes and on my track cars (within reason, sometimes a bigger downpipe was required for bigger turbos/more boost, but resonators are a must for me).