Hyundai i30 SR 2014 Review

Small five-door hatchbacks with aspirations to be a bit above average are not uncommon these days. Hyundai, however, has done some good work guaranteeing that its i30 SR actually delivers more than its mildly tarted up looks suggest. The first-time adoption of a gutsy 2.0-litre direct-injection petrol engine helps, as does the locally-developed sport suspension. The Hyundai i30 SR is priced from $27,990 (plus on-road costs).

Hyundai’s i30 may be little more than a humble small car, but in a way it defines, more than any of its siblings, what the Korean company stands for today.

There might be more upmarket Hyundais on the fleet – take the i40 sedan for example – but there’s no model better sorted and better suited to its specific segment than the i30 five-door hatch.

It was introduced locally in 2007, tasked to do battle with entities such as the Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla – something it has handled admirably enough to begin turning around perceptions of where Hyundai sits in the local automotive landscape.

The i30 gave Hyundai, arguably for the first time, some genuine street cred that might have been a while coming. It is easily confirmed by a check of sales statistics over the last seven or so years.

Then, in August 2013, Hyundai took what at first might have appeared to have been a mere marketing exercise, but proved to be a next step up the credibility ladder for the now second-generation small hatch – the i30 SR.

With an Australian-developed sports suspension and, for the first time anywhere, the application of the 2.0-litre direct injection petrol engine, the SR is more than just a body kit and a bit of internal frippery.

In fact it would need to be, because the external and internal changes identifying it as the sporty i30 are pretty minimal. A set of 17-inch alloy wheels here, some alloy on the floor pedals there, and a kind-of rear bumper diffuser are, in any substantive way, about it.

And that's probably a good thing. The i30 SR concentrates on walking the walk, more than talking the talk.

For starters, the 2.0-litre engine delivers commendable power and torque. Kilowatts are up from the regular 1.8-litre i30 petrol engine from 110kW to 129kW at a healthy 6500rpm, while torque, more significantly, jumps from 178Nm to a laudable-for-capacity 209Nm. The same basic engine fitted to the i40 sees it do even better with 131kW/214Nm.

Hyundai claims this enables the six-speed manual i30 SR to sprint from zero to 100km/h in a swift 7.7 seconds, and dispose of 400 metres from a standing start in 15.6 seconds.

Not bad figures for a normally-aspirated 2.0-litre, but there is a price to pay: Combined fuel consumption rises from the manual-transmission 1.8 version's 6.8L/100km to 7.2 (as it happens, exactly what we averaged on test) and emissions take an upward step from 160g/km to 172g/km.

Hyundai has worked to mitigate these figures by giving the SR different final drive ratios (4.333:1 against 4.467:1 in the manual and 3.195:1 against 3.796 in the auto) that sees the engine spinning at lower rpm for a given speed compared with 1.8-litre versions. At a 100km/h cruise, the tacho needle is sitting at around 2200rpm in (manual) sixth gear.

The extra power and torque cope with these higher ratios okay, although there are times when a little more response would further enliven the SR. The maximum 209Nm is commendable, but it doesn’t arrive until a late 4700rpm -- so the sporty i30 tends not to actually feel sporty until you pile on a few revs.

In this way it is less ‘torque-rich’ than ‘torque-available-if-you-work-for-it’. The relatively close-set ratios (same as the 1.8-litre) of the six-speed gearbox do help find the right ratio for the occasion, though.

What it all means is that, a lot of the time, the SR needs to be worked a bit harder than, say, a 2.5-litre Mazda 3 SP25, to extract its potential. Fortunately the six-speed manual swaps smoothly and easily and, with maximum kilowatts coming in at 6500rpm, there's plenty of urge high in the rev band to give a good power spread.

One wonders how much extra punch would be delivered, and how much consumption and emissions would actually suffer, if the SR used the same final drive ratio as the 1.8-litre...

And it's a pity the SR isn’t a bit more aural: The 2.0-litre doesn't advertise its capabilities in the way you might hope. A bit more intake crackle would have been nice and it's not hard to imagine some buyers will be looking after market for some extra audible feedback.

But with the quoted acceleration figures there's no question it is a handily quick Hyundai that is reassuringly matched by the Australian-developed suspension.

This is where it all comes together in the i30 SR.

Hyundai says the team of Australian and Korean engineers evaluated 43 separate suspension combinations during local development on a wide variety of surfaces including sealed and unsealed, country roads and freeways. The end result was a four per cent increase in front spring rates and the adoption of a set of specifically developed Sachs shock absorbers. The SR's 17-inch ‘machine-faced’ alloys share 225/45 tyre dimensions with the Premium version of the i30.

The result is an i30 that turns in sharper (although the steering ratio is maybe a tad slow with 2.9 turns required to go from lock-to-lock), sits flatter on bends and is generally more responsive than regular versions, yet offers a totally acceptable ride. In fact some of our testers have commented that they prefer the SR's general ride qualities to that of any other i30.

Although the SR is quite visually retrained, there's still a bit going on inside to remind that this is the hero i30. Not yet up to, say, Volkswagen Golf standards in terms of perceived quality, the SR nevertheless can't be criticised for its range of standard equipment, general quality, space or comfort.

There's some reasonable stretching room for adult passengers in front and back, the hatchback boot is right up there in terms of capacity (it's quoted at 378 litres with all seats in place) and the seats are generally comfortable apart from slight driver restlessness noted on longer, up-country stints behind the wheel.

And the standard kit is not likely to make anyone feel short-changed.

Sat nav, dual-zone climate control, a rear parking camera, xenon headlights (with washers), part-leather upholstery with a powered driver’s seat, electrochromatic rear-view mirror, rain-sensing wipers, auto-fold side mirrors, one-touch power windows and a push-button starter are not bad for $27,990 (the auto version is listed at $30,190). A $2000 glass sunroof is the only significant option.

That's on top of the i30's five-star ANCAP safety rating and an array of seven airbags including a driver's kneebag.

So, do we give Hyundai's i30 SR the thumbs up?

In a word, yes. The car's local suspension tune, impressively credentialed 2.0-litre engine and long list of standard equipment are icing on the cake for an already well-resolved small hatchback -- and all for well under $30,000k.