It’s the battle of the front-drive heroes, established swag versus the brand new child, the Honda Civic Sort R versus the Hyundai Elantra N. Editor-at-large Alanis King and I took the 2 sport compact heroes to the canyons to seek out out a easy query: Which is healthier?

Finances efficiency has by no means been higher. Although “low cost” is a relative time period, the $45,595 Civic Sort R and $35,100 Elantra N are the head of front-driven sport compact automobiles, and are each within the realm of attainability. The problem is simply how shut the Hyundai Elantra N will get for over $10,000 much less.

Even with that value hole, the Elantra N and CTR really feel like a pure comparability, two automobiles which have broadly comparable specs, functions, and audiences. But, they do not deal with the difficulty of front-drive in the identical means. Every automobile leverages expertise in virtually diametrically opposed methods, with the Elantra making the perfect of mechanical grip, whereas the Sort R makes use of brake vectoring trickery to bend physics to its will.

Right here’s the kicker: With its 2025 updates, the Elantra N will get startlingly near the Sort R in outright efficiency. The place earlier than you may make the argument that the value hole was justified by efficiency, now the Elantra does the identical job with a lot much less. Now, it’s much less about velocity and extra about what both automobile does emotionally. The vibes, if you’ll.

We decided, and also you’ll have to observe the video to seek out out. Take pleasure in.