[Racedout121]

Firstly, let me say that I had no desire to abandon the i30.

I bought a 1.6 Blue Drive in November of last year ( 13 ).  The main two reasons were the comnfort of the car itself and the expressed economy of the car.

Well, my 1.6 BD was struggling to give me 35 mph in town and never rose above 44 on a motorway run, and all of this despite me not having a 'lead foot' and rarely ever taking the rev counter about 2,500. I took it to the local dealer to have it checked out and they could not find fault, although the trip meter readings were not good. I had to fill up at a rate of knotts too.  I lost total faith in the fuel efficiency of the car and decided to swap the car ... for another i30, only this time the smaller 1.4 petrol, although in the same Active trim as the bigger diesel.
All I can say is 'wow' !  I get  between 38 - 40 in and around town and the the car has seriously impressed on a couple of motorway runs. I recently went from Brighton to Ipswich and back on just under half a full tank. By my estimation this means that the car will return about 600 - 650 miles on a full tank ( not bad for a 1.4 petrol at all ! ).
Another little bonus, is that the 1.4 has much better accelaration in the higher gears ( 5 and 6 ).  I have since renamed my car 'the Swift', because it really is. 

The lesson here is that you must follow your gut and ignore when others are telling you things are fine, when you know that they're not !  I swapped from the sup'd econimic 1.6 Blue Drive diesel to the 1.4 petrol and, everything else being equal in terms of the trim and car stats { ok, slightly lighter and smaller petrol engine }), the petrol wins hands down and is giving far better fuel economy. petrol is also substantially cheaper here in the uUk to boot !
Very happy i30 owner 

[Phil №❶]

Can't remember what the book says for your model in your country, but 8 l/100k in traffic and 6.4 l/100k are about what to expect with the DPF fitted. Sadly, it does affect the economy of the Diesel. Glad that you're happy with the little 1.4 though. 

[Just Rick]

i'm absolutely dumb founded you were getting such poor figures our Of You CRDi,we do not get the 1.4 petrol over here so can't comment on that,but the two friends I do have with petrol's, 1 a 2 Ltr the other a 1.6 and on similar milages they can'y get anywhere near the economy I'm getting, I regularly get between 55 mpg to 67 mpg highway cycle and just a little lower around town.

Glad your getting the results you are and your still happy with the I30

[Racedout121]

Indeed, Rick... The very reason I went for the Blue Drive was because of it's mooted economy ?  I never got anywhere near the stated figures, and I'm far from any kind of 'Boy Racer' ( what BR would be caught dead in a Blue Drive anyway ?!! ).

I have been so pleasantly surprised by the economy of the 1.4 petrol that I couldn't be happier in terms of it's MPG !  I just had a little voice niggling away in the back of my mind not to keep it and I acted on that feeling, and for the better in my case.  I accept that others may of been getting the stated mpg with that model, but I wasn't about to take a chance on another of the same model. 
The petrol has exceeded my expectations thus far and I'm very pleased.  The car has less torque and pull in gears 1 through to 4, but that is expected. I was quite surprised that the car had better acceleration in gears 5 and 6 when on the motorway than the diesel had ( just feels more responsive ).

[diablo]

It usually counts as heresy round here to praise the petrol for good economy!   Though if it is working out for you then great.

I have the old type 1.4 and it meets my needs very well, though with the short hops I do it rarely reaches 30mpg. Though that is better than my previous Laguna 2 litre which gave 22 or less - so seems good in comparison.

[eye30]

I bought a 1.4 petrol nearly 2 years ago as a replacement for my 1.6 diesel.

I find that as i only do short trips now and the petrol is better fuel economy given the diesel has that filter which needs regen every few 100 miles...

[rustynutz]

Are you sure you didn't have the hand brake on with the diesel, racedout121? 
Cos I reckon there would have to be something seriously wrong with the diesel for the 1.4 to outperform it. 

[bumpkin]

A lot of the surprise about the diesel economy comes from our Australian members who have much bigger distances (in general) to cover on their island in comparison to ours.  Much of our running in the UK is done on roads which are not fit to get much above 50mph, twisty, narrow, not really fit for purpose anymore.  Couple to dropping to 30mph on a regular basis to go through our towns and less to get through our cities, it quickly becomes apparent why the DPF diesels can be less economical than the book says they will be.

There are people (like Shambles) for whom the diesel version of any car is a sensible choice, they are on the motorways everyday commuting longer distance to get to and from work, any regeneration is done at speed and has a reduced effect on the consumption.

I have never had a diesel car, the petrol Hyundai's always giving me close (if not quite achieving) the stated consumption, the 1.6 i40 over the last year has averaged for me 30mpg against a stated 34mpg, most of my running being city driving during the week with approx 100 mile round trips at the weekends to see parents, play golf etc.  When I have had long journeys with the i40 I have been able to achieve 43-44mpg against a stated 45mpg.

I don't think the stated figures are outright lies, they just take into account optimum conditions, the massive drop in mpg in the Winter causes a lot of angst, but if the test was done in controlled 20C and suddenly your engine is operating in the minus range, then we shouldn't expect the same economy, yet somehow it is the vehicle manufacturer selling us a lemon because the dash doesn't say what the book does!

To that end I wonder if we actually get too much information about technical specs when we are looking to buy, sure we want the best compromise between frugality and speed, but you can't possibly know how that is going to stack up reading the brochure against your driving habits.  Was it not easier in the old days when we bought what we wanted based on looks, features and a good test drive?

My biggest gripe would now be that the UK car industry is actually catering for the fleet sales, they don't really give a stuff about the private buyer, the petrol derivative of any car model is very much in the minority, greatly reducing the choice of specification for people who don't NEED diesel cars.  This is wrong in my opinion, the private buyer is gradually being forced to go for the diesel motor, just to get the rest of the vehicle spec they want. 

I love my i40 petrol, but guess what?  I can't buy another one, you can now only buy the i40 in diesel guise.

I would also point out that Hyundai's sister company Kia do a better job of having a range of cars with a range of engines than Hyundai do, I know that the website says you can get a 1.4 or 1.6 petrol i30 Premium or Style Nav/Style, but has anybody actually been able to find one on a forecourt?  I haven't, the highest I can find in petrol guise is the 1.4 Active.

Conversely the Kia dealer at the end of my road has a range of Ceed's with diesel or petrol motors in their 1-4 range available to view, sit in or drive at any time.

[Hati]

@Racedout: you never mentioned how many miles you had in the crdi. Diesels are notorious for taking a long time, 10 to 15 000 kilometres (close to 10000 miles) to really start getting frugal.


The other consideration, as mentioned above, is the kind of trips you do. Short stop/start stuff does no favours, especially with DFP fitted. Having a manual over an auto is also important if you want economy.


I do most of my driving in city traffic, yet still get around 6 litres per 100 km. My car is a manual. In other words up to 900 kilometres on a tank (brimmed) once past the 15 k mark and used to get 7 to 800 when new.

[Racedout121]

@Haiti.   I had the car four months until my wife passed away from cancer.  I had only done 4,000 miles in it and I accept that diesels may require a running in period. However, my driving was a combination of in-town driving and a couple of motorwat trips a week. Car was a manual and I have far from a 'lead foot'.  Eeven the dealer stated that they were surprised at the low mpg, even though their great diagnostic equipment could not find fault.  I always go with my gut feeling on anything and the car did not sit right with me at all.  Loved the trim of the Active and the feel of the driving, which is why I chose not to abandone the i30 altogether.  I then bought a 1.4 Petrol, , same Active trim and even the same colour, which was a few months older than the one I got brand new.  As stated, the petrol figures I'm getting are from the 'Trip Meter' and they have remained fairly consistent at around 38 in town ( happy enough with this ).  Drove up to London yesterday and on an 80 mile run the car returned just under 53 mpg ( I did drive at a very conservative 65 mph all the way there ). 
Overall, I am very pleased with the car .... and I have never driven with the 'handbrake one' ( whoever that was ?!! ).