[Paolo5]

Hi,
I hope that happy i30 diesel owners can help me put my niggling doubts to rest....

I test-drove a manual 1.6 litre SLX for the first time last Friday and was very impressed with its grunt and creature comforts....the whole package....so much so that I have since arranged a (good) deal to get one and have to sign on the dotted line within the next few days in order to proceed.

I stumbled across this site last night and after reading about i30 diesels here (for more than a few hours) I have a lasting feeling that there are so many things that can (and do) go wrong with them.

My current car is a 2000 Corolla which I have had for 4 years now. It has been totally reliable and very economical. It has done 100,000km and is going strong.

I would like a change. Whilst I have had new motorbikes over the years I have always purchased secondhand cars. I would like to buy my first new car...... and to be honest I presently I feel like it would be a leap of faith to forgo my Corolla's proven reliability to go for the i30 diesel.

I am hoping to hear from the many i30 diesel drivers have not had ANY problems at all with their diesel? And the high kms travelled by you in your car.

How many of you are THRILLED that you made the decision to buy one?

Cheers,
Paolo5

[Shambles]

Hi Paolo5

Well, I hate my diesel 1.6 crdi. It's slow, unresponsive, unreliable and uneconomical.

Just about everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. Engine components constantly failing, body infrastructure twangs and creaks. Steering is out, suspension is wishy washy, build quality is overall very poor.

The words "ride" and "comfort" should not be used in the same sentence. Seating is inadequate, legroom is non-existent, bootspace is taken up with all the repair gear I need to carry round.

(click to show/hide)

Now, reverse all the complaints above and you'll have my opinion

[Dazzler]

Welcome Paolo5..

Not sure where you got the idea the i30 Diesels have problems??? 99% of the diesel owners on here appear to be thrilled with their CRDi model and have generally had very few problems with their cars and even less with the diesel motor or turbo.. Considering a number have decided to use chips and tuning boxes to further enhance performance (without any reliability issues) would further suggest strong and reliable componentry..

Plus we have the 5 year unlimited kilometre warranty...

By the way I have done just under 60,000 kilometres in my 1.6 Crdi without as much as a hiccup (and I still love it)

[bumpkin]

Welcome

Can you point us in the direction of the threads which have given rise to your fears??

Out of the 1000+ members here, I can only think of one true dog, and the owner of that one was even full of praise for the car and still pops in to say hi from time to time.

The rest of our membership which I would say is probably about 80% diesel owners, have been nothing but vocal in their positive impressions of the car and the remaining petrol owners have also been extremely satisfied

[Dazzler]

We had one owner (i30racer?)I think who blew a turbo I believe but from his moniker and some of the things he said in various threads I think the car may have had a hard life/ been chipped??? It was a while back so not sure..

Thrilled is complete understatement!

Ok, dont take it from me, i'm maybe ( hehehe "maybe") not that much objective...take it from the like 15 people that have so far travelled with me and they are even more astonished!

There is also i30 forum or more like a Thread on a huge car forum on my native language, and believe me, there is not a single person with any major problem!!!  (60 pages of posts in the thread)  + when i got mine i thought i'll be the one of few to drive i30 and show of , boy i was wrong, so so so maaaaany of them, so deinitively BEST BUY.

Only one small thing, dont know exact translation, but one very small part start to make a noise usually, it is replaced within 15mins in service without any charge and thats it.

Your question is not wheter the i30 is good buy or is it reliable, its rather do you need a new car beside already good 2000 Corolla  

[sparki30]

Been running my 1.6 CRDI for 18months, no problems at all 20000 miles on the clock.
Peforms best on motorways.

[Brew69]

I have not had a problem in my first 102kms.

[Paolo5]

Thanks for your replies. It is so good to hear from some happy owners.

Bumpkin, maybe I have dwelt too much on the section "Diesel Problems and Issues".

If you read threads there (as I did) there have been lots of issues.
*Manual diesel transmission thump,
*Acceleration problem,
*Cold start engine miss,
*Turbo killed after 35K,
*Shuddering when turning car off  
*Smoking tyres and acceleration issue etc.

Trying not to be a glass half empty-kinda guy, I just want to go into this with no doubts.

I have owned one other diesel vehicle before and the fabulous longevity and performance from this really low tech monster has been the impetus for me to even seek-out a test drive of the diesel i30, which is really high-tech by comparison. As I said before, I LOVED driving the i30 last Friday.

As an aside, does anyone know what the highest km a Hyundai diesel has travelled?

Thanks for your replies.
Paolo5

[Paolo5]

Xamaxy...you are most likely spot-on with your observation-

"Your question is not wheter the i30 is good buy or is it reliable, its rather do you need a new car beside already good 2000 Corolla"

[Dazzler]

After our glowing comments and another test drive of the 1.6 Diesel I think the answer to that question will be easy...

[eye30]

Hi Paolo5

Well, I hate my diesel 1.6 crdi. It's slow, unresponsive, unreliable and uneconomical.

Just about everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. Engine components constantly failing, body infrastructure twangs and creaks. Steering is out, suspension is wishy washy, build quality is overall very poor.

The words "ride" and "comfort" should not be used in the same sentence. Seating is inadequate, legroom is non-existent, bootspace is taken up with all the repair gear I need to carry round.

(click to show/hide)

Now, reverse all the complaints above and you'll have my opinion

Phew - Had to check the date wasn't 1 April

[Nev75]

Keep in mind that what you read in forums aren't really representative of how vast problems are. People generally tend to post in forums when they have problems - not when things are running well.

I can assure you that you have nothing to worry about .. it's a great car.

Bumpkin, maybe I have dwelt too much on the section "Diesel Problems and Issues".

If you read threads there (as I did) there have been lots of issues.

[ajp3830]

Have only 3000k on my i30 ,but found almost no negative feedback during my searches on the net.
I have gone from a Holden Astra to a Diesel i30 and am very happy with my choice.
Do yourself a favour and bay one as you wont be sorry

[andrejs]

34.444 is on my diesel i30 ....

it's chipped, i drive aggressively and no problems

i don't know any problem in the car

before i hade Elantra 1.6 petrol - no problems, before accent - no problems...

We have in family few Hyundai's First one was Lantra 1.5 SW in 1997.
My father did have chipped Elantra 2.0 crdi from 112hp -> 147 hp, made 250.000 km in 4 years and never had any problems... My Mother drives Sonata, and grandpa Atoz , my sister still drives Accent

Never had with any one of them problems

well i can only say that Hyundai's are very reliable cars..

[LuciferDarklord]

48Km, no problems except a brake light switch and a slight steering rattle.  One thing that may show up further down the track is problems with EGR (exhaust gas recirculation)  In some Nissan diesels in particular the recirculated exhaust gas causes the inlet manifold to 'coke up' with carbon and soot - reducing the air volume going to the cylinders whilst the injectors continue with the same fuel rate.  To be honest this may not be an issue with common rail type engines - but If I keep my car past 150km I might take off the inlet manifold for a bopeep.  Any of the European members have experience with some of the other makes and models that use diesels that may be getting up in the miles and have coking issues from the EGR?

As posted elsewhere, soon to tick over 90 000km (in just under 2 yr 2 mth) without a hitch in our 1.6 CRDi manual and other than rev limit issue, which was dealt with very professionally by Hyundai and fixed, we have not had an issue.  The 1.6 CRDi just purrs along never missing a beat.  Any issues with missing when cold and at low revs that I have had are just "me" not driving the little diesel as it should be driven.  It is really a pleasure to drive and we get 1200km a tank on a regular basis, unless we push it and then we get 1000km on a tank.

Bob

[xlipower]

1.6 CRDI. Drives about 45km every day, driven about 55.000 km to this day. No problems at all..

[steffanko]

First of all, I think that Shambles is owner of some other car company!!! ;-)))

Second, I never liked small diesel engines... By small I think of under 2.0 liters and without turbo. They are just too lazy. If you are thinking about buying 1.6crdi, I suggest to buy instead 1.6 petrol, or even 1.4 petrol. You wont have some big difference in fuel cost value on a year level, but petrols runs much smoother.
Also, when I was buying car, I did a simple calculation. Since I have a very limited financing sources and by taking my driving habits into concern, I calculated that is just not worthy to give 1.500 euros more for a diesel engine.

p.s. Recently I  heard one saying, simply translated from my language:

On gas we cook, on diesel we heat, on petrol we drive!!! 

[Shambles]

First of all, I think that Shambles is owner of some other car company!!! ;-)))

Second, I think steffanko should have clicked my "spoiler" button

[Nick Riffed]

First of all, I think that Shambles is owner of some other car company!!! ;-)))

Second, I never liked small diesel engines... By small I think of under 2.0 liters and without turbo. They are just too lazy. If you are thinking about buying 1.6crdi, I suggest to buy instead 1.6 petrol, or even 1.4 petrol.

I don't know what 1.6CRDi Steffanko was driving but he may have got a different impression had he turned the engine on!!   You can't compare it to either the 1.6 or 1.4 petrol. I'd be quite happy to match my 1.6 CRDi estate against any of the petrol engined models anytime in anyway.  I have now owned four diesel engined cars, two of them being over 2.0ltr, and the Hyundai 1.6CRDi engine out performs all of them by far.
  

First of all, I think that Shambles is owner of some other car company!!! ;-)))

Second, I never liked small diesel engines... By small I think of under 2.0 liters and without turbo. They are just too lazy. If you are thinking about buying 1.6crdi, I suggest to buy instead 1.6 petrol, or even 1.4 petrol.

I don't know what 1.6CRDi Steffanko was driving but he may have got a different impression had he turned the engine on!!   You can't compare it to either the 1.6 or 1.4 petrol. I'd be quite happy to match my 1.6 CRDi estate against any of the petrol engined models anytime in anyway.  I have now owned four diesel engined cars, two of them being over 2.0ltr, and the Hyundai 1.6CRDi engine out performs all of them by far.
  

The CRDi is my first diesel car though I do drive light trucks. I came from a 177Kw Volkswagen Golf R32 and must say that I was/am most impressed with the torque of the 1.6 diesel and would never consider going back to petrol. The diesel just feels so effortless to drive. 16,000 trouble free ks and counting.

In NZ
1600 Petrol 90Kw 154Nm
2000 Petrol 105Kw 186Nm
1600 Diesel 85Kw 255Nm

[Dazzler]

Hi Stuart...You wont get any disagreement from the diesel owners on here.. I think it was Dave (DB08) who said the CRDi has character.. That about sums it up.. (It is a very likeable car.. )

There used to be a Nissan add over here a few years ago for a Nissan Patrol with something like 36% more power and the driver used to get out with a huge grin.. I think most of us on here are a bit like that..

[eyecon]

Paolo5,
I traveled 98,00kms in my grey diesel in just 18months before selling it. I had no problems with it, even though it was driven hard. Do you know what I bought to replace that? Another i30 diesel, but a different colour. This should be some sort of testimony on how good they are. By the way you will always be bound to find some owners having problems with their vehicles, no matter what make or model. Iv'e seen late model HSVs and Mercedes and the like parked on the side of the road with their bonnets up, and if you go their posts (especially HSVs) you would think why would anybody buy one in the first place.

[ozsnowman]

I've done 56,000km without a problem in my diesel (touch wood)

[Lakes]

First of all, I think that Shambles is owner of some other car company!!! ;-)))

Second, I never liked small diesel engines... By small I think of under 2.0 liters and without turbo. They are just too lazy. If you are thinking about buying 1.6crdi, I suggest to buy instead 1.6 petrol, or even 1.4 petrol. You wont have some big difference in fuel cost value on a year level, but petrols runs much smoother.
Also, when I was buying car, I did a simple calculation. Since I have a very limited financing sources and by taking my driving habits into concern, I calculated that is just not worthy to give 1.500 euros more for a diesel engine.

p.s. Recently I  heard one saying, simply translated from my language:

On gas we cook, on diesel we heat, on petrol we drive!!! 

hi mate, here i could not live with a

Paolo5,
I traveled 98,00kms in my grey diesel in just 18months before selling it. I had no problems with it, even though it was driven hard. Do you know what I bought to replace that? Another i30 diesel, but a different colour. This should be some sort of testimony on how good they are. By the way you will always be bound to find some owners having problems with their vehicles, no matter what make or model. Iv'e seen late model HSVs and Mercedes and the like parked on the side of the road with their bonnets up, and if you go their posts (especially HSVs) you would think why would anybody buy one in the first place.

Hi Eyecon, thats true love m8! i understand how you feel. just wondering if you can notice the new one is still???? freeing up? like i remember when my Betsy was just a baby and the little CRDi seemed to starve for fuel or something, sometimes in the lower gears, now Betsy is grown up and has 60,000k she does not seem to do this now she pulls well from very low rev in the lower gears without any fuss at all. have you noticed any difference in performance of the new CRDi to the one with 90,000 up? also at what intervals did you have the fuel filter changed?
cheers

[rich]

ive had my i30 a yr now, and after owning diesal cars for the last 15 yrs i can say that the 130 is the best by far.the only things that have had to be replaced under warrenty have been a tpm valve,and 1 of the alloy wheels that had 2 very small corrosion spots on it,these where replaced with no probs very quickly.

[Dazzler]

Welcome to the Club Rich ... It's all good...

[Lakes]

just thought i'd tell you, a friend of mine that has always favioured performance V8  manuel cars.
he just bought a 2.0L TDCi 6 speed manuel Focus, only after watching me for last two years and riding in my CRDi up some very big hills (3,000 elivation ) he liked the look of the new focus better , or might have been his wife did? i liked some features of the Focus, but the important things to me like full size spare, also the ability to fill with high flow or normal pumps, and the fact i trust Hyundai more than euro Fords. But that Focus can make all its windows go down fast at once, then go up fast at once with the remote control. i thought that was impressive to watch. but for the life of me i can't imnagine what use i could put that feature too?
cheers

[eyecon]

Hey Lakes,the new one still does feel a little on the tight side with 14,000kms so far because the fuel economy is a little down on where I'm used to seeing. But I have to say, even with the 'tighter engine', both cars still have similar performance. 98,00kms of sometimes hard driving did not seem to take its toll on the motor. Mind you both cars ran the same tuning box. Even with or without the tuning box my first car used to protest a great deal on plodding around in 5th gear with anything less than 1500rpm. The car would start to shudder and have no meaningful acceleration. But with the new car it feels like the engine management system is little more refined. Sure the car still has no meaningful acceleration, but it doesn't shudder or protest like my MY08. Also, both cars would blow smoke out the exhaust pipe under hard acceleration. I initially thought my first car was just getting on a bit, but it was the same with my new one. I did miss the grey one though. It was my first new car and I babied it much better than what I'm presently doing with the new one. Lakes, if you think your car pulls well from very low rev you should try a tuning box like mine. With 104kw and 346NM (dyno proven) its a whole lot better and more fun. The turbo lag is no where near as noticeable. I stuck the box in about 50,000km on my first one, but stuck the same box straight after my initial 1,000km service for the new car. I knew it didn't affect my first car in any way, so I was supremely confident and unconcerned about putting it into the new car much earlier. I want to put this car on the same dyno soon to see if there is any difference with the KN filter.

But I digress. Sorry m8. On your question about fuel filter changes, they were changed at the prescribed service points, as per the book.