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By
EWAN KENNEDY
8 October 2007
Hyundai, the South Korean vehicle builder, is very serious
about competing in the small-car market in Europe. So its latest model,
the i30, was designed on that continent, and benchmarked against such
worthy models as the Ford Focus, Opel (Holden) Astra and the king of
them all, the Volkswagen Golf.
Styling seems certain to be the biggest selling feature of the
Hyundai i30. Though there's nothing really original about the
shape – it follows a common theme of the early 21st century that
has already been seen in cars like the BMW 1 Series, Mazda3 and
the new Subaru Impreza – the execution by the Hyundai stylists
in Europe is brilliant. Many will say this is one of the most
attractive body shapes in small cars for years.
OK, so beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but may we suggest
you go down to do some beholding at your local Hyundai dealer –
then see if you don’t agree with our opinion?
There's a lot of cosmopolitan influence in this Hyundai. Styled
in Europe and built in South Korea, it’s intended for sale in
many countries, and even has quite a bit of Australian influence.
Well aware of the special desires of our drivers, Korean and
Australian engineers have tailored the suspension and steering
specifically to suit our conditions.
The result is a car that has excellent on-road dynamics. There
is precise feel through the steering wheel, the Hyundai i30 holds
the road at high cornering speeds and is more than willing to
change direction mid corner.
However, the good handling and steering feel has resulted in a
rather firm suspension. While it works fine on good to moderate
roads, it can be on the harsh side when taken onto rougher
surfaces. We’re not talking corrugated dirt or back-o-Bourke
bitumen here, roads in outer suburbs can set up a jiggly ride at
times.
Try it for yourself, many keen drivers will be more than happy
to put up with feel of the car on rough roads in order to get the
benefits of the sporting suspension.
Another very-European feature of the new Hyundai i30 is the
option of a turbo-diesel engine. It’s only a 1.6-litre unit, but
produces a reasonable 85 kW, and a strong 250 Nm between 1900 rpm
and 2750 rpm. Resulting in plenty of performance and acceptably
low turbo lag. The diesel is pretty quiet from inside the car and
even those outside won’t hear much more noise than you get from
a petrol engine.
There's also a handy 2.0-litre petrol engine (105 kw/186 Nm)
that sells for $2500 less than the turbo-diesel and which is
likely to better seller as it has good punch and is smoother and
quieter than the diesel.
At this stage the turbo-diesel is only sold with a five-speed
manual gearbox, but a four-speed automatic transmission is
expected as an option in the first few months of 2008.
The petrol is sold with both the five-speed and automatic. The
manual is typically Hyundai in its makeup in that it isn’t
always as precise in its movements as we like. Let it proceed at
its own pace and it works well enough.
Quality of build is very good. The South Koreans have been
working hard at this important aspect of their cars for several
years and really are getting close to Japanese standards both
inside and out.
Hyundai i30 is sold only as a five-door hatchback and is being
offered in three models – SX, SLX and SR – when petrol power
is specified. The turbo-diesel is sold only in the first two
grades.
Sadly, Hyundai has found that only about 10 per cent of buyers
of its Elantra four-door sedan, a close cousin to the i30 hatch,
are interested in paying the extra cost demanded by ESP, an
important safety feature this is standard in all Elantra sedans.
So it has been forced to drop these features from the standard
list of the entry-level $18,990 i30 SX and the mid-range $23,490
i30 SLX, instead offering ESP and additional airbags in a $1790
Protecz Pack on the SX. The Pack costs $990 on the SLX as it
already has multiple airbags.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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