Hyundai i40 Tourer road tests and consumer car reviews

I had this delivered as a company car in January 2012 and so far I’m very impressed. It’s a large car, but parking is easy as it has excellent parking sensors front and rear, as well as a super rear view camera. The steering is feather light, with a good turning circle. The engine must be one of the smoothest and quietest diesels I’ve ever driven. Even on a cold frosty morning, the engine is almost rattle free when cold, which is very impressive. The performance and flexibility of the engine is top class. It pulls hard in every gear and is so flexible it’s possible to get down to a walking pace in fourth and fifth gear and still pull away without the engine protesting. I tested a Vauxhall Insignia Tourer before choosing this and that was the complete opposite! It had a coarse gruff engine, was very highly geared, and it was most unpleasant to drive at low speed in traffic. The i40 gearbox is excellent, almost up to Mondeo standards, with a smooth light and positive shift. Combined with a light and smooth clutch and nice brakes the whole driving experience is one of being in an expensive luxury car. The electronic handbrake took some getting used to, but the "autohold" feature is one I use all the time, making the handbrake redundant. Great for busy traffic and hillstarts. There are too many gadgets to list here, but there are some negative comments I want to make. Firstly the Sat Nav only does a 5 digit postcode search, not a 6 digit one, so it’s not as accurate as my Garmin, but it does have a big screen and lots of other features so it’s not too bad. The clock is only visible when the radio is on certain screens, so if you need to keep an eye on the time when using the Sat Nav for instance you have to press a clock button to display it for 5 seconds, which is a pain. Hyundai claim they are aiming this car at the fleet market (thats me!), but when eating my sarnies in a layby at lunchtime, the radio shuts off after 10 minutes telling me I have to start the engine, so the battery doesn’t go flat. Do me a favour Hyundai, since when will a radio flatten the battery after 10 minutes? Its a big 70 amp/hour battery! All my previous cars timed out after an hour. Front door pockets are too small to be of any use and there is no sunglasses holder. There is also no ashtray. I don’t smoke but have always used the ashtray as a waste bin for my rubbish and sweet papers, so where am I supposed to put my rubbish now? Back to the good stuff now, the rear leg and headroom is exceptional. I’m fairly tall, but even with my seat well back there is acres of leg room for rear seat passengers. Boot space is as good as the Mondeo Estate, with pockets in the side and a lift up floor panel with more storage underneath and the space saver spare wheel underneath that. The rear seats do not fold completely flat though. Fuel consumption so far has been brilliant. The first week I had it I was driving it very gently and had 62 mpg on the computer. Now up to 3000 miles on the clock, it has dropped as I’m doing higher speeds and a lot of town work, but today on a 120 mile run of mixed driving, it was 53 mpg, which is very good for a large car. Combined with its stunning design and 5 year unlimited mileage warranty, this really is a remarkable car. Apart from the few niggles, which I’ve mentioned, I can highly recommend this car as it’s just so enjoyable to drive.

I received the car on the 9th December 2011. I have to say the Car is fantastic to drive, steering is light and it is very comfortable. I opted for the 1.7 Style Blue Drive Diesel. Power wise, I have not noticed much difference to my previous VW Passat 2.0TDI. I have a Caravan, which I have yet to tow, so I will add a comment on that at a later date. Spec wise, the car has all the extras and more I would want, trumping many of it’s rivals on spec V’s price. I have however a couple of niggles. The first was down to poor PDI/Valet - the engine bay looked as if it had stood in a deserted salvage yard for a number of years. However, all credit to the dealership as the problem was quickly rectified with professional response. The second, more serious complaint is colour match!! I have chosen the White - on my car the bumpers front and rear, mirrors and tailgate panel (plastic parts) are a completely different shade to the car body - they are cream instead of white. I’m not sure how such a difference passed the Koreans strict QA procedures. The Dealer is now investigating and it looks like I will lose the car to the paint shop for a week or so. I will let you know once I have got to this point.