IN what is probably a first for a seven day road test, we did all our driving, to and from Sydney from the NSW Central Coast on, wait for it, a single tank of fuel. Yes one 5oL tank of fuel got us all over the place for a whole incredible week, with about 101km left on the range gauge.
In our books, that borderline incredible, but with a fuel economy of around 4.9L/100km it’s hard not to love the 2015 Hyundai i30 (Series II), and what’s more it’s next year’s model too. You see Hyundai is out of sync with most of the car world, releasing many new models mid year, and making them 2015/2016 models.
Our test vehicle was the feature packed Premium edition of the diesel i30, a car loaded up on extras including an incredible amount of space, with leather appointed seats, heated front seats, auto-dim mirror, dual zone climate control, and even a chiller fan in the glove box.
Outside, the German designed hatch back features a panorama glass roof, automatic xenon headlights and LED front and rear lighting, a rear spoiler, and these funky lights called puddle lamps, so you can see at night (they sit underneath the side mirrors and come on automatically when the key approaches). You’ll also find key-less entry and push button start on this model.
Driven by a 100kW high output motor, punching out 300Nm of torque, and butted up against a seamless, dual clutch seven speed automatic gearbox, the i30 Premium is a genuine nice drive, that performs well under pressure, chirps the wheels when you put your foot through the floor and has plenty of grunt when you need it. Oh, and there’s multiple steering modes too.
The car really looks good at the kerbside, with the new open face grille inspired by the Genesis and the Sonata, the cabin is nice inside too, not much of a change from the previous model, but the Premium does come with a 7.0″ touch screen satellite navigation system with CD player, MP3 capability, 6 speakers & 3 years worth of map updates.
On the downside, there are a few things that hurt the car overall, but nothing ground breaking. The seats are average in terms of comfort, and the headlights are less than awesome even with high beam belting on the back roads of the Central Coast.
There’s an abundance of plastic, but that’s the standard for most cars in this price range. The Bluetooth is good too, although we had trouble with syncing between an iPhone 6 Plus and the sound system, particularly with fade in and fade out. It worked fine with a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 – the likely cause is Apple’s software as known issues have been highlighted with iOS 8 and 9.
With a five star ANCAP safety rating, seven air bags, traction control, electronic stability control, and the usual brake assist systems, along with a very clear reversing camera and rear parking sensors, the Hyundai i30 Premium is a safe family car, that’s economical to boot.
It comes in Phantom Black, Fiery Red (as tested), Marina Blue, Polar White, Platinum Silver, Sparkling Metal and Dazzling Blue. It hits the market at $34,4900 plus on-roads, but, at the moment it can be picked up for a might over $31,485 as part of Hyundai’s current offers. It comes with a five year unlimited kilometre warranty too.
Our test vehicle was provided by Hyundai Australia. To find out more about the 2015 Hyundai i30 Series II (diesel), contact your local Hyundai dealer.
