well, day came I swapped the GLII for the Hyundai i20 SE 84PS

 

plus's and minus's

 

what I will miss,

 

Hyundai don't have lights on reminder

reversing sensors do not display on the radio screen

 

what it has extra

 

cruise with speed limiter

LED DRL's and side lights with corner function

Bluetooth built in

multi function steering wheel controls (radio and phone)

lane departure warning

seat belt warning on all seats (front and all 3 rear)

cooled glove box (uses aircon)

 

the build quality seems solid, no dash squeaks or rattles heard today

 

all for about £13,500

 

driving it (done about 100 miles today trying it out)

 

comfortable on motorway, suspension slightly softer than my GLII so better ride, engine being petrol is a lot quieter than the 1.2 TDI

wind and road noise better as well

 

handling is about the same as the GLII

 

only thing is power at low revs is a lot lower so a bit more up and down the gear box, (petrol  v diesel sort of thing due to torque / power curves)

 

I  was surprised not to find a lights on reminder, I thought this was standard on just about every car these days

 

sad to see the GLII go, it has been a reliable hard working car but coming to the end of PCP not overly impressed with fabia 3

 

long term will be interesting to see, for me Hyundai seem to be where skoda were 10 years ago but without a parent company (VAG) dictating some directions they can go

 

been out to see skoda dealer with daughter and son in law and my salesman said he was going to be calling me about 2 1/2 - 3 years time to see if he could temp me back we will see as many things can change in that time, had a good look round the fabia 3 and instantly did not like it, if I had stayed at skoda it would likely have been a Octavia S as not a fan of the rapid either

 

I will still be around as I still know skoda's and promise not to talk to much about my i20 ( honest guv)

 

 

bluecar, you can't go wrong with the new i20. I've also been giving them the once over and I'm impressed. Good power to weight ratio. Not that I'm changing my Skoda yet, but the engineer in me likes to know what's going on. Some of our friends have Hyundai and have been that way for 15 years or more with no problems whatsoever. Build quality is now very impressive and the engines speak for themselves. You'll soon get used to the petrol thing. You will adapt easily over a short time. Petrol is defo the way to go now (it pains me to say that as a diesel head) unless you do huge mileages. Even I drive petrol now. But my job has been teching and developing diesel engines for many years as you prolly know so it hurts a bit! Keep posting about your Hyundai as many of us want to know what the experience is like. Good luck!

the light on reminder issue

 

seems Hyundai have a different view

 

doing a bit of RTFM I find

 

• stop the engine
• take keys out the ignition
• exit via drivers  door
• lock car

it shuts off all lights regardless of the light switch position

 

neat

 

and you can override it of you want to leave the sidelights on by simply once you take the keys out turn the lights off and back on

 

also the gear recommendation seems a bit more realistic of when to change

engine has improved immensely in terms of power and drivability, now better than my old GLII 75PS, just waiting to see what the fuel economy ends up as

 

currently reckons 500-520 miles on a 50ltr tank, so first tanks appears to be about 45mpg but I am noticing the trip computer average increasing so I assume the overall is slowly increasing 

 

overall very pleased with the car, having some issues converting as things are in different places and after 15 years of driving skoda's where everything is in a std place it is fun figuring out where the light are (end of indicator stalk)  etc

 

only issue I have is the exhaust is knocking against body underneath, but that is minor

the light on reminder issue

seems Hyundai have a different view

doing a bit of RTFM I find

• stop the engine
• take keys out the ignition
• exit via drivers door
• lock car

it shuts off all lights regardless of the light switch position

neat

and you can override it of you want to leave the sidelights on by simply once you take the keys out turn the lights off and back on

also the gear recommendation seems a bit more realistic of when to change

My Citroën before my fab was the same. No beeping, they just turned off when locked the car. Quite handy actually! When you started the car again, they came back on whatever setting they were last on.

Is this not as per the Octy II lights set-up??

Since in their home country it is mandatory to drive with dipped lights in daylight hours.

Therefore the light switch is almost redundant.

Simply leave it switched on!

Simples!!

M

These cars are EU Type approved, many are built in Europe and they are meeting EU/Uk legislation nor Asian, Far East or other places.

I was attempting to refer to Skoda!, i.e. our Octavia.

From the Cz rep

I may however have mis-related my participles or sommat.

If you understood i was talking about the Hyundai

PS

Drive the deal now got more than £1900.00 of an Hyundai i20, SE trim level, leaves it £10,something.

Hmmm?

Edited 16 March, 201511 yr by dieseldogg

yep, talking about the new i20 I have after 15 years of being a skoda customer, I joined the dark side and left the VAG fold and pleasantly surprised

 

currently not sure I will return to VAG after the contract on my i20 is up as currently nothing to really grab me in the skoda range

 

new fabia definitely out sat in it in and instant dislike, same as I had with the rapid, skoda seem to have compromised the interior space to give a larger boot

 

yeti and superb out of my budget

 

S level Octavia possible, has all the spec I want but still not overly happy nothing I could put my finger on just something about it

 

love the Octavia VRs estate, but could not justify the cost so out of my budget

 

love the i20, sat in the i30 and ix35 but did not like the  console , the i10 was a little small for me but my wife swapped her citigo for one and loves it, nice and fun to drive

 

as I say time will tell, have seen my old skoda salesman the day I got my i20 as daughter was out there sorting out a new rapid sport, he will call me in about 21/2 years time he said

 

I have yet to see the long term reliability and economy of the i20 but I have no reason to doubt it at the moment, as with all cars the relevant forums show good and bad times and Hyundai looks no worse and in some respects better