hyundai i30 Estate road test reports and car reviews

Hyundai i30 Estate 1.6 diesel 2008

Huge problem with (main) dealer’s refusal to give invoice for my purchase of a pre-reg ’demonstrator’, for which I’d part-exed a low mileage Getz - I’m naturally worried in case a warranty dispute arises. Quite unnecessarily quick acceleration links with unbelievable economy (60+ mpg bobbing around the lanes) + a quiet and smooth ride to give an excellent motor-car: the only - and infuriating - problem so far being that when a memory stick is plugged in the system starts playing every time the ignition is turned on even though the head (radio) unit is switched off. AND the flaming thing returns to the 1st track every time! Service manager’s response: "Oh yes, my dad’s just bought an i30D estate like yours and it does the same - must be a software fault somewhere". Car excellent, local main dealer deserves a Gordon Ramsey style description.

Responses to this review

Headley, Bought a demontrator as well, with 7,000 Km on the clock. I agree the acceleration is overdone - and perhaps it's this issue of torque that may be at the source of my problem? My 1.6 Crdi CrossWagon Deluxe needs to get up to a fair speed, 70 KPH (I'm in Republic of Ireland) to drive in 5th without the clutch shuddering. I've smelt the clutch burning twice and the gears are sticky going into 2nd (and maybe 3rd). I don't know if my ex Demo car had the guts raced out of it by irresponsible journos or Hyundai staff? Or is the too-strong torque an inherent burden on the clutch system? The car is registered as 90 bhp; but I sometimes think it must be the 115bhp version. Any thoughts on my experience before I go back to Hyundai? I love the drive and comfort of the car aprt from this issue - Brian Hanley from Northern Ireland

Brian - my car nearly kangaroos if I put into 5th at too low a road speed (40 or 50 mph): I thought the problem was too high a gear ratio and/or lack of torque but the clutch issue had not occurred to me. While the synchro’s fine on all forward gears, selection of reverse can be awkward, even with the eminently sensible lift-sleeve on the stick. As I had a similar problem on 2 previous Getzes(!) I have wondered where Hyundai sources gearboxes? Overall I find it very difficult to fault the car in any area - Headley des Forges from Cheshire