Can The Hyundai i20 N Take The Crown From The Ford Fiesta ST?

The Ford Fiesta ST has long been the king of small hot hatches but with the new Hyundai i20 N, it now has a new rival on its hands.

Powering the Korean i20 N is a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with 201 hp and 203 lb-ft (275 Nm) of torque. This engine is coupled to a six-speed manual transmission driving the front wheels through a limited-slip differential. By comparison, the Ford Fiesta ST has a slightly smaller 1.5-liter EcoBoost three-cylinder making 197 hp and 214 lb-ft (290 Nm) of torque. It too gets a six-speed manual and an LSD powering the front wheels.

To put the duo through their paces, Dan Prosser from Piston Heads headed on to some nice British B-roads. Admittedly, the test features the Performance Edition variant of the Fiesta ST which does gives it a bit of an advantage over the i20 N.

The first half of the review focuses on the Fiesta ST. The reviewer is clearly a very big fan of it, calling it one of the best current performance cars at any price. It dances through the corners, thanks to a rear-end that likes to kick around when you push it hard.

He says that the i20 N handles in a very similar way. Both cars have fixed-rate suspension, meaning you can’t adjust the ride quality. As such, both are quite tense and quite stiff, although that’s to be expected from a potent hot hatch. The question though is, at the end of the day, which would you rather have in your garage?

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