New Hyundai i10 driven
Latest version of Korean firm’s city car sets new standards for the class
THIS is the third-generation Hyundai i10 – a city car that competes in a class that the Volkswagen up! has dominated for some time. But now Hyundai takes the fight to the up! armed with a tiny tech fest.
Prices for what Hyundai claims is the most hi-tech A-segment car ever start from £12,495 – just a few quid more than the basic VW – but top spec versions climb to £15,495, which is almost as much as a turbocharged up! GTI. So what exactly do you get for the cash, and is it worth it?
While the i10 is pretty much a clean-sheet design, it’s a clear evolution of the last one. Sharp headlights and body surfacing give it a fresher look, while the body is 20mm wider and 20mm lower for a sportier stance. Top-spec versions now get 16-inch wheels and the option of a contrast-colour roof.
The new i10 is 5mm longer than its predecessor, but crucially it’s also 130mm longer than an up!. However, the most significant change in the Hyundai is the wheelbase, which has increased by 40mm.
This really pays dividends inside the car. The previous i10’s cabin was one of the roomiest in the class, but the new model has rear legroom to rival some superminis. Electric windows are standard in the back, and the big glass area winds all the way into the doors. Compared with the small, hinged rear windows you get in the up!, it makes the i10 feel much more airy. The boot is unchanged in size, at 252 litres, but that’s still a class-leading figure – and only 40 litres short of a Ford Fiesta’s.
The new dashboard retains the raised gearlever position from the old model, but the slicker design of the fascia is inspired by the Kona crossover’s. The plastics are hard and scratchy (much like any other city car’s), but everything feels sturdy enough.
From launch, the i10 is offered with a choice of two engines. The 1.0 and 1.2-litre petrol units are both carried over almost unchanged from the old car, but both now get stop-start tech as standard to help reduce emissions. The 1.0-litre has 66bhp, and starts to struggle a bit when you get out of town, but that’s still 7bhp more than the petrol option available in the regular up!.
We’d still go for the higher-power petrol instead – it’s £500 more expensive than the 1.0, but with 83bhp it can even cope with the occasional motorway journey. Both are also available with an automatic gearbox, but this blunts performance.
Whichever gearbox you choose, long distances are something that the i10 is
“The i10 is comfortable and stable at speed, feeling more like a supermini than a city car”
more than happy to do. It’s comfortable and stable at speed, again feeling more like a supermini than a city car. The ride remains fairly composed at lower speeds, too.
Being so small and light, the i10 is fairly fun to drive. Hyundai’s engineers have fitted a quicker steering rack this time around, and it means the i10 feels more agile. While the last car had steering so light that it could be a little disconcerting at speed, the new set-up inspires confidence, yet it’s still light enough to make parking a doddle.
And parking is a feat that’s made easier thanks to the availability of rear parking sensors and a reversing camera – two rare features for a city car among a comprehensive kit list. This is most obvious when you look at safety tech; all i10s come with autonomous emergency braking, lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, tyre-pressure monitoring and driver-attention alert as standard.
There are three trim levels to choose from: SE, SE Connect and Premium. While the base model gets a small LCD display for audio functions, the other two get a big, bright eight-inch touchscreen complete with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It’s really slick, and the physical shortcut buttons around the screen make it easy to use.
Spend an extra £1,000, and you can add the Tech Pack to Premium models, complete with built-in sat-nav, wireless phone charging and a telematics app that lets you send route data to the car directly from your phone. By contrast, the up! makes do with a rudimentary phone cradle on the dash, and the Fiat 500 suffers from a clunky set-up with a choice of five or seven-inch displays.
All i10s have a leather steering wheel, cruise control, heated mirrors and air-con as standard. SE Connect models cost from £13,495, with upgrades over the base model including that eight-inch display, which adds the reversing camera. For a further £1,000, Premium trim adds 16-inch wheels, plus heating for the steering wheel and seats.