Tanak has rejoined Hyundai for the 2024 season after leaving the Korean marque for M-Sport Ford in 2023, despite having a year remaining on his Hyundai contract.
The 2019 world champion's high-profile return to the Alzenau-based squad has already started positively following a test on rough roads in Fontjoncouse in the south of France.
Tanak remarked that the latest Hyundai i20 N features several differences and is "much more fine-tuned" compared to the under-developed model he drove in 2022.
"It was just a rough test on Dakar-like roads to see the reliability and actually we did very good mileage. I'm quite happy. These were conditions for Safari [the third WRC round next year], so it was tough," Tanak told Autosport.
"There are quite many differences [on the car] for sure. From outside the car, the aero looks very different.
"The team hasn't used many other [homologation] jokers in the meantime, but some things are in more shape and are working better. And with the set up I wouldn't say it is too different from what we had, but it is definitely much more fine-tuned from last year.
"Altogether, I would say the pace since the first run, I felt okay in the car and it was not too far away, so I could immediately drive quite fast."
Tanak is expected to undergo more testing in the lead-up to January's WRC Monte Carlo curtain raiser.
Encouraged by the performance in the test and the improvements the team made to the car during 2023, the Estonian has no concerns heading into the new season.
"There has been some technical issue or some other limitations [with the car in 2022] but this year already the car's performance was much higher than the previous year," he added.
"The car at the beginning [of 2022] without any development was tricky but in one year they have managed to improve a lot and this year were very competitive.
"The know-how is here with the people and they all know what to do and how to improve. If you know the areas to improve there is no limitation. The people know what to do but they just needed the time to get it done."
Hyundai finalised its 2024 driver line-up last week which will see Tanak join fellow full-timer Thierry Neuville, while Esapekka Lappi, Andreas Mikkelsen and Dani Sordo will share the third car.
