[d3matt]

I picked up my new i30 today - a Style 1 .6 CRDi 128PS Blue Drive.
I've only driven it for a single trip - 1.25 hours, straight down the M40, so not had much time to try it on different roads or play with it much.
Overall, I am pleased with it, but there's some gripes that immediately were apparent when compared to my 2010 Ceed 3 SW:

Being a Style, it is loaded with kit.  However, there's a few things this doesn't have which my Ceed 3 did - lumbar supports on front seats, rear cup holders, rear air vents, rear arm rest, lack of cubby holes with lids.  The rear passengers get nothing in the i30 - lack of cup holders will be missed.
In the Ceed, there are 3 extra storage areas which were very handy for things like credit cards.  The only one in the i30 that has a lid is the centre box, which is massive.  This is great, but on the Ceed the lid also had a storage area which was ideal for storing pens etc.  Overall, while the i30 does have storage, it's far less useful than the Ceed.
The parking sensors (front and back) are poor.  Goes from nothing to solid beeping and next to useless.
The steering wheel buttons are awkwardly placed compared to the Ceed and not so easy to use with one finger.  Kia use rocker levers for volume and cruise which is much better than buttons too.
The centre console isn't angled towards the driver, so the stereo screen and operation seems a little more awkward than I'm used too.  Also having the stereo buttons above the screen to operate the menus is useless as when you're turning the knob to navigate through the menus, you can't see the screen as your hand/arm is in the way!  Makes is very awkward to change any sound settings while on the move.
The instant MPG display is useless too.  In the Ceed it told you the exact figure.

Sorry if this sounds like I'm moaning too much.  I'll post again at the end of the weekend, after I've used the car a bit more and I'm sure I'll be smiling more by then.

On the plus side, the stop/start made me smile - it starts very quickly.  It's also very much quieter at low speeds and while quieter at motorway speeds, it still is a little noisy - I was expecting it to be a little better. 
The ride/suspension is fantastic.  It really does dull out the bumps on rough roads (we live at the end of a 2 mile dead end lane).

Overall, I suppose my expectations were a little too high.  If I'd come from a Focus or Astra, then maybe I'd be more impressed.  But the Ceed in the '3' spec felt more "special" when I first got it.

[d3matt]

I was also surprised to see it didn't have a "Blue Drive" badge on it or anything to indicate it was the 'eco' model.

[AlanHo]

I found your initial review most interesting compared with my first impressions with my new 2012 i30 which is the same model as yours. I hope you enjoy the car as much as I have. Because of your good experience with your Ceed, I am surprised that you chose the new i30 rather than wait a couple of months for the new 2012 Ceed - though I am sure you had your reasons.
 
I entirely agree with you about the front parking sensors - it is a misnomer to call them that because they are not on the front of the car....Why not do as I have and write to Hyundai UK and complain. The more of us that do this - the better the chance of getting a resolution. Have you read through my review of the new car which includes my saga with the front parking sensor problem. See  https://www.i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=14198.0

On my car the rear parking sensors are OK - they pick up a hazard at about 110 cms both on the display and by the intermittent beep which increases in frequency as you get closer.  However, I will admit that the sensors on my previous i30 were more sensitive and discriminating.

Before I bought my 2010 i30 crdi I had a couple of test drives in the Equivalent Ceed. It was a close call between the cars but I chose the i30 because on balance it suited me better, it had a more compliant suspension, was not as noisy and the seats were far more comfortable. My wife (as passenger) enjoys fiddling with the radio and she found it less convenient in the Ceed because it was angled away from her. The clincher was that I was not impressed with my local KIA dealer and had concerns about ongoing customer service.

I dont find the radio in my new car a problem - because I have pre-tuned all the radio settings. If my wife is with me - she does the radio fiddling. If I am alone I mainly use the steering wheel controls.

My 2012 i30 is a huge step forward in refinement and overall finish compared with my previous i30. However - the much higher gearing in the new model means that it feels less lively and I find myself using the gears more and changing up at higher revs to get the best acceleration.  Early indications are that it is much more frugal though.

We often have our grand kids in the back of the car. We find that it is much safer to give the kids bottled drinks rather than cups - and the bottle holders in the large rear door pockets work fine.  Hence we have not missed the lack of cup holders.

I had owned 4 Audi cars before I bought my first i30 and for the first week or so with the i30 I kept noticing things that were missing or not as good as on my Audi cars - much like you have done. However - I soon started to notice all the good things about the car and concluded that for a car that cost £4,500 less than my previous Audi A3 I was getting incredible value for money.

It's a good job we don't all have identical tastes - what I find acceptable may not suit others and vice versa. I suppose that if we were all of the same mind cars would all be identical - how boring.

However - I repeat - I find your initial observations most interesting and look forward to your views in a week or two....

[d3matt]

Actually, you've just reminded me how sluggish I found it too.  My Ceed is 113bhp whereas the new i30 is 126bhp.  I'm so glad I didn't get the lower powered model!  I know the engine is new and I've only done about 70 miles in it today, but even so, I was expecting it to be a little more lively.  I suspect it will improve though.  Our Kia Soul and Ceed (both have the same 1.6CDRi) did improve as the mileage knocked up and so did the economy.  They got better after about 7,000 miles.  I'll do that in about 2.5 months.

If the new Ceed was available now, I would have got that.  Not for looks though, as I think the i30 has the edge this time (it didn't on the previous two models), but the interior of the new Ceed looks better and will have more kit for the money.  But the Ceed is another month away 'til launch and in reality it would be nearer 3 months until I could have one, so the i30 won.  Maybe next time, in 35 months time, I'll get the Ceed.  But then I expect it will be an electric vehicle by then or something alone the lines of what the Volt/Ampera is doing.

I'm off to bed now to study this massive i30 owners guide, to see why my bluetooth music wasn't streaming from my phone and learn the voice activation commands.  Now that's something my Ceed didn't have.  I haven't had that since I owned my Land Rover Discovery 3 in 2006.

[2i30s]

Matt,your car wont go like a cut cat when its brand new because everything is still tight,and you shouldn't be trying to make it go like a cut cat.    give it a few thousand kms too free up,the power will improve and also the fuel economy will improve. 

[AlanHo]

I agree that a new car will improve with miles - but the gearing and engine mapping will not alter.

My 2010/11 i30 CRDi would pull quite easily from about 1100 rpm and seemed to pull most strongly between 1500 and 2500 rpm. I used to change up a gear at roughly 2000 rpm

The new car is sluggish - in fact very sluggish below 1500 rpm and pulls most strongly between 1750 rpm and 3000 rpm. It revs freely in this range and feels more like a petrol car. Hence I find myself having to use the gearbox more and spend more time in the lower gears.

In my previous car on an urban 30 mph (48 kph) road I would cruise in 4th gear at about 1400 rpm - or in 5th gear at 1200 rpm.  When the speed limit ended the car would accelerate easily without the need to change down.

In the new car 30 mph (48 kph) in 4th gear equals 1200 rpm and 5th gear 1000 rpm - it will just about cruise in 4th gear but doesnt seem to like it. 5th gear at that speed is impossible. When in 4th gear, to accelerate you have to drop down into 3rd gear so around town I now tend to cruise in 3rd gear at 1700 rpm.

I suppose that given time I will get used to it - but at present I yearn for the gearing and engine mapping of the previous car - albeit at the cost of reduced economy. The new car is about 16 HP more powerful than the previous one - but it doesn't show until you use higher revs and lower gears.

Having said that - on a recent trip I was stuck behind a couple of slow cars doing about 30 mph on a 60 mph winding road. There were few opportunities to overtake - but as soon as one came I gunned it in 3rd gear and the acceleration was at least the equal of my previous car - I was still in 3rd gear when I reached 60 mph at about 3500 rpm at which point I was well past the cars and changed into higher gears.

My early impression is that spirited driving in the new car will result in economy figures little better than the previous car - but gentle driving will be far more frugal than I was able to achieve before. 

[rustynutz]

My 2010/11 i30 CRDi would pull quite easily from about 1100 rpm  <

There's no way I could do that in my 2010 5 speeder....It requires at least 1500rpm, if not more to accelerate without rumbling and grumbling... 

[2i30s]

is there much difference in the cars you drove at silverstone compared to your new car Alan?

[AlanHo]

My 2010/11 i30 CRDi would pull quite easily from about 1100 rpm  <

There's no way I could do that in my 2010 5 speeder....It requires at least 1500rpm, if not more to accelerate without rumbling and grumbling... 

Perhaps I should add that whilst my previous car would pull away from 1100 rpm without protesting - acceleration was slow until about 1500 rpm when it kicked in strongly.

In the new car if I try to accelerate from 1100 rpm, no matter how hard I press the throttle it just sits there at the same speed. From 1200 rpm it will accelerate - but under protest.

[2i30s]

My 2010/11 i30 CRDi would pull quite easily from about 1100 rpm  <

There's no way I could do that in my 2010 5 speeder....It requires at least 1500rpm, if not more to accelerate without rumbling and grumbling... 

Perhaps I should add that whilst my previous car would pull away from 1100 rpm without protesting - acceleration was slow until about 1500 rpm when it kicked in strongly.

In the new car if I try to accelerate from 1100 rpm, no matter how hard I press the throttle it just sits there at the same speed. From 1200 rpm it will accelerate - but jerky and under protest.

but surely that's only because shes new,not because of an extra gear. 

[rustynutz]

Maybe using such low revs had something to do with your old car's disappointing fuel economy, Alan? 

[2i30s]

Maybe using such low revs had something to do with your old car's disappointing fuel economy, Alan? 

was his old car a 5 speed box like ours Russ? 

[AlanHo]

is there much difference in the cars you drove at silverstone compared to your new car Alan?

At Silverstone the track and skid pan cars were 1.4 petrol and 1.6 CRDI 110 PS cars.

The road test was in a CRDi 128 PS car similar to the one I bought - but looking back - I probably spent more time concentrating on comfort, bells and whistles and noise levels rather than performance. The route we were given included some fast dual carriageway - but it was very busy with traffic and we were driving in wide spaced convoy with the other visitors so there was only limited scope to test the performance envelope.

The subsequent test drives with the dealership were in the 1.4 petrol and the 1.6 CRDI 110 PS engine.  I did notice that this diesel felt sluggish but I put it down to the car being new and of lower power that my previous i30. I expected the higher power car to be more spritely than my old one - but at present it isn't.

I don't want to give the impression that I am not happy with the car - because I am delighted with it. I no longer push my car hard so outright performance is less of an issue than fuel economy and low cabin noise. It is much quieter than my previous car and would appear to be significantly more frugal which should get even better when I pile on the miles.

[AlanHo]

My previous car was a 6 speed manual.

It wasn't my habit to drive the previous car regularly at low revs - but sometimes when the speed limit dropped to 30 mph through a village I would be lazy about changing down for a short distance.  This might have had some effect on economy - but it would have been marginal overall.

I only mentioned the low rpm performance to underline the differences in gearing and engine mapping between the cars. The new car is curently sweeter at a higher rev band than the previous one.

[Doggie 1]

Reading this thread, and considering a new i30, it has me a bit concerned. 
I take your point Alan that you are happy with the car, but you would expect an increase in performance when a new model is introduced and to describe it as sluggish worries me a bit.
I don't have the 6 speed old model, I have the 5 speed and I find it's performance to be good for what it is. Very torquey when in the torque band.
I will be watching with interest to see how your car is when it has a few thousand kms on the clock, although as you say, that isn't going to make one iota of difference to the gearing.

[constipated]

Maybe using such low revs had something to do with your old car's disappointing fuel economy, Alan? 

I am wondering about this as well.

In my personal case, my fuel economy has actually improved by trying to keep rpm at around 1900rpm (beginning of the peak torque band) for a whole tank. I wonder if in your attempts to achieve the best fuel economy, whether trying to shift up with as low rpm as possible, and cruising with very low rpm may have done you a disservice.

I have never had the opportunity to put my i30 into a purely highway run, but on my daily work commute which has plenty of stop start as well as a few stretches of motorway, my best tank has been 5.4 L/100km (measured) with an average speed of 38km/hr for that tank.

I'm sure <5.0 would be achievable on a good highway run.

[AlanHo]

Reading this thread, and considering a new i30, it has me a bit concerned. 
I take your point Alan that you are happy with the car, but you would expect an increase in performance when a new model is introduced and to describe it as sluggish worries me a bit.
I don't have the 6 speed old model, I have the 5 speed and I find it's performance to be good for what it is. Very torquey when in the torque band.
I will be watching with interest to see how your car is when it has a few thousand kms on the clock, although as you say, that isn't going to make one iota of difference to the gearing.

The new car is very torquey when in its torque band - but the torque band appears at much higher revs than the previous car. The previous car was sluggish at below 1250 rpm - the new one below 1500 rpm. The car has only done 800 miles so far - hence the engine is still tight. It will be interesting to see how it feels in a few thousand miles.

According to the brochure figures my new car should accelerate from 0 to 100 kph in 10.9 seconds - the previous car was 11.5 seconds. I just might do a little experiment later and see if I can time it. (Why did I not think of that before).

Regarding economy :-
In post #66  https://www.i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=14198.60  I detailed the results of driving a set route a couple of times in the new car - one trip driving for economy and the second trip driving at maximum legal speeds. the first trip averaged 64 kph and 4.53 l/100 km, the second trip averaged 71 kph and 5.22 l/100 km.

[Phil №❶]

My 2010/11 i30 CRDi would pull quite easily from about 1100 rpm  <

There's no way I could do that in my 2010 5 speeder....It requires at least 1500rpm, if not more to accelerate without rumbling and grumbling... 

Perhaps I should add that whilst my previous car would pull away from 1100 rpm without protesting - acceleration was slow until about 1500 rpm when it kicked in strongly.

In the new car if I try to accelerate from 1100 rpm, no matter how hard I press the throttle it just sits there at the same speed. From 1200 rpm it will accelerate - but jerky and under protest.

but surely that's only because shes new,not because of an extra gear. 

Remembering that we are talking diesel here, I think pulling away @ 1200 RPM is a pretty tall ask for a 4 cyl 16.? compression ratio. 

[d3matt]

Been driving the i30 more today and liking it more now.
One thing that is now apparent, is that I've been changing gear too early.  I realised I wasn't noticing the gear change indicator much, so I've been driving it a little harder and waiting for the gear change indicator to display before changing up and it now feels a little brisker.  However, the gear change indicator is later (i.e. higher revs) than it is on my Ceed.  Generally I drive for maximum economy now (because of the price of fuel!) and do take notice of the gear change indicator.  The new i30 is quite happy to be driven at much lower revs and if anything I'd say the gear change indicator comes on too late for maximum economy.  Still it's early days and the engine has to loosen up yet.
Some things I do really like - the thud of the doors; the lovely gear change (how some reporters can say its "notchy"  I don't know);  the LED DRLs - (really gets some looks!); the way the indicators in the door mirrors light up a little lens in the end so anyone passing by in your blind spot will see the indicators in the mirror.

[d3matt]

One thing I'm not impressed with is the bluetooth music streaming.  In my Ceed this worked well and was faultless with my Dell Streak (Android) phone.  In the new i30, the music will not play by pressing the tune button as indicated on the screen.  I have to wake up the phone and go into my music play and kick it off on the phone.  Not ideal while driving.  And then to make it worse, I can't skip tracks with the button on the steering wheel.   All of this worked on the car controls in the Ceed.
So I'll have to resort to putting all my music on USB sticks.  No big problem.  But I was playing a USB stick today and the song title was coming up in (what I assume) is Korean rather than English 
Yet not all are like this.  Another folder/album on the same USB stick displayed properly in English.

[Dazzler]

That Korean? readout is a bit of an odd one. Glad you are finding some more positives though.. Being a Company vehicle you will probably never get as attached as if it were your own I suppose.

Any chance of some photos please? (hosted via photobucket or similar as per welcome thread instructions) 

[d3matt]

I also found this connector block loose in the boot of the new car.  It was between the carpet and the back seat rest.
Any ideas what this is for or if it should be plugged in somewhere?

[d3matt]

Any chance of some photos please?

I'll take some tomorrow, but
here's one...

[Dazzler]

Thanks Matt (looks great in White)  I realise it is just a bigger version of your Avatar but a bit easier to see 

[AlanHo]

I also found this connector block loose in the boot of the new car.  It was between the carpet and the back seat rest.
Any ideas what this is for or if it should be plugged in somewhere?

I found nothing like that in my new i30.

[constipated]

The new i30 is quite happy to be driven at much lower revs and if anything I'd say the gear change indicator comes on too late for maximum economy. 

Perhaps instead this might mean that it has indeed been "false economy" to shift too early.

Alan does your car have a shift indicator a well. What revs does it advise you shift to higher gears, eg 4th to 5th, 5th to 6th.

I'd be interested if it was advising so that the higher gear revs end up just at the bottom of the peak torque range.

Is it feasible for you during one of your runs to either follow the shift indicator or else shift such that higher gear ends up at the start of peak torque range and cruise always at whatever gear keeps revs at that value (not necessarily highest gear)

[d3matt]

Perhaps instead this might mean that it has indeed been "false economy" to shift too early.

Yes that is true if you drive at too low revs.  My Ceed has an instant mpg readout (unlike the i30 ) where you can get to compare changing higher/lower or at the time the dash indicates.  Too low revs is more thirsty than a low-medium revs.
The new i30 definitely 'recommends' a later gear change than the Ceed did.   I'll start driving to the gear change indicator as this should be more accurate than my feeling of when is the most economic.

[AlanHo]

In my previous i30 the instant economy indicator was a numeric value - hence you could see exactly what the fuel consumption was at any time. My experiments with that car proved to me that it was most frugal when cruising at low throttle settings between 1500 to 2000 rpm.

Many a time I have been cruising on a flat road at 45 mph =1500 rpm in 6th gear and changed down to 5th gear = 1800 rpm then 4th gear = 2100 rpm to see fuel consumption increase at each step and stay there.

The new i30 does not have a numeric display of instant fuel economy - instead a stupid bar graph - so it is not possible to do the same experiment.

On the previous car the gear change indicator was quite prominent in the display - not so with the new model where it is quite small and crammed into the instument window between the engine temperature and fuel level displays. I will try to make a record of when it asks you to change gear - but I already know it is not consistent - possibly dependent on throttle opening and other factors the CPU takes into account. I find myself ignoring the display - peering at it in anticipation takes my eyes off the road too much.

Something else I have noticed is that on the previous model the display told you when to change up and when to change down. On the new car I have never seen it suggest when to change down so it seems to work only in one direction which encourages drivers to use low revs when your speed is reducing rather than change down to maintain rpm.

[AlanHo]

According to the brochure figures my new car should accelerate from 0 to 100 kph in 10.9 seconds - the previous car was 11.5 seconds. I just might do a little experiment later and see if I can time it. (Why did I not think of that before).

I have just spent an hour on some experiments.

First Test - acceleration.

I wanted to check the 0 to 100 kph time for my car.

I have a sat-nav with speed read-out but it lacks instant response and hence cannot be used when accelerating quickly. The car speedo is fast. So to get an accurate speed reference I first cruised the car at exactly 100 kph on the sat-nav - then stuck some masking tape on the speedo to mark that speed (the speedo was reading about 8% fast).

I tried to use the stopwatch function on my phone to time the test - but it proved to be impossible - even somewhat hazardous. So I switched the phone to voice recorder placed it on the passenger seat and shouted start and stop at the beginning and end of each test. When I got home I played back the recordings and timed them with an internet stopwatch.

I did 5 acceleration tests on a level straight tarmac road. The times were: 11.0 secs, 11.1 secs, 10.9 secs, 11.0 secs and 10.8 secs. Average 10.96 seconds. The Hyundai brochure time for my car  is 10.9 seconds so I am amazed that my times were so close - I would like to think it was pure skill - but it was probably a fluke. It is difficult to get an exact time because the car is accelerating so quickly at 100 kph in 3rd gear the speedo neeedle is moving really fast.

When using maximum acceleration and higher revs - the engine noise is quite harsh and very prominent. Part way up the rev band there is additionally a loud hiss like air escaping.

Hence, despite my feeling that the car is not as lively as my previous one - these times prove otherwise.

Second Test - Gear Change Points

The gear change display asks you to change gear between 1800 rpm and 2100 rpm. After several starts fron standstill running up to 70 mph I could not detect a consistent pattern except that on very light throttle the gear change point is lower than when you are using more throttle. This applies to all gears. I also sense that the higher the gear, the lower the gear change point. For example, the need to change to 6th gear tends to be displayed at 1800 rpm fairly consistently whereas changing to 2nd is usually displayed above 2000 rpm.

I can also confirm that there is no indication showing you when to change down - even when in 6th gear and you let the revs fall to 1000 rpm and try and pull away. The car doesn't jerk or rumble - but just refuses to accelerate and the gear change display stays blank.

[Doggie 1]

I would like to think it was pure skill - but it was probably a fluke.

I bet it was skill 
So, it's just an illusion then that car appears sluggish?