Hyundai i30

Start with what the Hyundai i30 is: a 3-door hatchback (2012–2017) / 5-door hatchback / 5-door estate / 5-door liftback (2017–present) with Petrol engine, built from 2007, in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Thomas Bürkle.

Where it came from

The Hyundai i30 is a small family car manufactured by the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai Motor Company since 2007. The i30 shares its platform with the Kia Ceed, available as a three-door hatchback (2012–2017), five-door hatchback, five-door estate and five-door liftback (2017–present), with a choice of three petrol engines and two diesel engines, either with manual or automatic transmission.

The i30 was marketed alongside the fifth-generation Hyundai Elantra in the United States and Canada until the end of 2020. While initially the i30 wagon was sold as the Elantra Touring, in 2012 it was replaced by the i30 hatchback, carrying Elantra GT badging. The second-generation i30 was introduced in September 2011 at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Under the skin

The engine is Petrol engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Drive goes through a 5-speed manual / 6-speed manual / 4-speed automatic. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 2650 mm (hatchback) / 2700 mm (wagon). These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

In context

In the Hyundai line-up the Hyundai i30 has a clear place: the factory was Ulsan. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Volkswagen Tiguan, the Nissan GT-R, the Nissan 370Z. Nearby in the Hyundai catalogue sit the Hyundai Accent WRC and the Hyundai Accent.