You like your car to respond when you put your foot down. On the other hand, you’re less keen on having the pants scared off you. That’s the essence of the warm hatch and it’s the raison d’etre of new arrival, the Hyundai i30 Turbo, available for viewing in Howards Group showrooms across North Somerset.
Don’t expect a Golf GTi. This is ‘hot-hatch lite’ and it’s quite a trendy proposition, with offerings like the Peugeot 308 GT, Seat Leon FR and Kia Cee’d GT all tempting us to put a little more powder in our curry.
Of course, the great thing about having your hatch cooking on the moderate heat setting is that you also get a side order of practicality and reasonable running costs. It’s the best of both worlds.
The Hyundai i30 Turbo comes complete with sharp dynamics and a choice of three or five doors. There’s some impressive bling in the shape of 18-inch alloys, sporty body kit, LED rear lights and double-trouble exhausts. The Hyundai i30 Turbo is no ‘me too’ choice, either. The Korean firm is expecting to sell just 600 every year in the UK. That’s just 4% of i30 sales.
The i30 offers 184bhp – not as powerful as the Golf GTi or Focus ST, but nice enough to turn a few heads as the lights go green. The Turbo takes the 1.6-litre petrol engine used in the Veloster Turbo, which will whisk you from 0-60 in eight seconds and on to around 136mph (on the autobahn, obvs).
Handling is remarkably good. There’s no rock n’ roll on the corners and grip is impressive. The i30 won’t catch pigeons but, with the revs kept high, you can canter along at a fairly brisk pace. There’s a nice crisp gear change that’s neatly damped and the half-leather sports seats cope well enough with the UK’s pock-marked road surfaces.
There’s even a choice of steering weight: choose from Comfort, Normal and Sport depending on your mood. The growl from the twin exhausts isn’t exactly lion-like, but that’s not what you’re buying this car for.
There are buckets of standard items to keep your fingers busy, even though there are just the one trim, one engine and one gearbox. All cars get dual-zone climate control, touchscreen satnav and reversing camera. The half-leather sports seats are heated, while cruise control and Bluetooth as standard round off a nice level of kit.
You should manage nearly 40mpg from your Hyundai i30 Turbo and emissions clock in at 169g/km of CO2. And at £22,495, the Hyundai i30 Turbo costs around £1,000 less than the Peugeot 308 GT.
The Hyundai i30 Turbo is available to test drive in North Somerset at the Howards Group showroom in Yeovil.