The N-Line does not come with AWD it is just the ugly twin. I do wonder if maybe Kia with their knowledge from Touring Car (I would love to see them return), tuned the chassis and suspension enough to overcome the N-Line with summer tires.
Close races... I wonder how many miles each car has on it?
One thing I noticed when I was test driving during the buying process was that cars that had more mileage were smoother. You could tell that the computer had 'learned' a good pattern vs a car with less than 100 miles.
The 2 n-lines I test drove had less than 50 miles on the odo and they were downright uncivilized.