How Courage Turned a Hyundai Elantra N Into a Street-Legal Track Beast - Episode 1
Cool Cars with Chris: Car Talk, Driving Tips & Auto Life
How Courage Turned a Hyundai Elantra N Into a Street-Legal Track Beast - Episode 1
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What makes a dad pick a Hyundai Elantra in and turn it into a track-worthy ride?
Well, find out on the very first episode of Cool Cars with Chris.
Hey, what's happening? How are you doing today?
Thank you so much for being here. I am Chris, and this is the official launch,
the official first episode of Cool Cars with Chris.
Thank you so much for being here. This has been a project of mine for going back probably 20 years.
I think about it when I first really started getting really involved with creating car content and car type stuff.
And this is a show that I've always wanted to create.
Now you might recognize me from other shows like the Chris and Kirstin show.
Shows like recently, Podtastic Audio.
I'll have links to those shows down in the show notes of this episode if you want to check that out.
But here we are coming full circle back around talking about cars.
I love cool cars. Hopefully you love cool cars too.
And the way I kind of define what a cool car is basically is this.
If you don't know you have a cool car, you don't have a cool car.
Everyone that has a cool car knows they've got a cool car.
I used to have a Nissan 370Z and I love that car.
I did some upgrades to the car. I love that car.
And I remember that I would drive it down the road and people would like shout out cool car, cool car.
Or the kids in the neighborhood would say things like that's a really cool car. Love your car.
It's so cool. Everybody love that thing.
And so I know what it feels like firsthand to have a really, really cool car that you want to showcase.
You want to share. You want people to be like, wow, that is a super cool car.
I really dig it. So that is what the show is all about.
I invite you with your cool car to come on Cool Cars with Chris
and we are going to talk about it, showcase it and go for a ride.
This is the audio podcast version of Cool Cars with Chris.
But don't you worry, there is a full video version 4K baby of Cool Cars with Chris.
Now on this audio podcast version, it's going to be the full conversation we had talking about cars and your cool car.
And on the YouTube version, it's going to be a chopped up, diced up, visual, you know, smaller version of that.
But it's going to be more visual related stuff.
This is the audio version, which is going to be audio related stuff.
So I'm keeping the audio separate from the video.
So if you want to see what we're talking about, subscribe to the video on YouTube.
And if you want to stay right here and listen to the fun conversations, stay right here.
But hey, why not both, right?
So kicking us off with the very first episode of Cool Cars with Chris.
I'm joined by Courage and Courage Hyundai Elantra N.
Now I knew hardly anything about the Hyundai Elantra N series.
And I do know that it is a performance division of Hyundai and Hyundai's cars.
Now the Hyundai Elantra is a four cylinder turbo car and it's got bigger brakes.
It's got bigger wheels. It's got a lot of cool things.
We like to see this in person to really get the full effect of what this car has.
It's not just an appearance package because they've got the power to back it up.
So today Courage brings over his Hyundai Elantra N and this is that conversation.
Okay, welcome everybody to another edition of Cool Cars with Chris.
I am Chris and we are with a cool car and its owner Courage is literally here in physically in person.
You have Courage. How are you doing today, buddy?
I'm doing great, Chris. Thanks for having me, man.
And this is fantastic, lovely Saturday.
Yeah.
And you came all the way down here from Temecula.
Yep, yep.
Wow. What's the drive like by the way these days? Is it a lot of traffic?
Not on Saturdays, luckily.
This is a pretty straight shoot.
And I actually stopped off at Rancho Santa Fe cars and coffee locally out here too.
So nice little morning there, but no, I had no complaints traffic-wise.
Nice.
So take me back to what made you want to buy this car in the first place.
This is a Hyundai Elantra N series.
Yep.
And you first rented a Turo.
On Turo, you first rented a car.
What kind of car did you rent and what made you want to buy this car?
Yeah, no.
So I started, you know, every time I ran on Turo, I tried to find something interesting.
And I was actually going to run a Golf R before.
That was the first choice.
And the guy two days beforehand told me that he sold the car.
And so I was like, oh, well, do you have anything else?
And told me he had a 328i.
And I was like, well, you know, I've driven those before.
I wanted to try something else.
So Skyward and Turo ended up finding a black DCT transmission.
They had the sunroof.
They're the only real different sunroof and automatic transmission.
And absolutely loved that car.
I drove it up through Lake Tahoe, through some curvy back roads.
Obviously on the highway, I was impressed by the power.
And I just, I fell in love with it.
It was just a total package.
I have two little ones.
So I needed something that was practical.
And this was super practical.
We had still fun.
And so I pulled the trigger probably two or three months after and said,
like, this is the car that I want to, that I want to be the fun car slash,
you know, still do the daddy, the dad duties at the end of the day.
Right.
That's the thing too is like a lot of these sports cars,
because I've owned sports cars and a lot of them don't have like back
seats.
Yeah.
Well, some, some do, but so, so you have you taken this on many road trips
car?
Oh yeah.
So the, the most recent one was actually Monterey car week.
Went there in August and literally stuffed four people's worth of stuff in
the back trunk.
Some, some, my kids are young enough where I can still put stuff in the
foot wells and things like that.
We did utilize that.
I used the rear kind of shelf in the back too.
It did it.
No issues at all.
We fit everything we needed.
Everybody was comfortable and I would do it again.
We're actually planning to do it again next year too.
Nice.
Nice.
Yeah.
I love, I love cars and I've always had cool cars.
I love cars.
Can I tell you a little story about my, I've owned a Hyundai once too,
but it's funny because the Hyundai I had was my sister had picked this
car up for literally like $200.
It was like a 97 Hyundai with a dent in the door base model.
I think it was the small version, maybe the Elantra.
No accent.
Oh yeah.
It was the accent and we had that thing and I need to borrow a car
for a little while because I need, I just need a car for work or whatever.
Yeah.
And I drove the thing for like almost a year.
It had, it burned through oil.
Yeah.
It smoked.
It is a five speed had no like air conditioning or anything.
I had like 13 inch wheels.
Yeah.
It was really on the other road.
It's supposed to get in the rain.
That is cool.
It was a five speed though.
Yeah.
It was a five speed.
I didn't have a tack though.
I just had like, I'm sorry.
This thing was a base as a base gets.
Yeah.
And she bought it by 200 bucks.
And I remember I took a thing into the whatever cheapest oil
change place I could find.
Uh-huh.
I took it in there and I said, Hey, just give me the basic cheap
oil change on the thing.
It's $200 car.
Yeah.
And the guy's like, well it needs this.
He needs that.
I said, dude, just change the freaking oil because it's all,
it's a $200 car.
I gotta tell him it's $200 car.
But it's basically all I had.
I do everything for like a year.
She ended up selling it to like a friend of hers,
like 200 bucks.
Yes.
But it ran.
I just changed the oil and it ran.
It ran for like a year.
So I guess, I mean, how reliable are hundays?
I mean, have you had any issues with yours at all?
Probably a new car, but it's a great question.
I mean, I get it a lot because of kind of the,
the rep that Kia and Hyundai have had over the last couple
of decades.
I haven't had any issues that weren't self-imposed.
I'll just put it that way.
What am I self-imposed?
So there were a couple of things in,
in modding this car, which I told myself I wasn't going
to mod the car when I first bought it,
that it was exactly how I needed it.
And I wasn't going to do anything.
Two years into that, I ended up modding the car.
The first few things I did were the intake.
And then I ultimately ended up going with the JB4 tune,
which is basically a piggyback tune.
And so you got this car tuned in California.
How did you pull that off?
Let's just say that it flies under the radar enough
that I haven't had an issue with it yet.
Well, it's fairly new.
So I don't think you have to worry about getting it smogged
anytime soon.
But when you do come up to smog,
what are you going to do?
So this, the big thing about the piggyback tune,
it gets a lot of kind of, you know, back and forth.
You know, should you do it?
Should you not?
It's actually plug and play.
So it's a box inside the under the hood that literally
is kind of feeding information in through the ECU.
And I can literally unplug it.
And there's no trace of it at all.
So do you notice if you do, we can do and plug the,
well, do you, first did you notice the tune at all
in the first place?
Do you notice the difference in power?
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
So what does this come with stock at the door?
If you're going to buy a car today,
what do you get like horsepower wise?
Horsepower wise.
So this is interesting with this car.
There's kind of two modes of base like with,
with non-octane learn is what they kind of call it.
You're putting out about 240 to the wheels.
It's rated at 260.
276 horsepower.
Yeah, stocks a lot.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so without octane learning,
you're about 240 horsepower with it octane learning.
And I've actually had some videos where I posted results on this.
I've put down 271 to the wheel.
You've actually dino this.
And I've actually had a dino.
Correct.
Wow.
And so with the tune, I would definitely say in,
and because I have different maps on the tune with them,
the highest map that I go to currently,
I'm definitely closer to 280 or 290 to the wheels.
At the wheels.
Yeah.
And what size engine is this?
Cause this is not very big motor.
I mean, I saw the thing firsthand.
It's tiny.
Well, well, I know you post on your Instagram,
some different reels that it feeds.
It's definitely the size of a leader of a milk jug.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
It's a 2-liter.
2-liter, 2-liter 4-cylinder, of course.
And then of course they got,
I'm sure it's direct injection,
double over cam and all that stuff.
That's kind of what these days now.
I mean, my truck is still,
is a direct injection with a fuel injection.
Yeah.
I actually didn't know that was possible to have both.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This engine, I have the,
I have the Coyote V8 with the third gen.
Oh, wow.
And it has, yeah, it has a dual,
but I think the fourth gen's got the auto shut off.
Cylinder shut off.
Mine doesn't have that.
The active, yeah.
Mine's before that, but,
but yeah.
So mine runs on ethanol.
Does yours run on ethanol?
So it can.
I had actually,
I've been toying around with kind of E30 mixes.
You can't go full E85 though.
You'll have to re,
you can kind of over all the fuel system,
get new injectors.
So yeah, it can't do a full blend of,
it can't do a full E85,
but you can do blends
and they get you some extra power.
If you do like an E20 or E30 blend,
you can definitely get, you know,
three 20, three 30 sometimes I see folks with.
So yeah, it's possible.
Just not like a full E85 run.
That takes a lot of work.
Yeah.
My truck's flexible.
I've been using 85 for a while.
I've used it for a little while,
but I had some issues with check engine light
would come on that I would run regular back through
and it would go away.
Yeah.
So it's,
I didn't notice a slight increase in power with it.
So it does help, I guess.
And they say it cleans it out
and that kind of stuff too.
But yeah,
it is much cheaper,
that much.
Yeah.
When I see E85 prices,
I'm like, man,
why can't I run?
I realized like you burn through it a lot faster.
Dude, my truck,
like it went,
it dropped down probably three,
because it has the miles per gallon kind of average.
Yeah.
In a drop by like three gallons.
Yeah.
On the 85.
Yeah.
So I noticed that too,
but it was fun for a while.
And I switched back to gas,
but I had a male switch back and forth.
That's a nice thing about having flex fuel.
Yeah.
Is you can kind of flex out what you want.
And,
but,
but I've always loved cool cars.
This is a super cool car.
And,
so,
you know,
every car kind of has like its little quirks or things like that.
You're kind of like,
I wish it didn't do that.
So is there anything on this car?
Yeah.
That you're like, I wish,
I don't know.
Yeah.
There's two just right out of the gate.
One is actually the octane learn situation,
because it's,
I call it kind of a rain dance to get it to work,
because you have to,
there's actually an owner's manual
or a section in the owner's manual,
where you have to drive kind of freeway highway driving
above 70 for like a period of like 10 minutes
or something like that.
And it allows the car to learn what fuel is in the car.
And then it'll unlock that extra boost.
Cause stock, stock,
it'll boost at about 15 PSI.
But once it's octane learn,
it'll actually bump it up to 20 PSI.
Oh, nice.
And so that's where you get that extra power box.
You get a boost gauge in the car.
You do.
Yeah.
So the gauge,
gauge cluster has like a little,
it has a boost gauge,
which isn't like,
and I'd be hugely accurate,
but the JV4 actually has an app that I kind of put off to the side.
It actually does have a pretty accurate kind of boost cow,
cow cough of it.
But yeah,
that's my biggest annoyance because you can do all of the
process of octane learning and it won't,
it won't do it.
And so,
and there's no indicator of when it actually happens.
And so the only way you know is just,
you know,
randomly you put your foot down on the,
on the freeway and you see,
does it go to 20 PSI or does it stay at 15?
That's the only way you know.
Now,
now being that it's a turbo,
twin turbo or single turbo?
Single turbo.
Single turbo.
Does it, do you feel,
is there a turbo lag to the car?
This is actually,
I'm surprised that they've,
the power band is really linear in the,
in this car.
And you know,
torque comes on full torque is actually 22 or 2300 RPMs.
So it comes on pretty quick.
Like it's not really like some of the bigger turbo
applications where you,
you do feel that noticeable lag.
I can,
I can pass people pretty quickly in six gear.
If I'm at about 25,
it is a six speed.
Yeah.
So I'm not even really needing the downshift unless like you
really need to move somewhere,
but that's just how well the,
the turbo acclimates to just like,
once you put your foot down,
it spools up pretty quick.
Nice.
Yeah.
These new two turbos,
especially like the EcoBoost Ford's,
they're pretty smooth too.
I know I drove an expedition once with the EcoBoost 3.5
and even though it's a big car,
it felt like it was like a small car.
It just felt like small,
just felt nimble like a,
it's just the way it zoomed around the freeways,
the way it zoomed between traffic and just cut around and stuff.
It just felt so simple to drive.
Yeah.
That I was like, man, this is,
and I probably to pop the hood.
Cause I rented it.
You had to see like what's going on.
What is this thing?
Yeah.
And I kind of felt like it was a,
it didn't feel like a V8.
Can you drive V8?
You kind of could tell it's a V8.
It has that grumble.
Yeah.
You kind of could tell it's a V8.
Yeah.
This didn't feel like a V8.
So and,
It probably didn't sound like it.
No, it didn't.
It didn't sound,
well, some of these V8s,
like my truck was pretty quiet too.
Yeah.
They didn't tell,
they took the cap off the exhaust.
Oh yeah.
Because I'm about to,
I'm about to start from the dealership.
They had the exhaust on it,
stock from the,
from Roush,
but they had this little blocking plate on there.
Cause they have two,
it's a dual exhaust.
They cap one of them.
Yeah.
So the quiet side and the loud side,
they cap the loud side.
So you take it back to dealership.
Yeah.
They remove the loud side off and then you get it back.
Oh, there it is.
That I could tell.
Well, that's similar actually to how this works.
Cause this actually has an active exhaust.
You can change it by mode or you can just,
really?
Yeah.
Or you can just see,
you can actually make a custom mode.
And if you want to have,
say the engine fully in like it's performance mode,
but the exhaust closed,
you can actually set that as a setting in the car.
But actually in a sense,
it's sort of a little cheating because it's dual exhaust,
but the valve is on one side.
So it's,
so in quiet mode,
essentially you're only running out of one side.
And that's how they quiet it down.
But then once you open the flap,
it's going out of both.
And that's when you get the full,
the full show,
I guess you can say,
nice.
But yeah,
it sounds pretty similar to that.
Yeah.
Well,
there's a switch mode one.
There's like,
I guess this Roush exhaust is like a basic,
just on the car.
It's just on, yeah.
On.
The other ones,
do you have a on and off motor?
You can switch the valve.
I guess the loud or quiet or whatever.
It's only not that loud.
Even when I have my Z,
I had the exhaust done.
And the guy asked me at the shop,
he says,
do you want to,
do you want to be loud
or do you want performance?
Yeah.
And I said performance all day, buddy.
Come on now,
let's get this thing zoom, zoom.
Let's go, you know.
Yeah.
Okay.
So I'll design you a full custom exhaust
with a cross pipe,
X pipe,
and, you know,
Magnaflow,
my florist,
we'll figure it,
map it all out.
And I got a killer deal on it.
And I think about it because
I shopped exhaust like on like,
these Google like exhaust for Zs,
they have the places,
websites have it.
Yeah.
And I was looking and a lot of them
were so expensive.
Mm hmm.
Like literally the whole thing installed
was like half the price of some of
these other exhausts were costing
just to ship them.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So what kind of exhaust in this car
is it stock?
No.
So it's stock right now.
And I honestly say right now,
are you planning on changing it?
So it would be silly of me to,
to do it.
And,
and I think on the driving portion,
you might kind of understand why
because this thing sounds pretty
crazy for a stock car.
And it's,
there's really no reason to get
an aftermarket exhaust,
but I personally would like,
maybe if it had not really a
louder tone,
but just like a deeper tone,
like just a little bit.
Yeah.
That is true.
That is true.
I've heard,
I've heard some that like Borla
has an exhaust system for it.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
There's another one in BRP
or something like that.
They,
they do have some good exhaust,
but I mean,
like you were saying,
the price is,
I mean,
none of them are under a grant.
Place,
place I went to,
I think you're still in business.
I just saw him post on Instagram
yesterday.
Yeah.
And they do custom piping,
custom exhaust,
catbacks and stuff.
And they've got different
variety of mufflers that
or whatever.
Yeah.
And they've got custom tips
and things like that.
And they'll do cross pipes,
H-pipes.
Are they here in San Diego?
Yeah.
They're actually in Spring Valley.
Okay.
Got you.
Yeah.
So hopefully future sponsor.
Look out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
For sure.
But,
but yeah,
they did a job there.
They did it all at their
custom shop.
And like,
I was looking at the receipt
recently when I sold the car,
I was looking at the receipt
for the exhaust.
Like,
I only paid that much
and I remember,
I remember
that when he backed out
under the bay
and he backed into the parking
spot
and the guy gave me like four
revs.
Yeah.
The mechanic.
And it sounded so sweet.
That's awesome.
And it was,
it had that,
because when you do the X pipe,
it has this kind of like
European kind of like
higher pitch sound.
Yeah.
When it hits the higher RPMs.
Yeah.
And it did that.
And I heard that
and I was like,
wow.
Yeah.
That's my car.
Yeah.
I was like, man,
that's awesome.
Driving home,
you just feel like you're in a race car.
Yeah.
You just feel like a weird,
it feels like a weird experience.
It was great though.
And that's the thing about them though.
That's like,
you really do need kind of,
with V sixes,
I think particularly,
and those like VQ engines,
you really kind of need that
scavenging of the X pipe.
Because I know a lot of guys
that straight pipe there,
there's these,
it's,
it's just not,
in my opinion,
it's just not the way to go.
It just,
it gets so raspy,
so droney,
but like going with the X pipe
and just having it scavenged where,
well,
you just get such a good sound out of it,
you know.
Yeah.
And I think having the,
the X pipe,
I knew nothing about X pipes at all.
You know,
I just want to get dual exhaust
and do nothing what an X pipe does.
And I had research today
and told me about it and stuff.
I was okay,
fine, whatever, you know,
you guys are the boss.
You guys are the shop.
I don't know.
You guys do your thing.
Yeah.
And so I did that
and,
and I also heard someone
on a YouTube channel say that
X pipes were legal in California.
I don't know.
Do you know anything about that?
I've never heard that before.
It's just as long as you don't touch.
Yeah.
That was, that's my knowledge.
As long as you don't touch the cats,
you're good.
And also the decimal level too.
That couldn't be over some decimal level.
That is, yeah.
That's fine.
Yeah.
So if you,
if you do do a cat back
that puts you over the decimal level,
they,
they kind of have some free reign,
but,
you know,
so
if,
if you
didn't buy this car
and you're looking for a sporty four door.
Yeah.
What else would you have bought other than this?
Ooh, that's a good question.
Oh,
are we,
is it,
is budget an issue?
Well,
I'm not saying like,
like the Lamborghini.
Obviously.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All speaking of which,
when I,
when I test drove the,
I test drove,
but I drove the GTR
on the racetrack in Vegas.
Yeah.
They get us in this Porsche.
Oh,
the Macan.
No,
I think it was a bigger one.
Okay,
the car.
Whatever,
whatever the SUV was.
Yeah.
And they took us,
like we had five of us in the car,
packed the car.
Yeah.
They took us to the track to give us like an actual,
like tour of the track.
These are all the different turns.
You get familiar with the track.
And so they take us in the car
and it's an SUV,
so it's a little higher up.
And this guy is doing 80 at corners
in a freaking SUV.
That's loaded with everybody in it.
Yeah.
And it's like sliding.
It's like drifting
and hitting the corners and stuff.
I'm like, holy crap,
they're going to die.
I'm really glad you brought that up
because I've done that.
I've done that before out in Vegas.
And I,
like when I,
when we got in the car
and he started doing it,
I was like,
what in the world is going on here?
Like,
what are you driving Vegas?
When I went,
I did the,
I did a C8 Corvette.
It was the base.
And then I did a GT4,
the Cayman GT4 right after.
And it was really cool to see kind of how
Porsche has been doing this,
this is their DNA versus like,
you know,
Chevy's first attempt at a C8
and making a mid-engine and everything.
Oh, right, right, right.
I was just surprised
that the actual SUV held to the ground.
That was, yeah.
Because I've been an SUV before
and they always say
if you go in any SUV you buy,
if you look under the visor,
you'll see like the tip over,
my truck's got it too.
Oh, they got the, yeah.
Watch out for turnings
because the car will tip over,
high tire center, gravity,
and all that.
And so this thing held the ground
and it flew around the corner.
So what car would you get?
I mean, I'll say price is not an option,
but say,
let's be reasonable, yeah.
Let's be reasonable here.
You know, it's like a crazier.
What would you,
what would you get?
I'll give you two.
I'll give you one that would be a stretch
and one that would,
you know, be basically,
I can do it tomorrow maybe.
The one that I would do tomorrow,
I mean,
it would probably have to be,
I mean,
as stereotypical as it kind of is.
Actually, no,
that was the wrong answer.
What I would actually choose
is the Acura Integra Type S.
The new Integra, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah, it's got a stick shift
and it's probably its closest competitor
to this, right?
Pretty close, yeah.
The Type S,
that's the one I saw.
It's like 70 grand, isn't it?
They, well, yeah,
with everything all in,
like you're probably looking at that,
probably like 60 or so.
The Type R,
the Civic Type R is like,
yeah, that one's about like
out the door,
probably 55 or so.
Is that all wheel drives?
All wheel drive?
They aren't, no,
neither one,
both front wheel drive.
Is this all wheel drive?
Front wheel drive as well.
So not all wheel drive?
Nope.
Which one had the all wheel drive?
That's the GR,
the GR Corolla.
Okay.
Which,
that's always kind of a question too.
That just,
I mean,
and I do kind of like
that it's a three cylinder
because I have this weird thing,
I'm a musician,
you know,
and I play piano
and I actually like,
I nerd out to like engine cylinders
and how they sound.
Tell them that, man.
I'm gonna hit the exhaust,
I wish I could have,
I tried doing some video later
after I got the exhaust out of my car
and I did some stuff
and a few things,
but yeah,
that thing sounded great
when you got up on it.
Yeah.
And I wasn't too loud
because I think some people
get their cars done
and they just chop off
the mufflers
and go straight to the car
or whatever.
I've heard a lot of Z's
that do that.
I've heard a lot of Z's
that Tome Exhaust
and things like that.
Yeah.
They just sound super loud.
It just kind of takes away
the character.
Like I do feel like
cars do have a certain
when you just change that too much,
it just feels like a different car.
But yeah,
definitely the Type-S,
that would like if I was going
like in the same ballpark
of type of car,
definitely the Type-S.
I actually love the
Acura MDX Type-S too.
You've seen it,
it's actually the 3-row SUV,
but it's the S version
and it has like 355 horsepower,
all-wheel drive.
You're talking like
V6 and things like that.
Do you think I'm going
like V8 direction?
Man, yeah.
Well, no, you like my second one, though.
So my second one would be a CT5
V Blackwing.
Okay, nice.
That would be my stretch car.
Nice.
Because those are, I think, what,
now like 80 probably.
Oh, I think it's got to be
over 100 maybe.
Yeah.
We took Cadillacs to the
to the airport
a few times with this limo
company and they had this
this dash.
I think I was driving us.
Yeah.
And he had a display
of the road in front of him
on the dash.
Yeah, all the over here.
Yeah.
It's like not over here,
but it's like bumper view
of the ground.
Cause it's like literally
I'm not watching it.
And I'm watching the windshield.
It's like the same things.
It must be like right at the grill.
There's a camera
and it's like always on.
It's feeling right in front of you.
Yeah.
It's got a weird way to drive the car
if you're just staring at the screen
versus out the windshield.
Yeah.
But it's got to mute the
experience a little bit.
Yeah.
Well, I said it was a limo service
we rented.
It was cheaper to go
to load everybody up in a car
from our house to go to the airport
from in a limo,
like a limo,
but like a limo-zine service
they're taking like an Uber
or something like that.
You know,
it's almost like the price of an
Uber Black or whatever.
Yeah.
So, but as far as this car is
concerned,
what does this car represent
to you right now?
It's a good question, Chris.
Making me think.
But no, I mean,
to me it represents
that you can still be
you can still be interested
in cars
and have something that kind of
fits your lifestyle.
I see something weird over there.
No.
No.
It's just checking
out.
But yeah,
for me,
it represents just
this season in my life,
you know,
having kids,
doing family stuff.
Still,
I feel like a lot of people
think you can't really
still have a passion for cars.
You can't have a fun car.
You can't,
you know,
you can't go out
and, you know,
be proud of your car.
But this kind of represents
that for me is that
regardless,
I mean,
my youngest loves this car.
Like he,
he's three.
He's going to be three in December.
Oh, nice.
Nice.
Does he have a little
house?
Yeah.
But,
but he loves it.
My oldest,
all he likes is video games
now.
Yeah.
I think my kids
would get that idea.
Yeah.
All of that.
Yeah.
My kids do that too.
Video games on their phones
or their Xbox or whatever.
My oldest plays sports.
So,
so he's in the football.
He knows football.
He knows the kind of stuff.
So,
yeah.
But yeah,
no, I mean,
that's that's what it is
for me is just like,
you know,
you can still have that
experience right when my oldest
was born.
Just because I,
you know,
I just knew that car.
That car needed a lot of work.
Right.
It comes with a garage car.
Yeah.
For sure.
And I,
you know,
I was in,
I had,
I loved my,
I still have two,
I had one car that I bought
right after that.
And in infinity,
M35,
they had the V6
actually similar to the,
to the Z's.
And then I had a
FX45.
They had the V8
in those.
They were still on the same
Z chassis.
So they're very similar to that.
I think in my hearts,
it's certainly the best car
in the world.
It's the best car that
in the world.
That cars.
You know,
I just love cars
and the car's so
it's the best car.
The,
the car's the best car.
It's the best car
in the world.
I love it.
Hmm.
I can't remember
any of those cars
or any of those cars.
They're the best
cars.
They're just very
dual road models.
Like,
they're the best ones.
I'm just going to
be just,
be like,
back to, uh, I do like, do you know the story behind kind of the crossover with
BMW and these cars?
Well, it was the same thing.
Is the same guy that built the stinger for the Kia was Albert, Albert
Beerman or something that sort of left the BMW M.
I think it went and started designing for, well, how many, how many
Kia are very similar to the same company?
They're the same company yet.
Okay.
So maybe it's maybe the same guy I'm thinking of then he worked on
this car on the end series.
Well, he was, uh, he was over kind of Hyundai at the point when they
kind of started developing back in 2015 was when they first started
sort of developing the end series.
And he was the one who kind of came in and said, like, if you guys are
going to do this, this is how, this is how we did it at him, basically.
And so his hand was in that a lot.
And actually one thing that I learned, learned too, and I can't
pronounce this guy's name for the life of me, but there's, there, the
guy that's basically responsible for designing, you know, he designed
the Mercer logo, um, the, uh, he designed the Audi A2, which is
like, if you see those two cars together, they just make no sense
that they came from the same person.
But he's actually the tree, the chief creative officer of Hyundai now.
And, and so Hyundai kind of, I guess you can say, went on a little bit
of a poaching spree and got some really big talent over the last decade.
But I mean, that's really why you're getting cars like this now.
Well, what I miss about Hyundai is I remember that when the, uh, the
Genesis coupe came out, my neighbor has one now.
And I wanted to get one because I was, I was like, I saw the Z.
I had a kid newborn at the time and I love the 350.
And I'm like, well, this is kind of like the 350 with a back seat.
And I went there, talked to the guy over there.
I was looking at, I was really interested in that.
Yeah.
But I mean, things didn't work out, but, but I looked at that car and
then, um, the three 70 came out, of course, maybe at the same time.
Yeah.
And I always liked that sporty coupe, the V six.
I always liked Mustang.
I love cool cars of all kinds.
And when I say cool car, I always think of like a car that's
kind of attainable, you know, because I think at some point
in your life, when you're a kid, Lamborghinis and Ferraris, like
all you maybe porches to Lamborghini's, Ferrari's poster on the wall.
I want to get a Ferrari.
I want to get a Ferrari or Lamborghini or whatever.
But as you get older, you have a job.
You have bills and you have like real life stuff.
Like, well, that's not really attainable.
Maybe a car like this or a Mustang or even a Z.
Maybe he's more attainable.
Yeah.
And those are kind of cool because you can, you can upgrade those
and you can do mods to them and you can do different things too.
And yeah, and there's still cool cars.
I remember I had my Z.
I would roll down the road and kids and people would walk down
the street and yell back, cool car.
Yeah.
Cool kids in the neighborhood, cool car.
Love your car.
And that made me feel so cool and so great.
And here I am with the cars, like literally a 10 year old car at this
point, you know, and it's still drawing like the cool, cool factor.
I remember I was at a parking lot one time and I was, I was
putting stuff in the car and this girl was with her mom and she said,
like, Oh, I want a car like that when I grow up or something
like that, whatever, to my car.
I was like, that's pretty cool because it's a cool feeling to have.
Yeah.
Have you had feelings?
Have anything happened like that for you?
We had scar.
Um, it started having more recently.
I think the car stock is a little too understated for people that don't know.
It's it's still kind of that, if you know, you know, but if you don't, like you,
some people think that I did a lot of the mods that basically made the car
look like it looked stock.
They thought that like the wheels were aftermarket.
The body kit was that they thought for surely exhaust was aftermarket.
So stock, I didn't really get that as much unless people really knew about it.
Now with like the wheels, with the, with the front splitter and things like that,
I am starting to get that a little bit more.
Actually, I was driving through my neighborhood the other day with the buddy
of mine, he has an S15 Sylvia, if you know about those.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I was driving through there and all the kids were playing out at the park
and, uh, and you hear the kids in the background, hey, rabbit, hey, rabbit.
And I'm like, well, I'm not going to do it in the neighborhood, guys.
But I like, I gave a little baby baby one here and there.
But yeah, it's starting to happen a little bit more now for sure.
That's great, man.
That's great.
So we've talked a lot about the car.
But I cannot wait to go for a ride in this car, man.
And I want to see what this thing can do.
And I can't wait.
Ready to go for a ride?
I'm excited, man.
Let's do it.
Let's do this.
Wow.
That was fantastic.
The very first episode in the books of cool cars with Chris, I want to thank
courage once again for stopping by super cool car.
I enjoyed the ride thoroughly.
And once again, the YouTube version is on YouTube right now.
And I'll send a link to it down the show notes below.
Please subscribe.
You want to see everything we're doing and please subscribe to this show.
Wherever you listen to podcasts, that would be amazing.
Get the word out.
And if you have a cool car and are local to San Diego area, then hit me up.
Let's showcase your cool car.
That would be amazing.
I love to meet you.
I love to go for a ride in your car.
That would be great.
And until next time, drive safe, stay legal and don't break it.
All right.
About this episode
Chris launches his new podcast by chatting with Courage about his Hyundai Elantra N, a practical yet sporty four-door tuned for street and track use. They discuss the car's performance upgrades, including a JB4 tune and intake, its surprising power and handling, and the balance between family life and car passion. The episode also touches on Hyundai's design evolution, comparisons to other sporty sedans like the Acura Integra Type S, and the joy of owning an attainable yet cool car. The conversation ends with a spirited drive showcasing the Elantra N's capabilities.
Original notes
Hey friends – it's Chris, and welcome to the very first episode of Cool Cars with Chris! I’ve been dreaming about doing a car podcast for over 20 years, and now it’s finally here. In this premiere episode, I sit down with Courage, a fellow car enthusiast and dad who’s turned his Hyundai Elantra N into a legit performance machine – while still handling school runs and road trips.
We talk about why he chose the Elantra N over a Golf R or BMW, what it’s like owning a fun car as a dad, and how he managed to sneak a JB4 tune past California emissions. We also get into turbo lag, active exhaust systems, dyno results, E85 blends, and the real-world practicality of a performance sedan.
If you’re into affordable performance cars, dad builds, Hyundai N-Series tuning, or just love hearing about cool rides from real people – this one’s for you.
🚗 Full 4K ride-along video is available on YouTube
🚨 Got a cool car and live in San Diego? I want to feature YOUR car on the podcast. Let’s go for a ride – hit me up!
00:00 – 🎙️ Intro: Why This Podcast Exists (and What Makes a Car “Cool”)
00:46 – 🛠️ Chris’ Car Content Journey: From Dreams to Garage Goals
01:07 – 🚗 Defining a Cool Car (Spoiler: You Know If You Know)
01:47 – 🙌 Show Concept: Real Cars, Real People, Real Conversations
02:13 – 🎥 Audio vs Video: What You’ll Hear vs What You’ll See
03:04 – 👋 Meet Courage: Today’s Guest and His Hyundai Elantra N
04:10 – 📦 From Turo to Ownership: How Courage Discovered the N
05:34 – 👨👧👦 Dad Life Meets Car Life: The Perfect Family Performance Car
06:13 – 💸 Chris’ $200 Hyundai Story (and Budget Builds)
07:47 – 🧰 Mod Talk: Intake, JB4 Tune & the Slippery Slope
09:02 – 📈 Dyno Numbers + Power Gains Explained
10:37 – ⛽ Fuel Nerd-Out: E85, Octane Learning & MPG Trade-Offs
12:05 – 😩 Annoyances & Quirks: The Elantra N’s Flaws (Yes, It Has Some)
13:19 – ⚙️ Turbo Talk: Lag? Not Really. Let’s Get Technical
14:01 – 🔍 Direct Injection, Boost Gauges & Engine Tech Talk
15:25 – 🔊 Active Exhaust Systems: Loud Mode vs Stealth Mode
17:09 – 🔧 Stock Exhaust... or Is It? Future Plans + Exhaust Dreams
18:45 – 🧨 X-Pipes & Custom Sound: Chris’ Z Car Experience
20:00 – 🚙 If Not This Car, Then What? Courage’s Other Top Picks
22:09 – 🔄 Acura Integra Type S vs Civic Type R vs Elantra N
24:58 – 🧠 What This Car *Means* to Courage (Not Just a Ride)
26:15 – 👶 Kids, Cars & Keeping the Passion Alive
27:05 – 🧢 BMW Talk: Are They Overrated? Plus Some Hyundai Backstory
29:05 – 🏎️ Genesis Coupes, Zs, and the Real Definition of “Cool Car”
30:12 – 💬 Neighborhood Reactions & Real-World Cool Factor
31:05 – 🎥 Time to Ride: Let's Go for a Spin in the Elantra N
31:20 – 📣 Wrap-Up: Get Featured, Subscribe, and Drive Safe!
#HyundaiElantraN #ElantraN #ElantraNBuild #ElantraNTuned #DadCarBuild
#CoolCarsWithChris #TrackReadyDaily #StreetLegalTrackCar #TunerLife #CarPodcast
#CarEnthusiast #ModifiedCars #DailyDriverGoals #TurboLife #JB4Tune
#HyundaiNPerformance #FastSedans #TuroCarFind #FromTuroToTrack #RealCarGuys
#CourageElantraN #CarModsDaily #SanDiegoCarScene #ManualTransmission #BoostedCars
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