Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance

The impressive i30 takes a trip to see its smaller rally-honed brother in action

THE MILES ARE STACKING UP PRETTY quickly on the Fastback; a painless process with occasional, wonderfully bright spots. One such was a drive over to Warwickshire, very close to JLR at Gaydon, for a Hyundai meet-the-range day. For almost six years this was my commute and I was looking forward to seeing how the Fastback coped with it. Unfortunately, an accident had closed the A14 and I had to take a quite different route.

I thought I knew where the satnav was taking me, so I was surprised when it suggested a left turn before we got to Daventry, down a road I’d never taken before. It turned out to be a wonderful shortcut: a few miles of twisting, flowing asphalt through lush, typically English countryside on a sunny morning. It was a proper grin, the i30 responsive, accurate and calm, so it was almost disappointing to pop out the other end onto a major road I knew. It really is a class act, the i30 N.

However, a ride in an i20 was the high spot of

the day. The venue was a ‘stage’ mocked up in a local quarry, the car an R5-spec i20 rally car and the driver Tom Cave, current leader of the British Rally Championship. The four-wheel-drive i20 has 285bhp, about the same as my i30, and Cave knew how to use it.

‘Before the start I’ll turn on the anti-lag, put it in gear, floor the throttle and wait for the green light,’ he said, before we catapulted forward.

The launch was impressive, as was the ride quality and braking on the loose surface, but what was amazing was the agility. The steering is about one turn lock-to-lock and the handbrake is very effective, so through slow, tight corners it felt like the rear was on casters. Approaching tight turns at speed, Cave pitched the car sideways ridiculously early and hit the power. The windscreen was full of earth bank sliding by for ages, right up to the apex, where we ran out of sideways motion but found ourselves pointing directly down the next straight, which the scrabbling tyres then fired us down.

‘It’s like dancing,’ said Cave. ‘You’ve got to get into a rhythm, keep the car moving between the corners.’ I’m not surprised Cave and the i20 are looking good for the title.

In a pleasing development, there’s been a sudden and noticeable improvement in fuel economy in the Fastback (when it’s not threading sweetly down a challenging B-road). For ages it seemed pegged in the low 30s, but the last few decent runs have broken 35, with a best of 36.5mpg for a 90-miler, which is nice.

So far my only complaint with the car is the reversing camera; the image is fine by day but bright and washed out at night and so no use backing into tight spots such as onto my driveway.

Date acquired March 2019 Total mileage 6822 Mileage this month 2268 Costs this month £0 mpg this month 31.2