Hyundai i30 (2012-2017) Review

Looking for one of the most reliable family hatchbacks for the money? Look no further. The dependable Hyundai i30 is a safe bet that sells for tempting prices and serves up family-friendly motoring that should not disappoint.

The Hyundai is roomy and practical, all models are well equipped and no engine is a duffer. If you like the look of a Volkswagen Golf but don’t want to commit to spending so much, the i30 is a great alternative that ticks all the boxes of its more well-known German rival.

If, however, you’re a keen driver seeking a sensible alternative to a sports car, you may be better off with something like a Ford Focus. The i30 is capable and competent, but it doesn’t deliver the last edge of engagement like the Ford.

The best all-round engine is the 1.6-litre CRDi diesel. The Blue Drive-branded motors with stop-start turn in some exceptional fuel economy figures and CO2 emissions are correspondingly low, which is great for road tax. When revved, it can be a bit noisy, but there should be enough torque in reserve to make this unnecessary during everyday driving – simply press the accelerator and the car will begin to surge forward.

Cheaper models use a 1.4-litre petrol engine. This is fine for those based in the city, but petrol car fans may find the extra power of the 1.6 useful if they frequently go beyond suburbia. As for trim levels, Classic has all the basics, but we prefer Active and Style – and with Style Nav, you get built-in sat nav, which is a handy extra.

The Volkswagen Golf is the default family hatchback in this sector, so is a clear alternative – as are the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra. Renault offers the Megane and there’s also the Peugeot 308. If you like Japanese reliability instead of, well, Hyundai reliability, perhaps try the Toyota Auris, Honda Civic or Mazda 3.

The closest rival to the Hyundai actually comes from its sister company, Kia. The Kia Cee’d uses the same platform and engines, and broadly mirrors the line-up of models seen in the i30 range. The only thing you won’t get is the five-year, unlimited-mileage warranty: Kia instead offers seven years, but limits mileage to 100,000.

You can sense this is a well-built car even as you open the door. The handles feel sturdy, the paintwork looks good quality and the many lines on the bodywork all flow accurately through the different panels, with no misaligned joins or wide panel gaps.

Inside, it’s the same. Those bold, sweeping shapes curve smoothly across the cabin, with nothing looking ill-fitting or out of place. The plastics have a good feel of integrity, although they are a bit shiny in places – this era of Golf remains the standard-setter here and the Hyundai can’t match it. 

We like some of the neat details, such as the centre air vents that are set within their own exposed plastic trim frame, which feeds down the dashboard to surround the gearlever. It’s all very smartly finished and is a nice contrast to some of the harder plastics surrounding it.

Most importantly, everything should still work with an as-new feel. The flakiness you find in some cars after a few years won’t be present in the i30, because it’s finished so well in the first place.

Infotainment is pretty good for this era of car, with the colour touchscreen mounted high up on the dashboard beneath its own hooded binnacle. It’s only available on high-end models with sat nav though - regular i30s get a normal audio system with a non-touchscreen blue-lit display.

The touchscreen system is comprehensive and easier to use than some rival efforts (we’re looking at you, Ford Focus). Setting destinations is straightforward, routes appear quickly and it’s easy to adjust the settings while on the move.

Mounting the screen so high on the dashboard means it’s easy to read at a glance, but it can make your arm ache when you’re typing in destinations. Hyundai included a neat touch to help here: a little shelf below the colour screen that you can rest your thumb on. Connectivity is good, with all models featuring Bluetooth and a USB socket.

The big car-style front seats are comfortable, and the driving position is spot-on, which is a great start. Most motorists find they can get comfortable in an i30 within seconds – particularly with better-spec versions, which have height-adjustable seats. The seats are trimmed in hard-wearing cloth, while top-spec versions have the luxury of heated leather chairs.

Visibility is good, helped by the side window line that plunges down towards the door mirrors. This opens up the side view and makes the i30 that bit easier to park. However, because the windscreen pillars stretch quite far forward, they can sometimes get in the way when you’re checking traffic to join a roundabout. The rear view is good in the five-door model (the rear pillars are a bit restrictive in the three-door) and many versions have rear parking sensors. Infotainment-equipped models come with a reversing camera.

Rear seat space is OK. Headroom isn’t bad and there’s good room for feet under the front seats. Some might find it a bit cramped if the driver is tall, though – they’ll slide their seat backwards and not leave enough knee room for the passenger behind. The three-door car also feels notably more claustrophobic than the five-door.

With the seats up, the 378-litre boot is class-competitive. Indeed, it’s almost exactly the same size as the Volkswagen Golf. Folding the seats down extends it to 1,316 litres and, in that typically thoughtful Hyundai way, it’s a simple process and they fold down almost flat. The well-shaped boot is easy to load as well.

The rear seats have Isofix mountings for child car seats. They’re easy to snap in place in the five-door, but that bit more awkward in the three-door.

There’s a decent range of petrol and diesel engines. The entry-level 1.4-litre is better than you might think, if you mainly stick to urban use. It pulls away OK from the line and is reasonably responsive despite its diminutive size. We’d rather have the 1.6-litre petrol if we were covering more daily miles though, as there’s more in reserve. It makes journeys that bit more relaxing. 

You can get the 1.6 with an automatic gearbox, too. It’s a bit slow, to be honest, so we’d stick with the light, easy-shift manual. Saying that, the automatic gearbox switched from a dated six-speeder to a much-improved seven-speed DCT from the 2015 facelift. If you need an automatic, make sure it’s a 2015-on car. It will save you a fortune in running costs and prove much nicer to drive. 

Most i30s were sold with a diesel engine. The 1.4-litre CRDi is, frankly, a bit underpowered for longer-distance use and it’s not ideal in town either. It’s rather inflexible and dependent on being in the right gear at the right time. Our recommendation is to find a 1.6 CRDi, badged ‘Blue Drive’ to reflect the standard fitment of engine stop-start.

The 1.6 diesel comes in 110PS and 128PS guises, and both are available with an automatic gearbox. Our advice is again to avoid this, as it has a big effect on performance and, in particular, fuel economy.

Both versions of the engine are strong, with good pulling power through the gears. It’s clear the 128PS motor feels the stronger engine, and will be more effortless on long trips, but don’t dismiss the 110PS version as it’s a big step up over the 1.4 CRDi. The diesels are a bit noisy when cold and when revved, but they cruise very quietly and on the motorway, they’re barely audible.

Hyundai later offered a 1.6 turbo petrol engine, but this is a bit disappointing. Despite its headline 186PS output, it never seemed as fast as was claimed. A 0-62mph time of 8.0 seconds was not exactly noteworthy either. You’re much better off with the 1.6 diesel.

The big car similarities continue with the i30’s impressive refinement. The doors close with a nice thunk, isolating you from the world outside. As you start up and move away, noise doesn’t start to intrude again, either. Road roar isn’t excessive, the engines are only really vocal under acceleration and wind noise is hushed thanks to the car’s aerodynamic design.

As the engines get louder when revved hard, we’d advise you err towards power rather than economy. Given that you won’t have to work them so much, they’ll be quieter in everyday use – and this will have the happy side-effect of keeping fuel economy in check.

Although they’re a bit clattery at times, the 1.6-litre diesel engines are generally quieter overall than the smaller diesels and the petrols, just because they’re more relaxing to drive. You can leave them in gear and let the grunt of the engines do the work, rather than changing down a gear or two.

All Hyundai i30s came with the important safety features many car buyers take for granted. All-round airbags were included, as was Vehicle Stability Management (electronic stability control) and LED daytime running lights to keep you visible on the road. There was also a function that activated the hazard warning lights when you braked heavily, to warn the car behind.

Euro NCAP awarded this generation of i30 an extremely good safety rating after crash tests – five stars, of course, with 90 percent ratings for both adult occupant and child occupant protection. Standard safety assist gadgetry earned it 86 percent and it’s only in pedestrian protection that it drops below average with a 67 percent rating. It’s also rated as a very safe and stable tow car, being named Best Value Hatchback in the 2012 Towcar Awards.

The brakes are strong, with an electronic parking brake standard for added convenience. In 2015, Hyundai upgraded the size of the front brakes, so they were more effective and powerful: this actually stopped the firm offering smaller 15-inch wheels in certain markets, because they no longer fitted over the front brakes.

The Hyundai i30 has a space-saver spare wheel beneath the boot floor, rather than a full-size one – but some will be reassured by the fact it doesn’t use a tyre repair kit instead.

Insurance groups for the Hyundai i30 start from a very low group six and even the sporty Turbo, with its dual exit exhausts and racier engine, comes in no higher than group 21. The 1.4-litre petrol starts from an affordable group seven, and the 1.6-litre petrol seems pretty good to us at group nine.

An entry-level 1.4-litre CRDi diesel is the group six car, but we’d pay a bit more and go for a mid-spec 1.6-litre CRDi Blue Drive, which is rated in group 11. The more powerful 128PS version is a bit higher at group 13, reflecting its enhanced performance. 

The excellent economy of the diesel engines goes hand-in-hand with favourable tax rates. Most 1.6-litre diesels still actually enjoy free road tax, thanks to their sub-100g/km CO2 emissions. Even the more powerful 128PS version just sneaks into the A-rated VED tax band, courtesy of exactly 100g/km CO2. The leap up to band F for the automatic versions is a bit painful, and even the 1.4-litre CRDi engine only manages to get into band B.

Petrol engines with a manual gearbox are pretty cost-effective. It will cost £165 to tax the 1.6-litre. The automatic, however, jumps up to £205 a year, because of its higher CO2 emissions. You’ll pay £240 a year to tax the 1.6-litre Turbo.

Another attraction of the Hyundai i30 is a good level of standard equipment. All come with air conditioning, LED daytime running lights, electronic parking brake, Bluetooth, front fog lights and both iPhone and USB connectivity. To the base Classic spec, Active adds 15-inch alloys, rear parking sensors and cruise control.

Style models have larger 16-inch alloys, plus the luxuries of dual-zone climate control, front parking sensors, automatic headlights and wipers, cornering lights and door mirrors that fold away when you lock the car. Style Nav does as its name suggests and adds built-in touchscreen sat nav (the only version to get a colour infotainment screen at launch), complete with a rear parking camera.

A range-topping Premium version was added later, with 17-inch wheels, chrome exterior trim, heated leather seats, keyless entry and an enhanced instrument cluster. A good-value i30 Edition variant came in 2013, with 16-inch alloys, dual-zone climate control, rear parking sensors, all-round electric windows and Bluetooth.

Trim names were updated in 2015, with Classic becoming S and Active becoming SE. The SE Nav and Premium rounded out the range, with a new semi-sporty Turbo variant adding a warm hatch vibe as an alternative to Premium.