The Elantra N is a hugely impressive little sport sedan. Overall performance is nearly unparalleled among front-wheel-drive cars thanks to a strong engine, nimble handling and some of the best steering you'll find on the road today. The ride is a bit stiff, and the interior can feel a bit loud and drab, but those are minor quibbles. Few cars are as much pure fun as this one.

Those front tires handle the turbocharged 2.0-liter quite well, with only a mild amount of torque steer at full throttle. Our manual transmission test car went from 0 to 60 mph in 6.4 seconds; Hyundai quotes a significantly lower time for the Elantra N with the optional dual-clutch transmission. There's lots of low and midrange power, and the gearing is short enough that the car always feels zippy even when passing at highway speeds. The six-speed's shifter isn't the snappiest we've tested, but it's accurate enough that we never missed a gear. The clutch pedal is light, and working it in traffic is relatively painless.

The 2024 Hyundai Elantra N is the high-performance version of the regular Elantra sedan. It comes with a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine good for 276 horsepower and 289 lb-ft of torque that drives the front wheels through either a six-speed manual transmission or an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic. Keep reading for a rundown of the most significant standard features that come on the Elantra N.

The Elantra N is a bit loud, and we're not just talking about the exhaust note. A moderate amount of wind and road noise makes its way into the cabin, and it only increases at highway speeds. It's not headache-inducing, and we never had to shout, but cars like the Volkswagen Golf GTI are a bit more refined. One thing the Elantra does have over the GTI is its excellent climate control system. It's easy to use and quick to get the cabin to the temperature you want.

The Hyundai Elantra N gets an EPA-estimated 24 mpg combined with the manual or 23 mpg combined with the automatic transmission. Those figures are a bit below average for the segment. But our test car posted an impressive 33.1 mpg on our mixed-driving evaluation route, plus reasonably good fuel economy during the rest of our test. This should be a pretty frugal car as long as you can avoid the temptation to be constantly hard on the gas.