Review | Hyundai i10

Last weekend I went away, saw some kids on bicycles, loads of woman with more litres of silicon than I had booze, a couple of monkeys with smaller monkeys hanging on for dear life, and a cat. I also drove the new i10 from Hyundai.

Now there is a small problem here, while most professionals have got an arsenal of quotes and quirky one liners to describe a car, I am sitting here, staring at a blank MS Word page, still wondering after a whole week and almost 400km if I liked the car, and honestly, I still don’t know. It’s not bad, but it’s not that good either.

Styling

We all see them daily, zipping to and from the coffee shop to the retirement home, and truth be told, they are not ugly. Quite the opposite actually. They are attractive. A modern take on a classic shape. Nothing seems out of place when t comes to small things, like for example the door handles that follows the curve of the car, and other small things you won’t pick up, until its out of place.

It carries over to the interior too. Simplistic yet functional. The instrument cluster is easy to read, buttons are easy to reach, and it is deceptively spacious, I even managed to get a bag in the boot. The dash is not dull, having a long swooping curve from side to side, separating the top of the dashboard from the bottom.

Performance

As expected, the i10 is light on fuel, extremely light to be precise. I did not manage to calculate fuel consumption, but I set off with a full tank of fuel, arrived 200Kms later, while driving in extremely wet weather, and the fuel gauge just started to drop. Going back home, I was trying to keep up with the people I went with, and was hammering it at certain times. Total fuel consumption was just under half a tank. Loaded with two rather large adults, a couple of suitcases, and a backseat full of junk.

The one I drove was the 1.1 – 50Kw of continuous variable valve timing (CVVT), 5 Speed manual, eco-friendly mobility.

The Drive

Did you notice that the entire performance section went on about fuel consumption? Well, theres a reason. I am not naive when I say I expected more from that little engine. I did not expect to bolt to cruising speeds like a normal car, but I did expect to keep up with trucks and, occasionally, overtake them.

My frustration started when pulling of for the first time.The clutch was soft, had enormous amount of travel, and absolutely no feel to it.Pulling away would go something like this. Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, clutch bites, stalls. It did not take long to get used to this though, and pretty soon I was going through the gears like a champion rower.

There was a couple of times I found myself flat against the floorboard for prolonged periods, to such a point I started to feel sorry for the little car. Always finding myself on the higher end of the rev range, trying to find that balance of comfortable cruising and trying to do 110km.

The car was happy between 80-100km, dead from 110km to 130km, and at 140km was were the car was drivable, having enough power to overtake without dropping two gears, but that margin was very small.

After the journey my hands also started to feel tired, and somewhat painful. The steering wheel is exactly that, a wheel. The harsh unforgiving plastic, and no real grip to speak of made controlling the car very cumbersome. Yes it was responsive when turning the wheel, and, at highway speeds, that sensitivity still remained. I like driving, and I don’t mind working while doing it, but this was just plain tiresome, the air-con worked wonders, but lack of power made me use it only when going down hill, after amassing enough momentum to get uphill again.

The car was stable though, and especially in the rain. I did not pick up one instance where it wanted to slip, slide, or start doing some funny break dance, and while the brakes can be a little more responsive, it does the job, it does brake when it should, and it does slow the car down when things get a bit worrisome at higher speeds.

Clearly this car is not meant for the long road then, but, that is not where it belongs. It is not a cruiser. It is a city dweller. Were short trips and traffic is the norm, where speed is not needed, but instead nimbleness and the ability to steal that last parking spot. It is brilliant there. It becomes easy to drive, the soulless clutch makes sense, the brakes ensure you stop without someone using you as a brake, and the smugness you get when you pass a garage makes up for it all.

It is well priced, has basic features, like blue tooth and steering controls, USB, auxiliary and iPod connectivity, the sound system is not bad, and the air-con gets you cool. Just please, for the love of baby monkeys, don’t decide to take your next road trip with one. You will regret it.