Hyundai i30 Turbo 2015 Review

It is no secret that Hyundai’s styling has become more Euro-inspired under the influence of global design boss Peter Schreyer, but perhaps less known is how the Korean brand is turning to Europe to make its products more Continental under the skin.

With a technical centre at nearby Russelheim and a development and research centre (opened two years ago) next to the Nurburgring circuit, Hyundai clearly aims to fettle its cars to do more than an easy freeway cruise.

So it was with interest we drove the first of these products -- the Hyundai i30 Turbo. A car devel-oped in part with testing at the famous German Nurburgring circuit and built in the Czech Republic for the European and UK markets, the i30 Turbo is a shape of things to come from the Korean marque.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – if you’re keen on a hot Hyundai, you’re going to have to wait. Hyundai Australia has conceded that getting this car to our shores would be prohibitive because of the poor exchange rate. While that won’t last forever, with an all-new i30 due by 2018 (and report-edly the first N series car will be based on this C-segment hatch), it makes sense for the local arm of the Korean brand to hold off shipping cars to Oz.

Hyundai subjected the i30 Turbo to 110 laps at the 20.8km circuit each week over a six week period during its development. And we had the opportunity to drive the car on the same circuit.

The Nurburgring is a demanding circuit. It is long, and has plenty of crests over which you don’t know what surprise might lie. It takes time to learn.

We drove on ‘The Ring’ during a public drive session too, and soon discovered that driving a 1.6-litre hatch on the circuit was partly an exercise in keeping out of the way of the various McLarens, Porsches and sports bikes flying past.

Yet was it fun? Hell yes.

With a clear run for a part of the track (clear of meandering slow cars ahead, and the much faster ones belting up from behind), it soon became clear that the i30 Turbo can be thrown around corners with surprising speed.

The i30 settles quickly on its well tied-down suspension and allows a quick flow through the cor-ners.

The grippy Michelin Pilot Sport 3 tyres helped here, as did a smooth driving style — no rewards for throwing the car around on this track. The chassis favoured understeer of course, but unlike some front drivers there was  no lift-off oversteer or passive rear wheel steering on a trailing throttle to get it around corners if you sent in too hot.

The electronic steering felt dull, despite having three levels of steering weight available at a press of a button. On the plus side, the brakes were progressive and strong.

The i30 Turbo felt like it could do with more horsepower out of corners too. The engine the same 1.6-litre turbo four that’s found in the Veloster but is has a lower output (137 versus 150kW in the Veloster) to better meet tax, registration and emissions requirements of the Euro market.

At least it’s smooth. The power deliver is linear and engine noise well suppressed.

Being thrown around while you’re clipping apexes is no fun so the excellent side support and under thigh support of the i30 Turbo’s front seats are also worth a mention.

Away from the track, the i30 was responsive to about 120km/h, but from there it was blunted up to the 160km/h we travelled at on the unlimited sections of autobahn.

This is rrelevant in most of Australia perhaps. That said, it brings to mind the fact that when a 6.0sec 0-100km/h time is the benchmark for any decent front-wheel drive hot hatch, the i30 Turbo’s 8.0sec time isn’t really in the game.

The current i30 Turbo may be more warm hatch than hot. But that’s not a bad thing. As a work-in-progress it has the basic flavour to suggest that Hyundai might well be ready to put the torch under the Euro GTI crowd when its ‘proper’ N cars arrive in a few years’ time.

What we liked:
>> Excellent roadholding
>> Contained body control
>> Supportive seats

Not so much:
>> Nose-heavy chassis
>> Steering feel
>> Lack of power