[baroudeur]

  Love the way you just dismiss it - wife broke her leg. 

Getting used to it.

She had a serious operation on her foot last December ....6 weeks no load bearing then gradual return to normal.  Was due for a 'final inspection' tomorrow.

Last Thursday morning -  all packed for long weekend at our son's place in Somerset - and she slipped dislocating her ankle and breaking tib and fib  on the same leg whilst inspecting the rainwater butt that I had rushed to get from Aldi at 8a.m..

Six weeks no load bearing................. can't use the stairs so confined to bedroom.    Now forty years ago.......... 

[rustynutz]

Might be time to trade up, baradeur?   

[AlanHo]

This table details the gearing data provided by various members for their i30 CRDi cars.

You are welcome to draw your own conclusions regarding the gearing of the various models - be they the previous model with 5 and 6 speed gear boxes and the new model with a 6 speed box.

My new model is clearly more highly geared than the previous cars - in fact the 4th and 5th gears are equal to the 5th and 6th gears of the previous model - with 6th gear being geared almost 17% higher.  This probably accounts for why my new car feels less spirited than my previous model and why I am now able to achieve economy figures exceeding 60 mpg (4.7 l/100km) whereas the previous cars best was only 52 mpg (5.43 l/100 km) over the same test route which included 34% urban and 66% motorway driving. 

[Doggie 1]

Great post Alan.
The speeds in mph in first gear should be the same for my car & Nustyrutz' though.

[rustynutz]

 

And yes, I noticed your spelling, Dave......

[AlanHo]

Great post Alan.
The speeds in mph in first gear should be the same for my car & Nustyrutz' though.

Sorry about that - now amended - I can't type accurately either............

[Dazzler]

Thanks for your efforts yet again Alan 

[AlanHo]

The i30 manual car just launched in Australia is different to the European version in two major respects.

The Korean built cars have a torsion beam rear suspension whereas the Euro cars have a more expensive multi link set up.

Gear ratios for the manual cars are also different. The Australian car is lower geared.

Here are the speeds at 2000 rpm.

1st gear.  Aus car 17 kph    Euro car 18 kph
2nd gear  Aus car 31 kph    Euro car 32 kph
3rd gear  Aus car  51 kph   Euro car  56 kph
4th gear  Aus car  72 kph   Euro car  79 kph
5th gear  Aus car  86 kph   Euro car  93 kph
6th gear  Aus car 101 kph  Euro car  111 kph

My guess is that the Australian model will feel more lively but will have a slightly worse fuel economy - it definitely has much worse emmissions presumably because it does not have a DPF.

[Doggie 1]

That is interesting from both the gearing point of view and the suspension set up.
On the website it points out that the Australian suspension tune is designed for Australian conditions.
I wonder why they went to beam rear axle? 

[Phil №❶]

What is this "Australian conditions", are we on a different planet. We have roads ranging from dirt tracks to freeways with lower speed limits than Europe 

[Doggie 1]

I agree.
I don't think that the majority of our conditions are much different from other parts of the world.
Sure, if you're in the outback it's different but that's not where i30s are going to be.

They might have changed the diff ratio (lower geared) but surely the rear suspension is the same? Not confused with the Accent?

[rustynutz]

They might have changed the diff ratio (lower geared) but surely the rear suspension is the same? Not confused with the Accent?

Definately different rear suspension, pip.....

http://www.hyundai.com.au/vehicles/i30/specification-range

Ok, it does say that but am I to believe that there are two completely different rear suspensions, each having different mounting points etc.?

Not convinced, it's one or the other and torsion beam is a step backward.

A torsion beam takes less space (so more in the cabin) and cheaper which advantages the smaller Accent better. Someone needs to look under one.

[rustynutz]

According to the brochure, the Accent has a torsion beam rear end too.... 

[rustynutz]

This review also confirms the Aussie i30 has the torsion beam rear suspension.....

http://www.themotorreport.com.au/54247/2012-hyundai-i30-first-drive-road-test-review-australia

I read elsewhere that all Korean built i30's have the torsion beam rear end....while the i30's built at the Czech Republic factory have the multi link rear suspension. 

So it looks like they have dumbed down the rear suspension for Aussie cars. And that article says that the Oz suspension tuning was to soften the ride at handling expense.

I always assumed that when the original car's tuning had been Austalianised it was to to improve the handling performance but perhaps it was the other way around. Might explain why we ended up with a significantly smaller rear sway bar than the UK and from memory those here that were less impressed with understeer and beefed the sway bar were from Oz.

I was never in line for this model but on paper they seem to have have moved away from many items on my checklist.