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2021 Hyundai Elantra N Line looks sharp and has performance to match

The angular Elantra gets more power and more style.

Steven Ewing Former managing editor
Steven Ewing spent his childhood reading car magazines, making his career as an automotive journalist an absolute dream job. After getting his foot in the door at Automobile while he was still a teenager, Ewing found homes on the mastheads at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog and Motor1.com before joining the CNET team in 2018. He has also served on the World Car Awards jury. Ewing grew up ingrained in the car culture of Detroit -- the Motor City -- before eventually moving to Los Angeles. In his free time, Ewing loves to cook, binge trash TV and play the drums.
Steven Ewing
2 min read
2021 Hyundai Elantra N Line
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2021 Hyundai Elantra N Line

This thing looks pretty cool.

Hyundai

The 2021 Hyundai Elantra is one sharply styled sedan. Now its performance gets a little sharper, too, with the debut of the Elantra N Line, which announced on Wednesday.

The Elantra N Line looks good, and wears Hyundai's geometric design language well. Model-specific side skirts and 18-inch wheels give the Elantra a nice stance, while larger front air intakes, an integrated lip spoiler, dual exhaust pipes and a rear diffuser drive home the more aggressive nature of this little sport sedan.

It's not all about show, however. The Elantra N Line is powered by a 1.6-liter turbo I4 engine with 201 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque. Both a six-speed manual and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission will be offered, and Hyundai says the N Line has a multilink rear suspension, larger front brake rotors and a stiffer suspension setup.

Inside, the Elantra N Line gets a new steering wheel, sport seats and metal pedals, and the DCT-equipped models have paddle shifters. Otherwise, the N Line looks to have all the same interior equipment as the standard Elantra, including a touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility.

Speaking of tech, the N Line will come with forward-collision warning, lane-keeping assist, automatic high-beams, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert. Hyundai's nifty Digital Key will be included, as well, for Android users.

It's unclear exactly how much the Elantra N Line will cost, but the current version -- the 2020 Elantra Sport -- comes in around $25,000 including destination. We can't imagine the 2021 N Line will be priced much higher than that, meaning Hyundai's little sport compact should continue to be a pretty solid performance value.

2021 Hyundai Elantra gets the sporty N Line treatment

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