[joesama]

Hi every one..
I'm from Victoria and just purchased the new i30 Hatch in Elite petrol version.

After much studying the cars and many test drives..
My wife and I decided to get the Hyundai i30 in Elite.
It gave the most value for money. So we said our final goodbyes to our ever loving 1996 Toyota Corolla yesterday.
We will be taking the delivery on coming Tuesday. Exciting times.
One of our criteria was that, we could not purchase a car with leather seat.. Purely because we were going to park it at the train station.

We really wanted the VW Jetta or the new MK7 Golf. But with all this issues with the gearbox and engine issues in the media, it really put us off. Another thing we were put off was that with the DSG, we had to drive the car like a manual car... except that its an auto. My wife have never driven a Manual so it was a no go zone.
Otherwise, it had everything we ever wanted. Like auto dimming mirrors, reverse cameras, electric park brake switch on MK7, Auto headlights and wipers, front and rear parking sensors, low fuel consumptions, Navigation system and all the safety features.
So it was a shame.

Than we had a look at the cars like Ford Focus.. (another no go cause of the gearbox similar to DSG), the new Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i30, Kia Rio, Honda Civic and finally the new Nissan pulsar.

Out of all this, I thought the most average car was Nissan Pulsar. Unless you do not want any equipment in the car, this car was absolutely poorly equipped. From ST to ST-L, there were no extra features that was really good enough for additional 3000 bucks. The only highlight with this car were the normal safety equipments which other cars already had (like airbags, ABS, Traction control, brake assist etc...) it did not have features like auto lights.. wipers, reverse camera, or even the reverse sensors.... Nothing. Only highlight of ST-L from ST was the coloured screen, spoilers (I have no idea why this car even need a spoiler) and that was pretty much about it. Price point of view, not worth it. We test drove the car and it actually did drive well. But there were some uncomfortable moments like when performing reverse parking. The boot was high, and visibility was very limited to the rear and without reverse sensors... it was pretty bad.

Than went to have a look at the Rio, (Just because it was a same dealer) and it seems to be a little too small. Cerato would have been a better car to compare but it didn't look appealing to us at all.

Next stop was to Toyota. We had a look at Acent Sport and the Levin SX. The first impression from outside was.. quite impressive. But that's where it stops.
As soon as you step into the car.. Wow.. did they allow some 10 year old kid to design this stuff. The lighting colours were not matching, the multimedia screen seemed like it was out of some 3rd party company and why on earth is the clock all the way on the far end corner of the center dash? I just couldn't understand that.
Equipment wise... another question mark there. The only thing with Acent Sport has is the reverse camera. That's it. Again, no auto lights or wipers. The only difference from Sport to Levin SX was that the Multimedia had GPS and Speedo looked alot better. It also had 17" wheels as opposed to 16" on Sport, and gear shift pedals. (What on earth for on corolla? Any one going to race with this thing?) Price wise, it was a little bit more on the higher side.
We actually almost bought the Acent Sport, and would have bought one if the dealer could have reduced extra 1 grand from where we were. But luckily they couldn't.

Honda was next in line. Went to look at the Civic VTi-LN Sedan. The car had pretty much all the good stuff. GPS, auto lights and wipers, parking sensors.. but the colour of the trim.. was like cream. And no option to change that. Looked like it was out of some Sci-fi movie in the 80s. With kids at the back, it would have got black in the matter of minutes. Plus, they had no capped servicing price and it was 6 monthly servicing. So civic was a short lived list on mine.

Finally, went to have a look at the i30 Elite or the Elantra Elite. Elantra Elite had quite a good equipment list, but it missed out on the GPS and the reverse camera. So it was a little bit disappointing. But looking at the i30 Elite, it had every thing we wanted except the auto dimming mirror and the electric park brake. Price wise, we managed to get it down to be cheaper than the Corolla Levin SX. Plus its once a year servicing and capped at 218 bucks for 3 years. Did a test drive on this thing and it actually drove quite nice. Although, I thought the steering feel settings were rubbish, (Best to keep it default) other wise the 7" touch screen was brilliant. Easy to use and had a very quick response. So it has captured our hearts.

joe....

[~ Angel ~]

Hey joesama

to the forum.

[eye30]

Welcome.

My that was some consumer testing you did.

Over what time period did you do it?

Can i ask re leather seats.

Why was this a no no because parked at railway station?

[Phil №❶]

A comprehensive 1st post. 

[Shambles]

Brilliant introduction and a fascinating journey you've taken

But you took the correct exit and got there in the end.

Congrats on your choice, and looking forward to seeing more of you and your Elite

[joesama]

Thank you guys for the warm welcome.
Australian sun is very harsh and strong. I have read a recommendation that if the car is gonna be outside, leather don't stand a chance.
It can dry up and crack very quickly. So I did not want to take the risk.

All this was done in the period of about 3 to 4 month.



joe.....

[Ugly Mongrel]

  joesama.

Your first post was a really great piece if comparative motoring analysis. Well done.

[Dazzler]

Brilliant introduction and a fascinating journey you've taken

But you took the correct exit and got there in the end.

Congrats on your choice, and looking forward to seeing more of you and your Elite

  (especially this Shambles bloke) 

 

[2i30s]

brilliant post.    welcome aboard joe. 

[rustynutz]

Welcome Joe....   

[Ackerman]

welcome. and  congratulation on your new  car ,your  first  post  is  impressive

[Doggie 1]

Welcome to the forum, joesama. 
Great first post with lots of information in there and a great result at the end. 
Have we found a southern hemisphere Alan here? 

[joesama]

Alan?? haha.. I hope its not something bad..
I have 1 question for all you i30 owners here though, the New Gen i30s, do they have chain belt or just normal timing belt?

joe....

[Doggie 1]

Alan?? haha.. I hope its not something bad..
I have 1 question for all you i30 owners here though, the New Gen i30s, do they have chain belt or just normal timing belt?

joe....

The diesels have chain, not sure about the petrol though.
Alan is one of our senior members who is renowned for providing detailed, accurate and lengthy reports on whatever he is reporting on. 

[rustynutz]

The petrol 1.8 runs a chain....

[Doggie 1]

Thanks Rusty. 

[rustynutz]

You're Velcome.... 

[Doggie 1]

You're Velcome.... 

Is that the German version? 

[rustynutz]

Ja!

[Doggie 1]

Dankeschön.

[rustynutz]

jederzeit 

[joesama]

The petrol 1.8 runs a chain....

Fantastic.. Thank you rusty...
Cant wait for tomorrow to pick the car up.
Next.. Ill take some photos and post it up here.

Haha. Nah.. I dont think I will be doing any more test drives soon.
But I did test drive Honda Oddassy luxury version. Was thinking of changing my Maxima to 7 seaters.
But the 2.4 engine was just so under powered. It was screaming around 6 to 7000 RMP when going up the ramp for freeway.
Again, had pedal shifters (Have no idea again.. why.. on oddassy 7 seater van/car vehicle you need that)
Although, it had a nice interior though. Last row folded and unfolded electrically and it actually really felt like driving a car.
Well.. under powered extremely heavy (1.6T) car.
Air conditioning vents for all 3 rows and all the tech gimmicks. Priced around 45,000 bucks. Was considering if they had a good trade in price for my Maxi.. but they couldn't do that.

joe....

[Asterix]

Hi Joe

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new car.

Dont understand your comment about the DSG have to be driven like a manual...

DSG is driven like an auto, there's no clutch pedal to operate.

[joesama]

Hi Joe

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new car.

Dont understand your comment about the DSG have to be driven like a manual...

DSG is driven like an auto, there's no clutch pedal to operate.

Hmm.. well.. apparently, for example, when you are in a traffic jam, in the normal conventional auto cars, you can just release the brake and the car will creep forward. With DSG cars, when you do this, it will slip the clutch and will over heat, which is very bad for the clutch. So just like in a manual car, you have to give some acceleration to the car, except that you don't have to change the gear yourself and there is no clutch pedal. From my understanding, when going up the hill, its the worst case scenario for DSG if you just creep forward.
There are 2 clutches in DSG. 1 clutch works on 1st 3rd 5th and 7th gear where the other works on 2nd 4th and 6th gear.
This is exactly the reason why some of the people experience 1st 3rd and 5th gear working while 2nd 4th and 6th not working or the other way round when problem starts to happen.
Or some people put the gear into D and it does not engage at all as both clutches are broken.
You can search for this issue in google and it is pretty scary stuff. haha. The fix is mechatorics, clutch kit or the entire gear box replacement which gets really expensive.

I did pretty extensive research on VW as it was number 1 on the list. Obviously it quickly went all the way down the bottom or off the list once I found this issue. I would not have had an issue driving it as I have driven Manual cars before and I know what to do and what not to do. But my wife have never driven manual cars.. So it was a no go.
Mind you, DSG is still very good gear box if driven correctly. They have the fastest and most efficient shifting times between the gears.

joe....

[Asterix]

Never heard about that problem with the traffic jam you describe.

I do know there's a lot of trouble with the DSG and I do know how they work, as I was a service manager at a VW dealer until 6 years ago That's why I reacted on your statement. 

But, I've not much knowledge about exactly what go wrong with them, as I apparently left the car business before all the trouble started.

[Lakes]

Welcome Joe , great post.

[joesama]

Hi guys..

Here is the link to the interim photo of wifey and my car, i30 Elite.

https://www.i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=23813.new#new

joe...

[Dazzler]

 

[Stinger]

Welcome! Great post & I  also love my elite! awesome cars!!

[demuire]

Good choice!  My wife also upgraded from a 1996 Corolla to an i30 Elite. Great "little" car - it's the biggest car we own now!  I was totally surprised that its even bigger than my Lancer Evo 8 in every way except in length!