We appear to have spent a large number of time using Hyundai’s i40 already, to begin with out of the country with it as an early prototype, then within the UK with two potential chassis set-ups It has been attention-grabbing to trace its development, but now it has arrived in finished form, previous to happening sale in September.
Evidently, Hyundai is feeling lovely assured about it; it’ll take on the Ford Mondeo and Volkswagen Passat wagons head on. Prices get started at a sturdy 18,395 and our check automobile was once the range-topping 1.7 CRDi diesel manual Premium. It comes very well provided but will retail at 24,395, which gets you right into a tidy version of all its competitors.
What's it like?
Certainly, the i40 Tourer appears to be like the part. See it next to an i30 estate and it looks a lot more dynamic, showing simply how far Hyundai has come even in the past three years.
It’s somewhat well finished inside, too. There are a few neat pics and layout touches, even as fit/finish is good, however the materials still path those of the category best. The door pulls and door-skin plastics are more difficult than the dashboard plastic (common practice but something I can by no means quite fathom), while dashboard switches and column stalks are at the shiny side. The Mondeo, Passat and Peugeot 508 are nonetheless beforehand of the i40 here.
Room in the again is first rate and there’s a very respectable boot, competitive with a Mondeo wagon’s in total volume, regardless of the i40 being usefully shorter (at 4.77m as opposed to 4.83m long).
The Hyundai’s 1.7-litre diesel turns out quieter than in the closing i40 we tried, almost definitely to be expected from a full manufacturing variant. The gearshift is relatively slick and throttle reaction is fine. With 134bhp, it’s never going to be a fast car, however it gets alongside neatly enough, with a huge unfold of energy and no discernible vulnerable spots.
Curiously, while lower-spec trim ranges with this engine get stop-start to chop their CO2 output to 119g/km, the Premium version doesn’t, so it is left with the 134g/km output.
When we remaining tried an i40, the firm’s engineers were still determining between two different chassis set-ups. It feels to me like they went for the extra mature of the two settings. The i40 feels considerable round town, riding with a slightly flat frame and permitting floor imperfections to be heard greater than felt.
The steerage is a touch odd, even though – heavier than it needs to be. Presumably that is to provide the i40 a premium feel. Trouble is, it doesn’t relatively determine like that. Instead, it just feels sticky and overtly weighty. It robs the i40 of any dynamic feel. It’s worse still on a motorway.
Sure, the body continues to be composed – and noise ranges are impressively low – but, seemingly, just about all assistance goes from the steering, so it’s vastly heavy. This is supposed to present a feeling of straight-line stability. To an extent it does, but a more overriding feeling is one among deadness and woodenness.
That’s a shame, as a result of somewhere in the construction process there was extra agility in the i40’s chassis – not completely appropriate, perhaps, but no doubt parts of it could were value holding on to. It means that whereas the i30 entered its magnificence with one of the most most impressive ride, steering and agility characteristics amongst its peers, I don’t reasonably see the i40 doing the similar thing.
Should I buy one?
Still, it’s aggressive – neatly into the higher part of the class – and there’s a powerful case to be made for it on its apparatus levels. Less than we’d have expected and hoped, though, when it comes to dynamics and pricing.
Matt Prior
Hyundai i40 1.7 CRDi Premium Tourer
Price: 24,395; Top speed: 124mph; 0-62mph: 10.6sec; Economy: 55.4mpg (combined); CO2: 134g/km; Kerb weight: 1495kg; Engine: 4 cyls, 1685cc, turbodiesel; Power: 134bhp at 4000rpm; Torque: 240lb ft at 1250-2750rpm; Gearbox: 6-spd manual
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