Hyundai i40 Series II 2015 Review

Launched here in 2011, the Hyundai i40 has essentially reached the mid-way point of its model life. The Euro-styled mid-size passenger car – available in both sedan and wagon form – has been a steady seller for Hyundai and is well regarded, but has certainly not been a front-runner in the medium car segment. Hyundai has now refreshed the i40 with a new transmission, locally-tuned suspension, added equipment and a mild hike in diesel engine output. Pricing starts from $33,090 (plus on-road costs)

Hyundai's i40 is a car that seriously warrants inclusion on the mid-sized passenger car buyer's shopping list, but is so often overlooked. There's nothing wrong with the car, but it always seems to be the bridesmaid to rivals like the Mazda 6.

For the full year 2014, the i40 sold fewer than 3000 units, which is a lacklustre performance from any Hyundai model, not least of all one that had an entire segment to itself in Hyundai showrooms – without an i45 or Sonata ripping off sales. The i40 was outsold by Ford's run-out Mondeo, the Mazda6 – just recently upgraded – and the rampaging Toyota Camry (is VFACTS the only yardstick by which 'rampaging' is used to describe the Camry?).

Let's be clear about this though, the i40 is a good car. A bit over two years ago I spent a few weeks in one on a long-term test. That car, a diesel sedan trimmed to flagship Premium level, impressed with its sensible packaging and good general driveability, but it wasn't without flaw.

Hyundai has set about fixing some of those issues, starting with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT) for the 1.7-litre turbo-diesel, which boasts four extra kilowatts and 20 more Newton-metres. In addition, the i40 – like other models in the Hyundai range – has scored revised suspension and steering, with the changes orchestrated by an Australian-based engineering team.

The new DCT is one of the more refined of its type and a lot of drivers won't even discern it's not a conventional epicyclic auto. It's more responsive and delivers better efficiency coupled to the diesel.

Using the i40's shift paddles now seems to be worth the effort also, handing the driver downshifts faster than before and operating adaptively. This is evident descending a hill, when the DCT shifts back a cog automatically – and the nett result is more noise, but little actual braking. Through the combination of the uprated engine and the more efficient transmission you will feel slightly improved performance, but I would hesitate to use the word 'effortless' to describe the i40's acceleration.

That's a sign that the small-displacement diesel is being asked to do a lot with little, despite its extra herbs. To its credit, the diesel is lively enough on the move and there's little turbo lag. It just feels like it struggles to move a car of the i40's mass at times, as we've said in the past. It's a very quiet engine until it reaches higher in the rev range. That's when you know it's a diesel, but at idle it's ludicrously subdued. Bass vibration was apparent at low revs, however, when the DCT held higher gears under load. At higher speeds the principal source of noise in the i40 was from the wind – and probably due to turbulence around the sunroof.

Travelling mostly on the open road between Sydney and the Central Coast, the i40 posted an average fuel consumption figure of 7.5L/100km, with two blokes and overnight luggage on board. It's not a terrible figure, but nor is it outstanding in a car with a sub-2.0-litre engine that can theoretically return 5.1L/100km in combined-cycle testing.

We didn't get to spend a lot of time hurling the i40 around corners, but the limited time available revealed that the local engineering work has moved the i40 on from its previous dynamic standard. In addition to settling on one suspension combination – from out of 30 tested – the Aussie engineers also tweaked the new 32-bit electrically-assisted steering system to complement the suspension.

The result was a steering set-up that was light but quite communicative at speed, and the i40 points true at the straight-ahead, as well as tracking consistently and precisely through corners. Steering response proved to be good – and certainly better than my previous experience with our long-term test i40.

Where current i40 owners may notice a real difference is in the ride quality. The new car offers a much more compliant and progressive ride over irregular road surfaces, in contrast with the car it replaces.

It's clear from the new i40's ride/handling balance that Hyundai's local engineering input has yielded significant gains in the update model. Between comfort and cornering the i40 might just shame both its competitor the Mazda 6, and its frenemy, the Kia Optima, but it will take a comparison to settle this question for good.

Packaging is not far removed from the previous model's. The driving position in the new car was good, but the seats continue to lack shape and could leave the occupants feeling a bit numb after a while. Rear-seat legroom appears to be better than that of the Mazda6 wagon, but would be on par with the Mazda 6 sedan.

But all of that is known. It's the changes underneath that are the big news here. In an industry where a new badge and a chrome exhaust tip can be enough to justify a 'Mk II' badge, Hyundai has quietly made some genuinely worthwhile changes to the i40 – but you'll have to look hard to find them.