Hyundai Bayon review
The Hyundai Bayon is a fine small SUV, with striking looks, impressive levels of refinement and useful on-board tech
The Hyundai Bayon, offers a no-nonsense, practical, well-equipped and easy-to-drive package, although it doesn’t stand out when it comes to the driving experience or with its interior. But, it gets the small things right and we reckon it’s right on target for the buyers it’s aimed at.
About the Hyundai Bayon
In order to help the new model stand out, Hyundai has given the Bayon an unusual exterior look, despite its ordinary underpinnings - it’s based on the same set of parts as the Hyundai i20 supermini.
The slim lights, split grille and angular bodywork at the front give it a unique face, while the rear end features a zig-zag look with inward-pointing taillights and only a small section of painted bodywork on the boot door. The looks also help the Bayon to stand apart from the much more conventional Hyundai Kona, which is another small SUV to consider.
While the Kona has hybrid and even high-performance ‘N’ versions, the Bayon is offered with just two engines, both 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrols. The first has 99bhp and 172Nm of torque, while the second has 118bhp but the same 172Nm of torque. Both use 48v mild hybrid assistance to boost efficiency, and are available with a six-speed manual or a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.
The trim range starts with SE Connect, which has 16-inch wheels, auto high beams, cruise control, rear parking sensors, a 10.25-inch screen behind the wheel and an eight-inch central touchscreen display with smartphone connectivity.
Used - available now
2023 Hyundai
Bayon
39,856 milesAutomaticPetrol1.0L
Cash £11,999
2023 Hyundai
Bayon
22,761 milesAutomaticPetrol1.0L
Cash £13,418
2023 Hyundai
Bayon
44,805 milesAutomaticPetrol1.0L
Cash £12,425
2023 Hyundai
Bayon
12,321 milesAutomaticPetrol1.0L
Cash £15,599Premium is next and adds 17-inch wheels, tinted windows, LED headlights and a larger 10.25-inch touchscreen. Top-spec Ultimate trim has some extra kit including a Bose stereo and upgraded trim but it’s probably not worth the upgrade.
How much does the Hyundai Bayon cost?
Prices start at around £21,000, rising to £27,000, so the Bayon is pretty competitive considering how much kit you get even on the entry-level cars. The Bayon is easy to drive, comfortable and practical, so it’s well worth considering.
Engines, performance and drive
The Hyundai Bayon is typical of the supermini-SUV segment - easy to drive but not exactly fun. The Ford Puma bucks this trend, as it’s more fun than other cars of its type, but most other small SUVs have much more of a focus on comfort and ease of use. The Hyundai fits right in in that way.
The steering, gearbox and pedals are all very light and don’t offer much feel or feedback. You can switch to Sport mode using a button on the centre console, but this adds artificial weight and doesn’t change much about the driving experience, which is a bit dull in general.
The manual gearbox uses Hyundai’s new clutch-by-wire set-up, which means the clutch pedal isn’t mechanically connected to the gearbox. This has benefits for efficiency and smoothness, and most won’t notice the difference, but if you’re a keen driver the disconnected feeling might remove some appeal. It’s a slick enough gear change and is nice and easy to use, so there’s no need to spend the extra on the automatic if you don’t need to.
The Bayon rides smoothly enough, and combined with the light controls it means the Hyundai is relaxing. Combine that with the quiet engines and it holds plenty of appeal for many people looking for a small SUV.
Engines, 0-60 acceleration and top speed
The 1.0-litre engines offer 99bhp or 118bhp, and both have the same torque figure of 172Nm. Like-for-like, you’ll pay around £700 more for the higher-powered model. Given most people will pay monthly via finance, that doesn’t seem unreasonable.
The engine is quiet and unobtrusive, yet delivers decent performance. 0-62mph takes 10.7 seconds in the 99bhp car and 10.4 seconds in the 118bhp model, though the dual-clutch auto adds a second to the time in the lower-powered car (but not the 118bhp model).
Since both engines have the same torque figure (at 1,500rpm), they feel similarly punchy from low revs and you don’t need to rev them hard to get decent performance. Top speed is 112-115mph depending on which model you pick.
The 48v mild hybrid system sounds complicated but you might not even notice the difference between this and a car without the set-up. It’s totally unobtrusive and recharges a special battery when you slow down using energy that would otherwise be lost under braking. It then feeds this energy back into the powertrain using a start-generator motor to boost efficiency.
MPG, CO2 and running costs
The Hyundai Bayon should be cheap to run as the only engine available is a frugal 1.0-litre mild-hybrid petrol unit with either 99bhp or 118bhp. The mild hybrid system uses a 48v battery pack with a capacity of 1.56kWh along with a starter-generator. This set-up regains charge from the wheels as you slow down and uses it to give a small boost to the engine, mainly for efficiency. It’s nothing like a full hybrid or plug-in hybrid - it feels identical from behind the wheel to a non-hybrid car. It’s just good to know there’s modern tech at play to keep efficiency as high as possible.
Hyundai claims that both the 99bhp and 118bhp models should return up to 53.3mpg on the WLTP combined cycle, with CO2 emissions from 119g/km to 121g/km.
Another bit of tech that helps with efficiency is the e-clutch that uses an electronic system to engage the clutch instead of a mechanical link. This helps to reduce wear and should mean the clutch lasts longer - though this won’t matter to new buyers unless they’re planning to keep the car for a long time.
Insurance groups
Entry-level automatic Bayons sit in group 13 for insurance, so while they’re not ultra-cheap considering it’s a 1.0-litre engine with under 100bhp, costs shouldn’t be too bad. The manual is actually in group 14, but that won’t affect premium prices too much.
Move up to a Premium model with the 118bhp engine and the insurance group rises to 16 with both gearboxes, and the top-spec car sits in group 18.
Depreciation
Residual values are pretty decent for the Bayon, with expert data suggesting that it should hold onto an average of 55 per cent of its original value after a typical three-year/36,000-mile ownership period. The Ford Puma fares a little better with 58 per cent retained over the same three-year period.
Interior, design and technology
Hyundai already offers a small SUV - the Kona - so the Bayon had to offer something completely different, and it does this with its smart, but slightly quirky styling. This means it rivals the more style-focused models in the small SUV class, such as the SEAT Ateca and Peugeot 2008. You can decide if you love or hate the look, but it certainly stands out.
The Bayon’s interior doesn’t follow the same path, as it’s much more plain and doesn't have the flair of the 2008, which is much more pleasant to sit in. It shares much of its interior with the i20 supermini, with plenty of hard black plastic trim in places you see often, so it can’t match the Peugeot or even a VW T-Cross for quality.
You do get a nice leather steering wheel in the Bayon, plus an excellent infotainment system in all versions. There’s a big glovebox and big door bins for practicality, too.
Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment
All versions of the Bayon are really well-equipped when it comes to in-car tech. Even the basic SE Connect version gets an eight-inch screen on the dash with Bluetooth, DAB and full smartphone connectivity with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The menu layouts are logical with decent graphics which are easy to comprehend on the move, and while big, touch-sensitive shortcut keys below the screen are handy, they’d be even better as physical buttons.
Every model also has a 10.15-inch “Digital Supervision Cluster” - Hyundai’s name for its digital dial display. There are USB and even aux-in connections for the media system, too.
Move up to Premium models for an upgraded 10.25-inch screen in place of the eight-inch unit, which also comes with sat-nav with traffic information and other online services. It also adds a wireless smartphone charger. The top-spec Ultimate version comes with all of these plus an upgraded Bose stereo.
Practicality, comfort and boot space
The Hyundai Bayon is a small SUV, so if you’re expecting endless space inside, you might be disappointed - but it’s a practical car despite its small size, so it scores well here. The bold styling doesn’t appear to have impacted the car’s interior space - in fact, it has a larger boot than the brand’s more conventional-looking Kona.
There’s a good amount of interior storage, including a big glovebox and deep door bins. The front of the cabin isn’t huge, and it feels slightly narrow, but there aren’t any issues with legroom or headroom for the driver and front passenger. Wireless phone charging is a useful extra on Premium models and above, and there’s a convenient slot for your phone ahead of the gear lever even on models without the charging function.
Size
The Bayon is 4,180mm long and 1,775mm wide (excluding door mirrors), which makes it slightly smaller than Hyundai’s other small SUV, the Kona. That model is 4,205mm long and 1,800mm wide.
Plus, the Bayon is 1,500mm tall, which is about 50mm shorter than its stablemate. Despite this it manages to beat the Kona for boot space, which means the Bayon is great if you want a slightly smaller car without losing any practicality.
Leg room, head room & passenger space
There’s a good amount of legroom in the back seats, so you should be able to fit in two adults on the back row - though most people using these seats are likely to be kids, who will have plenty of space.
The middle seat is ok for a third child, and the seat backs fold down in a 60/40 split so you can mix and match with load space and passenger seating.
Boot
There’s 401 litres of boot space available in all versions of the Bayon, and that expands out to 1,205 litres with the rear seats folded. That’s pretty good for a small SUV - and it’s more than you get in the Kona (which has 374 and 1,156 litres respectively).
The Skoda Kamiq is one of the most practical cars in this class, so it’s worth a comparison there. The Hyundai actually trumps the 400-litre space in the Kamiq with the seats up, but in terms of total space the Skoda is the winner, with 1,395 litres.
Towing
Buyers that are looking for a car with good towing ability will probably be drawn to models with a bigger engine and more power and torque than the Bayon, although Hyundai's small SUV has a 1,100kg maximum braked trailer weight which should be enough for most basic needs.
Reliability and safety
The Hyundai Bayon is too new to have featured in our Driver Power customer satisfaction survey, but Hyundai itself showed solid improvement in the most recent manufacturer ratings - moving up from 16th place (out of 29 brands) in 2021 to 11th position in 2022.
You do get a five-year warranty on all Hyundai models, which shows how confident the company is about its products. It remains to be seen if the Bayon is reliable but we’d make a bet that it will be.
Standard safety kit is good, and all versions of the Bayon come with autonomous emergency braking, driver attention alert, emergency call, hill start assist, pedestrian detection, lane keep assist, parking sensors and tyre pressure monitoring.
Move up to the top-spec model and you also get a blind spot warning, lane follow assist and height-adjustable seatbelts in the front. However, the Bayon received a four-star rating (out of five) from crash test body Euro NCAP, with rear-occupant chest protection rated as weak.
Warranty
Hyundai offers an excellent unlimited-mileage five-year warranty on all new cars. You also get a year’s worth of breakdown cover and an anti-rust warranty that covers the car for 12 years.
Servicing
Hyundai offers fixed-price servicing, which will likely cost around £250 for a full service (you’ll have one of these in a three-year ownership) and £150 for a smaller service (in years one and three of a new car ownership period, unless you cover over 10,000 miles a year).
Hyundai Bayon Alternatives
The Hyundai Bayon is a small SUV that takes on the SEAT Arona, Volkswagen T-Cross, Skoda Kamiq and Ford Puma. There are plenty of other rivals as well, including the Peugeot 2008, Renault Captur, Citroen C3 Aircross, Vauxhall Mokka and more - it’s a heavily saturated part of the market.
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