One of my colleagues, here at autoevolution, sometimes tells me how frustrated he gets that the 2-liter in his coupe only pushes to around 220 km/h. But after watching this Hyundai i30 Turbo in "action," I think he won't feel so bad.
The i30 Turbo is Hyundai's first attempt at making a hot hatch. It's been on the market for over a year, but very few people outside of Germany have bought one. I think the main reason is that the equivalent Kia model is better.
Anyway, this now outdated i30 hatchback is equipped with a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine with the same power output as a Hyundai Veloster Turbo. At 186 PS, it's also nearly identical to the Golf GTD/Octavia RS TDI. However, both of those get a lot more torque.
Modern twin-clutch gearboxes are usually faster in the real world, but we're glad the i30 Turbo in this video has a manual. Hyundai hasn't been making DCTs for that long. A 6-speed manual, which you can't get in the new Renault GT, might also be one of the few reasons to even consider this Hyundai.
The German autobahn network is the perfect place to max out a car. Unfortunately, the i30 Turbo only reaches 210 km/h, which is not all that impressive.
Officially, the car is supposed to achieve 219 km/h, so it's actually under-performing badly. This isn't the only area where the i30 Turbo leaves something to be desired. For example, it's city fuel consumption is 9.6 l/100km. That and the base weight are actually inferior figures to those of a Golf GTI.
The bright side is that it's relatively cheap, costing from €24,350 in Germany, while a Golf GTI is almost 30k. But there are lots of alternatives, our favorites being the Leon FR with the 1.4 or 1.8 TSI and the Ford Focus Black Edition with its 180 PS 1.5 EcoBoost.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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