Hyundai i30 estate

It was way back in the summer when I first heard the news that my next long-termer was to be a Hyundai i30 Estate.

Having read the glowing reports from our road testers, it sounded perfect. And with a new 58-reg car to be delivered on 1 September, I was excited.

What’s more, I was given the luxury of browsing through the brochure and picking the colour and spec of the model I wanted.

Hyundai has kept the options straightforward by giving buyers a choice of three trim levels: Comfort, Style and the top-of-the-range Premium. There are also five colours on offer. As picture editor, I knew I had to pick a shade that would photograph well – ruling out Continental Silver and black. Red would have looked great, but we already had a small family estate on the fleet in the same shade: the Peugeot 207 SW. As my last two long-term cars were both blue, I plumped for classy-looking Steel Grey.

But, as you can see from these pictures, that wasn’t to be! Demand for the metallic grey was too strong, and so to avoid delays in getting the i30 delivered, I accepted the blue.

Still, once September arrived, and the keys to my new i30 Estate had been handed over, I wasn’t too bothered. The vivid colour looks fantastic and I have the range-topping Premium model, complete with some generous standard kit.

mart 17-inch alloys and leather seats are great in a car of this class. The 1.6-litre diesel and five-speed manual gearbox have so far proved a strong combination, both in town and on the motorway. My only gripe concerns the car’s notchy gearchange – but maybe that will get easier over the coming months of use.

Having previously run two small MPVs, I was interested to see how the interior space in a compact family estate would compare. As the mother of a teenager, rear legroom is always important – and the Hyundai has proved a real winner in this department.

The load area also coped admirably when we loaded up for a car boot sale recently, with the handy adjustable net holding items securely in place.

Another popular feature is the standard-fit iPod/USB port – although it does mean there’s even more scope to argue over which tunes are played! So although it’s not the colour I wanted, the i30 has really won me over. I look forward to finding out how it performs through the winter.

Second Opinion

One of the i30’s first outings was as a video vehicle on our Performance Car of the Year photoshoot at the Anglesey Circuit in North Wales. This gave us a chance to run in the estate on the long drive up from London, while also getting to know it. Despite having only 113bhp, the diesel engine provides impressive refinement, as well as superb economy. The overall average of 43.5mpg makes the i30 one of the most frugal cars on our fleet.

Chris Thorp
Road test editor