[AlanHo]

I have now had my new i30 1.6 CRDi Manual Premium for just over 3 months and have racked up just 3000 miles in that time - a roughly even mixture of town, country and motorway driving.

After a bit of a saga getting cruise control fitted to the car – see separate thread on the topic – I am pleased that I persevered. It makes long motorway drives less of a chore.

Fuel consumption over the first 1000 miles averaged 50.5 mpg (5.6 L/100k)
Fuel consumption over the next 1000 miles was 43.3 mpg (6.5 L/100k)
Fuel consumption over the last 1000 miles was 42.8 mpg (6.6 L/100k)
Fuel consumption to date is 45.4 mpg

The fuel consumption figures are accurate and not based upon the car computer - I always brim the tank and take my time doing so to ensure it really is full and keep an Excel spreadsheet record of all fuel purchases by date and mileage together with the car computer consumption figure for the period between each fill.

My driving habits have not changed in that time – neither has the mix of journey types - so I am not able to explain why the fuel consumption has worsened. Perhaps it is due to the colder weather over the past 8 weeks – but why should that effect it?

As an experiment I tried using premium diesel for 3 successive fills. I was not able to detect any improvement in engine smoothness or fuel consumption to justify the considerable increase in cost and have reverted to standard diesel

The car computer has consistently proved to be optimistic regarding fuel consumption – by an amount in the range 0.4 to 1.3 mpg.

Overall I really like the car – despite it letting me down by not starting a few weeks ago as reported in a separate thread. It transpired that I had not closed the rear hatch fully and the hatch internal light had flattened the battery in the 2 days I had not used the car. I now miss the audible signal I got with my Audis to confirm all doors were locked and have become paranoid about looking for the i30 indicator lights to flash to indicate it is locked properly before walking away.

The only real disappointments with the i30 are a notchy gearchange into second gear, tyre noise and what appears to be faulty chrome inserts in one of the alloy wheels.

The gearbox is fine except that changing into second gear is not smooth – other owners here have reported similar problems. I am hoping this will improve with further usage. 

I have significant hearing loss and have to use hearing aids – hence cabin noise is something that I am very sensitive about. The 17” alloys with Hankook Optimo K415 tyres are very noisy on all but the smoothest surfaces and I am tempted to change the wheels to 16” ones fitted with Yokohama AVS DB Decibel V550 tyres which are reputed to be very quiet. I am assuming that the suspension on the Premium model is no different to the lower specs

The faulty chrome inserts will be the subject of a warranty claim when I get around to it.

The car has done everything required of it in its first 3 months and I look forward to enjoying it in the future


More anon……..

[2i30s]

excellent summary Alan.  and first to second gear should get better by 10,00kms,if it hasn't get it looked at mate. 

[Dazzler]

Hi Alan.. your report makes interesting reading.. Very Cold and very hot weather does effect the Diesel's economy but not sure exactly why (It was discussed on the site a year or so ago) I didn't think anyone had that much of a change though..

As Steve says many including me have found the gearbox inproves considerably with a few "Miles" up...

[Ozbrum]

Nice interesting post Alan, cheers 

[2i30s]

does the premium model [UK] have the Sr style of rim. ? I'm asking because Alan mentioned warranty, and plastic chrome inserts. 

[AlanHo]

does the premium model [UK] have the Sr style of rim. ? I'm asking because Alan mentioned warranty, and plastic chrome inserts. 

see here.. https://i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=7140.msg84488#msg84488

[2i30s]

does the premium model [UK] have the Sr style of rim. ? I'm asking because Alan mentioned warranty, and plastic chrome inserts. 

see here.. https://i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=7140.msg84488#msg84488

yep,thanks mate.  :goodjob:the same as our sr rims. 17"x7" 

[Surferdude]

Nice report Alan.
Re the notchy 2nd gear change I can report that mine has smoothed out totally. I'm just about on 17,000klm and it did improve noticeably after 10,000 klms so anothe r3,000 miles should see you getting pretty close to it being right.
In fact, I only realised a couple of days ago that I hadn't even noticed the 2nd gear change for months.

I keep a spreadheet similar to what you've described (not having an on-board computer) but of course, being petrol and as I'm younger (and still hoonier) than you my consumption is nowhere near as good.
I'm happy with it though.

[Myowni30]

I have had 2 i30 1.4 petrol models and both have not liked 1st to 2nd changes. But I have found that if the revs are over about 3K in 1st then the change is much smoother  :o

[eye30]

Gear change notchyness is an inherent feature of ALL the Hy range.

It does get better with more miles/K's.