South Africans are spoiled rotten with variety when it comes to cars. Considering our relatively small market, we have way too many choices within given price brackets and vehicle type parameters. Not a bad thing, just very confusing for would-be new car buyers.
I see it all the time. Friends of friends call me up looking for car-shopping advice. It usually goes down something like this:
"Hey Jess, I'm looking for a new car. Something Golf-sized. For two, maybe three hundred thou."
My standard reply is, "Well how about a Golf then?"
"But I want something a little different," they'll say. "Don't wanna follow the herd ya know?"
This is the part where it gets tricky. It's a vast category we're talking about now, chock full of choices. But, as of recently, I have a stash of secret weapons and they all come from Korea.
"Have you considered a Hyundai? They're making great cars these days. Pricing's great too. And the new five-year or 150 000km warranties and service plans are impossible to ignore. Go drive one. You'll be surprised."
So, for all you shoppers out there looking for something Golf-sized, for around two to three hundred thou, but a little different - meet Hyundai's i30 hatch.
This car is designed, specced and priced to stick it up the popular Golf's exhaust pipe and without trying to sound like a spokesman for the brand, it's actually silly to even consider any of the usual C-segment suspects (VW Golf, Ford Focus, Honda Civic) with what's on offer here. Hyundai's putting paid to the old "you get what you pay for" adage.
Our road test unit, a two-litre (as opposed to the 1.6 also available) is priced at R229 900, while the closest Golf spec-wise (1.4TSI Highline) costs R272 900 and the Golf doesn't have standard leather seats, sunroof, steering wheel controls or climate control as the i30 does.
And the Golf only comes with a three-year/120 00km warranty. It's a no brainer.
But enough Golf bashing. There has to be a large crack in the package somewhere, right? Well not really. All I can see that's missing from the i30 is a little bit of that ultimate German build quality the does come standard on the Golf.
The i30 suffers from a tad more road noise and the doors slam shut with a bit more of a clang than the very high quality Golf. If you drive a lot of cars, as I do, you'll also pick up on subtleties like a gearshift action that's not quite as positive and plastic interior panel joins that aren't quite up to scratch.
CRUISE EFFORTLESSLY
But these are issues that a normal C-segment customer would hardly notice. Besides, it's easy to look past most of these things when you're saving as much as R70 000, spec for spec.
The two-litre model on test here offers 105kW and 186Nm of torque (the 1.6 has 89 and 153). Nothing that'll set your hair on fire but there's enough power to keep up with SA's high-paced traffic and it'll cruise effortlessly at low revs. Some other gutless C-segment contenders need to be driven hard at high revs to keep up with the flow.
I do, however, wish that Hyundai would add a sixth gear for ultra-efficient highway cruising. Strange that it hasn't, especially as the i30's shift pattern has reverse up and over to the top left, VW-style, leaving an empty notch below fifth. Maybe something's planned over at Hyundai's Korean HQ.
I was also frustrated with an onboard trip computer that was only capable of calculating trip data from start-up and not over longer periods such as tank-to-tank fill-ups. The average fuel consumption reading would reset every time I switched off, so it's difficult to know what the car's actual "average" is. Nevertheless our i30 drank around 10 litres/100km.
VERDICT
You can't ignore what's coming out of Korea today in terms of Hyundai and sister brand Kia. The cars are fashionable, well priced and come equipped with standard features that are only optional extras in more established brands' models. Quality issues that were once a problem for Korean marques are all sewn up and five-year or 150 000km warranties and service plans underscore the point.
If a Volkswagen Golf scores 10 out of 10 in the build-quality field, I'd give the i30 a close 8.5.