Hyundai i10 flaunts built quality

Unveiled just two months ago at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show, Hyundai is making waves with the new i10 A-segment city-car. It comes to replace the current 5-years old i10 model, but this time the difference between the old and new product is … “made in Europe” the automaker says.

Hyundai i10 is fully designed in Germany and built at Hyundai’s Assan plant in Turkey after the company invested more than $677 million; so yes this is the first A-Segment car from Hyundai that it’s made in Europe.

From the first minute when you get behind the steering wheel you realise the huge difference the automaker made in terms of built quality. It doesn’t feel cheap at all and offers a lot of features in a small package that many times will make you feel you’re driving a bigger car.

Also compared to the old i10, the new model is 80mm longer (+3.1 in), 65mm wider (+2.6 in) and 50mm lower (+2.0 in); and considering that it now rides on a completely new platform (shared with the latest Kia Picanto), Hyundai engineers decided to increase the wheelbase by 5mm and relocate the rear dampers to deliver more precise wheel control. The new dimensions result in a trunk space increase by 10%, totalling to 252 litres – more than a VW Up!. And by the way the i10 is the widest car in its class.

Standard features include six airbags with front curtain, ESP electronic stability program with ABS and VSM, tire pressure monitoring system, central locking, USB connection, two 12-volt connectors and ISOFIX mountings for a child seat. Moreover, all i10s come with Hyundai’s five-year unlimited-mileage warranty, so you don’t have to worry about nothing for at least five years.

Suspension is a little bit too rigid from mostly for the back passengers, but of course for the driver this translates in greater wheel control and handling. Geometry changes to suspension components and steering arms, and the introduction of side loading springs, deliver improved feedback compared to the old i10.

Talking about handling, the little car behaves exemplary even when fully loaded with five people inside. However if you push the gas too much it will eventually over steer hard, but it’s unlikely you’d reach that point.

As standard, the i10′s braking system features 241 (1.0 models) or 252 mm (1.25 models) diameter ventilated discs at the front and 234 mm diameter solid discs at the rear. Again the little city car behaves very well, much better than the outgoing model and you have to keep in mind that ventilated discs for both rear and front axels are something pretty rare for a car this size.

Inside, the entire environment is much better built and most of the plastics don’t look cheap as expected at the beginning, bringing the urban cruiser much closer to the Vw Up!

Talking about interior space, Hyundai says the new i10 has 1968 mm of headroom and beats the competition with best-in-class trunk capacity: 252 litres with back seats in position (+ 27 litres compared to the old i10) and 1046 with the back seats folded down. Legroom is also sufficient even for large people like me (I have 1.85m). On the back there’s space for three people.

You have a lot of pockets to put your cell phone or your big glass of water, and in terms of ergonomics all the commands are well market and easy to operate. However there’s no navigation. Hyundai considers that many customers will user their smartphones to navigate from A to B.

What’s nice for this i10 is that, the engine settles into an uncannily smooth idle and there’s almost no noise in the cabin when you are stopping at a red-light sign.

On the highway, with the AC off at about 90 km/h the car will take up to 4.0 to 4.2 litres for every 100 km, with is in line with what Hyundai says (official figures: 4.0l/100km). However, during city operations it can record 7.2-7.8 litres /100km, with is about 25-30% more compared to the official figures of just 6.0 litres/100km.