I have now enjoyed 6 months with my new 2012 i30 in which I have clocked up 7250 miles (11,660 km) which includes a good mix of town, country and motorway driving. It is perhaps a good time to record my impressions of the car and, before my memory fades, how it compares with my previous 2010 i30.
My new car is an i30 1.6 CRDi 128 PS 6 speed manual hatch Style model.
My previous car was an i30 1.6 CRDi 115 PS 6 speed manual hatch Premium model.
The photo above was taken on April 6th 2012 at my Hyundai dealership when I traded in the old car for the new one.
These thoughts are in no particular order and are unashamedly based upon my thread of 6 months ago when I placed on record my first impressions of the new car – now updated as appropriate after living with the car for a while.
The wheelbase of the new model is the same as previous. The new car is a few mm longer and wider – but with slightly reduced overall height. Better packaging of the drive train and other components have produced increased cabin and luggage space.
The cabin has proved to be comfortable and feels much more spacious than the old model – even though it has grown by only a few millimetres in each direction. There is definitely more headroom in both the front and back. Seating is similar to the previous car which I find comfortable – even on a 3 hour non-stop drive. My wife has an on-going gripe though – like the previous car - the front passenger seat lacks height adjustment. I am still thinking of fitting some spacers under the seat brackets to raise the seat height for her.
Leg room front and rear is as generous as the previous model – and rear seat comfort is enhanced by the floor tunnel now being only 5cm high which makes the middle seat leg space more comfortable. In addition, it is now much easier for rear passengers to enter via the nearside door and slide across the seats. I have not been a rear seat passenger but my wife and friends who have made journeys in the back, have commented on the generous leg room, head room and general comfort.
My wife finds that the reduced side window glazed area and the higher sill compared with the previous car a bit of a negative – but being taller it has no effect on me other than I find that the ¾ rear view vision in the new car is compromised. If you pull up to a T junction where the road joins at an angle – the B pillar, front passenger seat headrest and smaller rear window seriously impede vision down the road you are joining. Several times I have had to ask my wife to act as look-out.
The instrumentation and controls in the new car are all ergonomically located – but not radically different from the previous model. The cabin is a nice place to be in.
The instant economy display on the new car is a joke. The old car had a digital numeric display - but the new car has a horizontal bar graph, without a scale, and limited to 50 mpg. Hyundai advertise the car as having exceptional fuel economy and it is ridiculous to limit the instant display to a maximum that is lower than the average economy most people will experience. At the UK car launch the Hyundai product manager told me that Hyundai recognised the problem and would issue a software update in June. They now tell me it will only apply to cars built after September 2012 so I have to put up with it.
The steering wheel has a full complement of buttons for the audio, phone, cruise, speed limiter, trip computer and steering mode. They are all nicely located and easy to operate without taking your eyes off the road. The trip computer reset button is no longer hiding on the dash, but is now on the steering wheel. However – this great idea has been spoiled by its placing – at the bottom of the ‘spoke’ where it is all too easy to accidentally press it when turning left with the steering wheel at 90 degrees. I tend to leave my trip display showing average economy and several times I have accidentally reset it to zero. I now recognise the problem and keep my hand away from that part of the steering wheel.
The stalk controls mounted on the steering column function exactly the same as the previous model. This is good for those of us with a short memory and I have had no problems with the windscreen wipers inadvertently coming on when I actually intended to use the turn indicators - or vice versa.
A slight disappointment is that the turn indicator audio clicker, like the previous model, is not loud enough for me. My wife has no problem reminding me the indicators are still on – so people with better hearing than mine might argue that it is fine. I considered that on my previous i30 the steering wheel had to be turned through too big an angle for the turn indicators to be automatically tripped – the new car seems much better in this respect.
Unlike my previous i30 – the new car has a one-touch lane change turn indicator function causing the signals to flash 3 times. This can be deactivated in the settings menu.
The new car is not provided with a cigarette lighter or an ashtray. This is a very sensible idea. It still has two power sockets in the front though.
My previous car had single zone climate control. The new car has dual zone. Frankly I have not noticed any benefit – other than my wife can constantly fiddle with the temperature on her side of the car without theoretically affecting mine. Bliss…………….
The speedometer in my previous car was dead accurate at all speeds compared with my Sat-nav display – however, the new car is not. The speedometer is 8% fast at 30 mph (50 km/h) and 7% fast at 70 mph ( 112 km/h).
Using the kilometre boards on the motorway, I have determined that the odometer in the new car is 1.8 % slow. That is – if the odometer registers a distance of 100 miles – the car has actually travelled 101.8 miles. The old car odometer was 2.4% slow.
The steering wheel adjustment has tilt (as before) and reach (new feature) which have enabled me to get it into a comfortable position with an uninterrupted view of the instruments. The new car has a steering mode button on the steering wheel which allows you to select one of three power assist settings – Comfort, Normal and Sport which effectively vary the amount of power assistance from high through to low. I originally used the normal setting, but for the past couple of months I have been regularly using the comfort setting which provides very light steering – perhaps they should call it the granddad mode.
The manual gear change is the same gate arrangement as the previous model with a button under the shift lever knob to access reverse. The smoothness of gear changes is much improved compared with the previous model – my previous i30 was very notchy especially on 1st and 2nd.
Pedal spacing feels about the same as the previous car with which I am happy. Note that the new car has an organ type accelerator pedal. It took a little getting used to – but I now prefer it.
Cabin stowage is more generous than the previous car :-
• Front door pockets are 3 cm wider at the front end x 16 cm longer and now incorporate a bottle holder
• The rear door pockets are longer and now wide enough for a small bottle
• The storage area in front of the gear stick is much bigger. However, missing from the new car is the small cubby with a drop down door and the ashtray, which were both fitted on the previous model just below the climate controls.
• The glove box is wider and deeper.
• The centre armrest compartment is bigger in every dimension. It is now big enough for both “his and hers” junk.
• All the storage compartments and cup holder wells have rubber surfaces at the bottom to minimise loose contents rattling. Another nice touch.
I have not used the Audio system or the voice enabled Mobile phone Bluetooth, other than to try them out when I first had the car. I will get round to tuning in a few radio stations one of the days and may even plug in a USB stick with my favourite music loaded. Hence I cannot comment on these features – other than that the sound quality is excellent but the radio stations still broadcast the same thumping pop music and other rubbish. I did synchronise my Samsung and Blackberry phones with the Bluetooth system one day. The voice enabled system is impressive and caters well with all sorts of accents – so my Australian and Scots friends will probably be able to use it. Us brummies speak posh so we will definitely have no problems. However – it was not possible to load my full address book into the car because it recognised only one phone number for each person. Where I have a home phone number and a mobile number for contacts on my mobile phone – only the mobile number got transferred. Hence I do not use the phone system in the car. This makes all the audio and phone buttons on the left spoke of the steering wheel totally superfluous in my car.
My car does not have the built-in sat-nav so I continue to use my tried and trusted Garmin Nuvi. The steeply raked windscreen means that if a sat-nav is mounted on the screen, it would be a long reach from the driving seat. However, the top surface of the dashboard in the centre of the car is virtually flat which made it easy to fit a self-adhesive disc for the sat-nav sucker mount. For me, this is the ideal position – visibly just below the bottom edge of the windscreen, easy to reach, and can be seen without taking your eyes too far off the road ahead. It is also visible and within easy reach of a passenger which can be useful. Those concerned that the use of a self-adhesive disc will damage the dash surface need have no fear – mine was removed easily and without any damage from all my previous cars by judicious use of a hair dryer to soften the adhesive.
The steep rake of the windscreen means that the bottom of the screen is further away from the driver and the top of the screen nearer than the previous model. This makes the A pillar more noticeable at and above eye level - but does not appear to increase the blind spot area at any elevation that matters.
On my new car all 4 side windows have one touch auto up and down – my previous i30 had just auto down on only the front windows.
What is missing on the new car is an auto dipping rear view mirror which I had on the previous one. This is not listed as an option for any version.
My new car is fitted with the blue drive fuel economy system which includes ISG (Idle Stop & Go), a more durable starter motor and an advanced energy recovery alternator. The engine stops when the car comes to a standstill and is put into neutral. It restarts as soon as you depress the clutch to engage 1st gear. To avoid the engine stopping and starting repeatedly when crawling in traffic the car must reach a speed of roughly 10 km/hr since the last idle stop for it to operate. I suppose this is a necessary limitation - but rather defeats the intention of the ISG system to reduce emissions in urban stop-go conditions. The ISG feature will not stop the engine under certain conditions - including - when the climate control is at a high setting, the defroster is on or the battery is in a low state of charge. It is not stated in the manual – but I believe that the ISG is also deactivated when the DPF is regenerating. The ISG feature can be deactivated via a button on the dashboard. I am not convinced that there is much to be gained overall from using ISG – it may be psychological, but I suspect that the car is more lively and you get quicker throttle response with it switched off.
Regarding normal engine starting – unlike my previous i30 – you have to fully depress the clutch before turning the starter key to start the engine.
My car is fitted with assisted hill start control (HAC). To actuate it you apply the handbrake and go into neutral when stopping on a hill. As is normal, to move off you apply the footbrake, release the handbrake, depress the clutch and select first gear. The HAC stops the car from moving backwards by holding the brake on for a second as you lift your foot from the brake to operate the accelerator. On an upslope it works when you pull away forwards – and on a downslope when you reverse. It sounds a bit clumsy but is very effective. It is a feature of the new car that I really appreciate.
A new feature is the Emergency Stop Signal (ESS) which alerts the driver behind by blinking the stop lights when the vehicle is braked rapidly and severely at a speed above 55 km/h. It also operates when ABS is activating. When the speed falls below 40 km/h and still braking heavily the stop lights will stop blinking and the hazard warning lights will turn on automatically. The hazard warning lights will go off after the vehicle stops then moves again at a speed above 10 km/h – or they can be switched off manually.
The vehicle also has an Emergency Brake Assist which applies maximum braking when it detects an emergency braking situation. It responds to a sudden and hard application of the brakes by the driver – who might then not apply enough foot pressure on the brake pedal for maximum braking. I do believe that I tested this feature in anger recently when a driver ran a red light across my path and I had to panic brake suddenly. The braking was so effective it was like hitting a brick wall.
My previous car was fitted with basic cruise control - but the new car has cruise control with a speed limiter function as standard. To set the maximum speed you wish to travel, you simply accelerate/decelerate to the required speed and press the speed limiting button on the steering wheel. (You can trim this speed up and down with the same plus and minus buttons on the steering wheel that are used by the cruise control). This is not cruise control – you are still in charge of the car’s speed via the throttle - it simply prevents the car from exceeding the set speed. However - you can beat the system by pressing hard down on the accelerator – a bit like kick down on an auto – whereupon you can exceed the set limit to your heart’s content - but a loud annoying chime will sound until you behave yourself. The new car has clear graphic indicators in the instrument display to show when the cruise or Speed limiter are on - whereas my previous car had a dealer fit cruise control which had a small green light set into the speedo binnacle which was difficult to see in bright sunlight.
The rear seat folding arrangement is the same as the old model – but the rear seat backs now fold dead flat. The rear headrests do not need be removed in order to fold the seats flat – provided that the front seats are slid not fully back or reclined too much. I am just 6 feet tall and my seat is set about three quarters back.
The luggage compartment (boot) floor is now lower, presumably due to the use of a space saver spare – this leaves a small 6 cm step up where the rear seats fold.
The luggage compartment is 2 cm wider x 8 cm taller to the underside of the parcel shelf compared with the previous model, but it has the same lengths front to back - with both the back seats up and folded down. The new car has a much deeper “well” measured from the luggage compartment floor to the sill of the tailgate opening. The new car is 23 cm – the previous model 10 cm – this makes lifting luggage in and out of the boot slightly more difficult.
My wife found humping suitcases in and out of the previous car rather difficult – but she has found the new car to be almost an ordeal. Perhaps I should help her in case she scrapes the bumper paintwork in her struggles.
The halogen headlights on the new car are similar in performance to the previous model – the only real difference is that my new car is equipped with what is called static bending lights. This is an extra light in the headlight unit each side of the car set to shine at an angle to illuminate the corner you are turning into. It comes on automatically when the lights are on and you turn the steering wheel. It is speed sensitive – below a certain speed a bigger steering wheel angle is required to switch the bending light on. When the car is reversing, the light on the outside of the turn comes on. This is another feature I appreciate.
The new car has daylight running lights – quite stylish LED ones built into the fog lamps. The previous car did not have DRL’s and the body shape made fitting after-market ones difficult.
Interestingly, the UK adverts for the new car claim that it has 14 coats of paint. Thin paintwork on the previous model has been mentioned quite a few times on the forum. Perhaps Hyundai have improved in this respect.
My previous car had just rear parking sensors – the new one also has them at the front. However they are almost useless because there are just two sensors – one at each front corner behind the fog lamps. Hence the front of the car is not protected. I have had a proper after-market kit fitted as reported in detail in a separate thread.
Like my previous car the bonnet (hood) has a stay rod to hold it open – I would have preferred gas struts and await someone posting details of how they have converted their 2012 car to gas struts.
I am relieved to find that unlike my previous i30, this car does not have chrome trim inserts in the wheels. Also that my new car has 16” wheels rather than the 17” wheels fitted to my previous i30 which made the ride too hard and cabin noise greater. The new car has a smaller turning circle than my previous model – perhaps because the 16” wheels do not require a steering rack spacer to limit the travel that was fitted to my previous car.
Because I have a hearing deficiency and am sensitive to cabin noise, , I arranged for the dealer to change the standard Hankook Ventus Prime 2 tyres to Continental Premium Contact 2 before I took delivery. These Continentals are generally recognised to be one of the best for quiet running. It has proved to have been a wise decision.
I always found the alloys on the previous car difficult to clean because the twin spokes were close together. The new car’s wheels are much easier to clean.
Like my previous i30 – the new one is equipped with manually operated electric folding mirrors. My new car has turn indicator repeaters in the mirror housing, these were not fitted to my previous car.
There is no fuel filler release in the cabin of the new car – you just press on the filler door and it springs open via a toggle latch. It can only be opened when the car doors are unlocked. It is therefore as secure as the previous car, which had a floor mounted release lever by the driver’s seat.
The car feels somehow more substantial, more cossetting and far more refined. It feels like a big car disguised in a smaller body. It rides bumps much better than the previous car, has a much quieter cabin, feels more spacious and oozes quality. It is quite definitely the step up in prestige that Hyundai targeted.
The new car is theoretically more powerful at 94kW than my previous one which developed 85kW. Both cars have the same torque figures. The new car is claimed to accelerate from zero to 100 km/h in 10.9 seconds – 0.6 seconds quicker than the previous car. I have to say that the car feels less lively than my previous i30 - but my own timed acceleration tests prove that it really is quicker. Perhaps I am not noticing any real difference because the refinement of the car masks the improvement.
Regarding fuel consumption.
Here are the comparisons between the new and old cars :-
(Note that the figures have been adjusted to allow for odometer errors for both cars and that fuel usage is based upon brim to brim calculations).
New Car Previous carTotal distance to date 7260 miles – 11,680 km 13,770 miles – 22,160 km
Average Economy to date 54,42 mpg – 5.19 l/100km 49.01 mpg – 5.76 l/100km
Best Economy on one tank 59.39 mpg – 4.76 l/100 km 56.8 mpg – 4.97 l/100 km
Longest range on one tank 744 miles – 1197 km 621 miles – 999 km
My new 2012 i30 1.6 CRDi is higher geared than my previous i30. This may account for the fact that my new car, although higher powered at 128PS rather than 115PS, feels less lively than my previous car . On paper the new car accelerates quicker than the previous model though.
This is how the gearing compares between both cars - speeds in each gear at 2000 engine rpm.
Gear 1 2 3 4 5 6
2010 model 15 30 48 67 80 95 km/h
9 19 30 42 50 59 mph
2012 model 18 32 56 79 93 111 km/h
11 20 35 49 58 69 mph
For gears 3 to 6 inc - the gearing of the new model is 16% higher than the previous one. It looks as though they have changed the final drive ratio to get better economy at normal driving speeds and tweaked the first and second ratio's to ensure a smooth get away.
However – I find the higher ratio for first gear has made it easy to stall the car on take off. On my previous car I rarely stalled it – in fact I could slowly let the clutch in at engine idle and it would pull away. Not the new car though – trying that trick results in the engine stopping.
I also don’t like the much higher gear ratio for reverse gear – it makes reversing up a steep slope a nightmare. I have a friend whose drive slopes down from the road. Many times I visited in the old car and never had a problem reversing back up the drive. It’s a different story with the new car – I had to use lots of revs and needed to slip the clutch to make the climb. I have only done it once because the smell of burning clutch is a bit off-putting. When I visit, I now reverse down the drive and can drive off in 1st gear without a problem.
Overall I am well pleased with the new car - it is a perfect match with our lifestyle and my conservative driving style. It is compact enough to make town driving and parking easy (especially with front and rear parking sensors) yet has plenty of room and long legs for our motorway journeys for regular holidays the length and breadth of the UK. Cabin noise is much better than the previous car and it has better economy – albeit well short of the official government figures.
I must admit though – the previous model is a fine car and if you have one that is serving your purpose there is really no compelling reason to upgrade. My reason was to get a car with a less noisy cabin, better economy and 5 year warranty that would see me to 80 years of age – a milestone that just may mark the day I give up driving and become a proper pensioner.
Newer members to the forum might find the following threads of interest :
https://www.i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1616https://www.i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=14198.0https://www.i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=14272.0
