Hyundai i30 Tourer

The i30 Tourer is the fifth new Hyundai of 2012, and it could well be the best yet. In the past, the i30 has always made for a sensible choice, and the company has worked hard to ensure the latest estate is big enough for the task in hand.

The Tourer is 185mm longer than the hatch, and the wheelbase is unchanged, but the rear overhang is neatly incorporated and hides a massive boot.

With the seats in place there’s 528 litres of luggage space – that’s 23 litres more than in the Golf. Tumbling the seatbases and folding the backs gives you a fully flat, 1,690mm long load area – while the maximum 1,642-litre to-the-roof volume is the biggest here.

Better still, the Hyundai’s seats are the easiest to fold, and you get an underfloor storage tray and bin, plus a space-saver spare wheel and handy luggage hooks.

So there’s no denying the i30’s practicality, especially when you include the cabin’s deep door bins, large centre console cubby and air-conditioned glovebox. Rear passengers also fare well, as there’s plenty of head and legroom and the flattest transmission tunnel.

Up front, the cabin is solidly built from quality materials, and the dash design is modern and attractive, especially at night, when the blue backlighting gives an upmarket ambience. It’s not perfect, as the sloping dashboard means the driver has to stretch for some of the audio controls. But this small niggle aside, there’s a decent range of wheel and seat adjustment, visibility is good and standard kit includes a multifunction wheel, Bluetooth and cruise control.

As a result, it’s hard to fault driver comfort – and the good news continues on the move. The handling is composed and vice-free. Body control is good, while the snappy action of the six-speed gearbox and light clutch make the i30 Tourer easy to drive.

The weighting of the electric power-steering is a little artificial, and while the standard Flex Steer system gives you Sport, Comfort and Normal modes via a steering wheel-mounted button, the changes don’t improve feedback – we’d stick to Normal mode. Still, steering response in all settings is positive and accurate.

In our braking tests, the i30’s ABS was over-active, so we recorded slightly disappointing stopping distances. Our testing took place in very wet conditions, though, and on the road the brake pedal has a reassuring firmness under foot.

However, the ride is a disappointment. The suspension is comfortable, and most of the time the i30 soaks up bumps, yet over rough surfaces the wheels thud into holes and judder over expansion joints. As a result, the i30 feels just too rigid for this kind of car.

This is a shame, because the 1.6 CRDi diesel is smooth and refined. It has very similar power and torque to its rivals, at 109bhp and 260Nm, and it’s a mark of how far Hyundai has come in recent years that the diesel was the quietest of the trio in this test.

Performance isn’t bad, either. While the Hyundai trails the Renault by four tenths from 0-60mph, with a time of 11.5 seconds, it’s quicker to respond in the mid-range due to its smooth power delivery.

Standard-fit stop-start helps the i30 to deliver CO2 emissions of 110g/km. This isn’t quite as clean as its rivals, and we averaged a disappointing 38.9mpg during our test – but the economy will no doubt improve, as our test car only had a handful of miles on the clock. Factor in the Hyundai’s superb five-year warranty, competitive pricing, fixed-rate servicing and long list of standard equipment, and it makes a strong case for itself. Given the space advantage the boot has over the other cars here, the i30 Tourer looks as though it will be difficult to beat.

Details

Chart position: 1Why? The i30 Tourer is a strong contender on paper. It’s spacious, well equipped and backed by a competitive five-year warranty.