Hyundai i30
Perception of quality is always a peculiar thing. A new marque enters the country with some cost effective, but cheaply built cars with a solid proposition, built on a brand whose name seems a little silly at first.Slowly but surely they improve their build and the brand remains unfamiliar on the tongue, but the name slips into our consciousness as mainstream.Yet we still have at the back of our minds, “built where?”
Think post world war II and Japanese production was synonymous with shoddily built cheap “Jap Crap”. Their automotive stuff getting the derisory term of endearment “rice burner.” As the march of time progressed, cheap slowly became reliable. Reliable became, desirable and prices became expensive. Resale values climbed. No more was Japan the first choice source of cheap sh*t. Labour became expensive and reputations needed to be paid for. Yet the seemingly sleeping giant of Eastern productivity was busy. Korea began to awaken as a cheap supplier and the story repeats.
Korean build quality is improving, and this is the nub of this article, but I must digress. Indian auto-mobiles a joke to you? Hardly! Keep an eye on Tata and watch things improve… mind you they have bought some impressive automotive assets, they now own Land Rover and Jaguar. Still marginalising the Indians? Not for long I predict. Next up to bat? The Chinese would be my prediction. Quality, well built cars within the decade I would guess.
Anyhow back to Korea and Hyundai in particular. Attending a while back the launch of i30, two things stuck in my mind: first they were clearly launching a VW Golf competitor in their minds. A Brave move for any manufacturer. This being their first attempt at this sector; Secondly their announcement that they were determined to become ranked fifth in terms of global build quality perception within 3 years.
It is clear that whatever you focus on and measure, improves. These guys have had their eyes on quality and the Hyundai i30 impressed here. Build quality is almost right up there with the best of the Germans. The interior is of good quality, only the odd bit of hard plastic in heavy wear areas. They are not quite there yet, but it is so very close. Better in many respects than the Japanese. Good interior design too. The sound and audio are also good, but here are the two major failings of the i30 in my humble opinion; no RDS on the radio, an unforgivably silly error in cost saving as far as I am concerned.
They managed USB and aux in jacks for the system, even steering wheel controls for the audio system are included! Weird huh? Secondly no Bluetooth connectivity for cellphones as standard. For a company that prides itself on supplying “standard” cars fully loaded this is a major error. OEM Bluetooth cannot be compared to aftermarket installations in my experience, and as far as I see, is a safety item, especially the way we South Africans seem to start our calls when we turn the ignition on. The road-manners are also respectable. Sporty if not quite sports car like. Firm, but compliant over our degraded roads. The handling was good. No GTi eater, but for a 1.6 and 2.0 certainly on the sporty and not wallowy side of things.
If one compares the Hyundai to its closest competitors in the category, at first they seem similarly priced, but when one does a comparison items that are extra cost options elsewhere they begin to seem a bargain. Full leather and alloy rims are included as are bigger rims, cruise control and sunroof on the 2.0 although the 1.6 is the one to get in my opinion, with the power difference at least on the reef, not feeling big enough.
The spritely 1.6 is the one, although the 2.0 litre trumps it in fuel consumption 8.6l/100km combined for the 2l and 7.5 for the 1.6. they both come with a 5 year 100 000km maintenance plan. The car got 5 star adult safety in NCAP but only 4 Star for child safety in Euro NCAP.
