So below is my take on the i20 as a number of car magazines seem to be putting the new 2015 Hyundai i20 against the new fabia

 

I am comparing the mid range of both models, which were the models I was looking at as a replacement for my old GLII, I have tried to give an honest comparison between the two cars

 

Over the last 15 years I have owned (or wife has) Octavia MK1 TDi estate and TDi hatch, Fabia MK1 VRs, Fabia MK1 SDi, Roomster 1.9TDi, Fabia GLII so I know the Skoda range, build and quality well

So picked up my Hyundai 2015 i20 SE 7th of march, I have had it nearly 2 months and covered 2000 miles, the new car grin has had time to wear off, So did I make the right choice for me?

 

(before you say anything this is the new 2015 i20 which was only released in late January, the older 2012 i20 i would not have looked at as the styling and build was not good)

 

Yes I think I did make the right choice, I was aware the engine was going to be the weak point but was a compromise i was willing to make, I still like driving it I have found some niggles but nothing that would make me regret my choice

 

Reason for the choice in my personal opinion was interior build quility appeared to be better that polo and new fabia, standard equipment for the mid range SE was better as I didn't need to resort to options to get what I wanted, price was lower (but PCP apr was higher and excess mileage charge is higher) claimed residuals appeared to be similar

 

On the road

• Nice to drive, steering is nicely wieghted both on the motorway and light enough in town and parking
• Road noise is low and you can easilly hold a conversation at motorway speeds with your passenger
• Radio is adequate for me, loud enough to drown out the wife without distortion, but no DAB as standard, there is a DAB option for a couple of hundred pounds which integrates with the factory fit radio
• Seats are for me more comfortable on long runs than my old GLII, seem slightly softer than the MKIII I sat in
• Ride is good even over the numerous traffic calming here and pot holes round here
• Only down side is the rear window does slightly restrict rear vison due to the roof drops lightly at the rear, but overall visibility is good all round apart from that one niggle

 

engines 

• The Hyundai kappa2 1.2 engines are non turbo so the power and torque builds as you get up the rev range, the VAG TSi engines have a practically flat torque and power curve due to the ECU and turbo, this makes the drivability of the TSi engine better as it has good power from about 2000rpm, the kappa2 you need to get up to 3000rpm to get good power, but if you let it rev up to 5000rpm it is quite lively and fun to drive, at motorway speed on slopes you may need to drop from 5th to 4th to get out into the next lane quickly to slot in to a gap
• No stop start except on the eco model, unlike VAG where it is standard across the range, so road tax is band C
• Engine noise is about the same as the VAG 1.2TSi units (have driven the 110 PS in son in laws rapid), if not a fraction quieter but not enough to worry about
• Real world economy is slightly worse than the VAG units, i am currently getting 50ish mpg but it is still improving, i think this is due to having to change down more often due to the power not realy being there until over 3000rpm
• Gearbox is smooth and slightly better than my old GLII, but the 1st gear is very short, hardly seem to be moving before you have to change up
• Currently only 5 speed manual or 4 speed (rather old) auto box

interior

• Soft touch plastics on the dash
• Layout of the dials are more to my liking than the fabia, one nice touch is you can have two different dash lighting levels depending on if the sidelights/ headlights are on or off, so you don't have to turn the dash lights down at night or up in the day, this is great when you go into a tunnel etc
• Radio is basic compared to the VAG units, but I only have basic needs, radio 4 or stream media off my phone. one nice feature is it can pick up the time of the RDS radio signal so never have to reset the clock.
• CD player but no SD card slot
• The bluetooth only allows one device at a time, you have to manually via the radio panel chose the device  you want connected, so you can't have your phone paired and iPod paired and playing and if you recieve a call it flips over to phone. minor annoyance but not a show stopper
• Below the radio you have 12v sockets, 3.5mm aux in and a USB socket (but the USB doesn't charge things), these are in a better location than my fabia GLII
• There is a mount for my phone on the top of the dash so i can charge it and use it as a satnav (no need for the mirror link which currently seems to have too many limitations on phones and apps) charging is good, faster than than a normal plug charger and unlike my old chager that plugged in 12v in my GLII it can charge my phone while it is running as a satnav
• Glove box is coooled by the aircon, nice to have
• More spacious and airy in the front compared to the fabia III i sat in, but my children (15 and 22) say good leg room in the rear, but slightly less room in the back compared to my GLII
• Lot of storage inside, 2 cup holders in the centre

Controls

• Lights, fogs and rear wipers are all in different places so i am still getting used to this,rear wipers are a twist switch on the end of the right hand stalk, the lights are a twist switch on the end of the left hand stalk, the fogs are on the left hand stalk a push up or down button on the left hand stalk
• On the steering wheel on the left you have radio controls, media player controls for track etc, on the right you have the cruise, speed limiter and the trip computer controls
• Down were the light switch is in the VAG cars you have headlight level, dash illumiation and lane departure warning switches
• On the drivers door you have the electric mirror controls (heating is set on when you rear window on i think), all four window controls, but only the drivers window has the auto up/down option
• Trip computer is not as fully featured as the fabia, you have 2 mileage setting, but only 1 mpg setting so you can't track your mpg on tank and trip separately
• Quality of switches and controls are similar to VAG

 
Safety

• 6 airbags, (front side and curtain as std)
• ABS, ESP etc same as VAG
• Lane departure warning but is quiet that could be missed at motorway speed with radio on or wife nagging
• Hill assist only works on 6% hills of more so rarely works, i did get used to on my old GLII which was much better
• Boot space is similar to the new fabia and on the SE you get the variable boot floot as std which give a flatload area when the rear seats are lowered, the rear window is nearly vertical so does not get in the way it you have a tall load like a fridge etc in the boot
• You get a full size steel spare in the boot, not a can of goo,
• Only a couple of little pockets in the boot for storage

exterior

• Bonnet and roof do not  seem as flexible as the Skoda's, you don't feel as though you are going to dent them when cleaning the car, i assume this may reduce pedestrian safety rating when it goes through ENCAP testing
• Exterior paint finish seems slightly better than my old GLII, but there more of a differnce between the paint on the plastic bumpers to the rest of the car than the VAG cars
• Locking wheel nuts are big and obvious unlike the fabia ones which look the same as normal ones due to the plastic caps
• The alloys are nice diamond cut ones, easy to clean no small radiuses to get brake dust trapped in with a good thickness of lacquer (time will tell if they suffer similar issues with the lacquer like the ones on a MKII VRs)
• I prefer the exterior look compared to the new fabia, the i20 to me appears to be a cross of ford fiesta and peugoet from the front
• As mine was one of the first 1500 built i got a free upgrade with LED DRL's and front side lights which look great at night
• Cornering fogs, wondered what was happening first time I drove it at night
• Lights auto shutdown about 15 seconds after you remove the key and lock the car, so no lights on reminder required and no flat battery due to leaving lights on, you can override this as well

 
Running costs

• Overall I would say slightly highr to a new fabia,
• The i20 has slighly lower MPG, meaning more fuel cost, but offset by cheaper insurance grouping ( group 6 as opposed to group 9 for similer fabia)
• Road tax is band C for the 1.25L 84PS engine as opposed to band B of the fabia
• The Hyundai has a 5 year unlimited mileage warranty compared to the VAG 3 year 60,000 mile warranty, so unlikely to be an issue if you are only likely to keep it less than 3 years
• Servicing cost seem about the same for minor service but about £50 higher for the intermediate service, service interval is 10,000 miles, with no option for variable service

I already have my car booked in for a minor issue, when the tow bar was fitted it has reduce the room between the chassis and rear exhaust box, leading to the rear box rattling against the chassis on left hand corners, i will see how good their techs are at fixing this

Edited 3 May, 201511 yr by bluecar1

Good review. Manual presumably ?

yep manual only 5 speed, no six speed option

No good for me then.

The real test will be in 2 1/2 to 3 years time

 

Will I stay Hyundai or will I return to the VAG fold?

 

both the Hyundai dealer and my old skoda dealer (who I still see and get on with) both seem keen to contact me at about 2 1/2 years time so should be able to negotiate a good dealer between them

No good for me then.

if there was a single car that fitted everyone needs it would be a boring world with everyone driving the same car

 

choice and the occasional customer going elsewhere keeps the manufacturers and dealers on their toes

Nice to read fair reviews of competitors to the Fabia.

 

 

No good for me then.

Nor me.  As far as I'm concerned manual gearboxes belong with choke knobs and starting handles.  The VAG DSG is one of the world's best gearboxes and no manual competitor will ever get a look in with me.

the auto box is an old 4 speed job, not great

 

rumour is there is something better coming along for an auto box later in the year,

 

there is a new 1.0 turbo 130PS engine in the next month or so

To be fair, economy and lack of flappy paddles aside, I found the auto on the old i30 to be one of the nicest, smoothest, predictable gearboxes that I'd driven.

Hmmm... maybe worth a look for the size upgrade for swmbo car.... was thinking fabia or rio but she nit keen on front end look of the kia. She had 2 getz's (getzi??)first was mine, brilliant until written off after an argument with an artic trailer, the second had an engine build flaw that noone dver noticed except the wife. It was boight 2nd hand and she alwys felt it was down on power vs the 1st one. She traded it for a 206.. :/ think the experience with that 2nd one put her off hyundai.. so we will see what she thinks!

Hmmm... maybe worth a look for the size upgrade for swmbo car.... was thinking fabia or rio but she nit keen on front end look of the kia. She had 2 getz's (getzi??)first was mine, brilliant until written off after an argument with an artic trailer, the second had an engine build flaw that noone dver noticed except the wife. It was boight 2nd hand and she alwys felt it was down on power vs the 1st one. She traded it for a 206.. :/ think the experience with that 2nd one put her off hyundai.. so we will see what she thinks!

the wife swapped her citigo for the i10 at the same time I swapped my fabia (salesman made us an offer we couldn't refuse to swap both)

 

the i10 seems to be the same size as the previous 2012 i20, but the room inside is less,

 

in the i10 when I shut the drivers door I feel it touch my side, I don't get this on the i20, but the i10 has more go due to same engine but less weight in the car, it is also more fun to drive as you can throw it around more due to smaller size etc

 

if you do look at one and test drive it, see if you can drive one with over 1000 miles on it, as until it has got over 1000 miles (or 2000) the engine is noticeably down on power and would not be representative of the engine long term

 

have a drive, see what you think , if nothing else the fact you have looked at another make and gone for test drive may make the salesman a bit more likely to give you a good deal on a skoda

A good review i too have test rode the new i20 but i had the 1.4 petrol with the premium spec and again i liked it a lot but i want an auto and compared to VAG there is simply no contest, i just did not imagine that the auto box would be as old as it is across the range, the saleman did try and persuade me that the DSG box was not that different !!! I had none of it, but the car it's self was very nice and you got a lot for your money. My daughter bought an i10 at the same time as our test drive and i have to say that compared to the citigo it is far superior, solid and well built with loads of extras on the premium + that even the fabia would have difficulty in beating. Where VAG score better is the fact that they appear to be ahead of the tech game when it comes to things like the DSG box and other items like Mirrolink.

mirrorlink is debatable looking at the issues with limited support for phones and apps at the moment

 

smartgate looks better but I have seen some reports if you connect to it you then lose mobile data as it thinks best route is through smartgate which doesn't have any external access so no data

Problem I seemostly with new kia/Hyundai card is PCP value. Low lump sum balloon payments make monthly payments higher than many.

Good cars tho and do lots very well indeed

Problem I seemostly with new kia/Hyundai card is PCP value. Low lump sum balloon payments make monthly payments higher than many.

Good cars tho and do lots very well indeed

intrresting you mention that.. i couldnt figure out how, a 50% deposit the 0% finance hp is almost 40e/month more over 36 months than the interest rated pcp with only a 30% (max) deposit over 37 payments?? Same bleedin car??? What am i missing or not understanding??

not my cup of tea to be honest.

 

most Hyundai/Kia stylists (both interior and exterior) seem to me to be visually impaired and obsessed with form over function - the current i30 centre console maze of switches being a prime case in point.

 

although I have to admit to liking my own very reliable, if dog-ugly, Hyundai many years ago.

Edited 5 May, 201511 yr by camelspyyder

This was when the Chairman of the Volkswagen Group realised that their interiors were inferior to the Hyundai due to penny pinching on Components and essentials while being more interested in adding Plastic Chrome and other tat,

and they would have to up the game.

So we are waiting on that, because of high manufacturing costs from always changing models and offering a huge choice all at extra costs Volkswagen continue to be unable to give features as standard and a decent 

warranty as standard without having to pay extra for it.

If they could improve Quality Control from the Factory & at Dealership PDI's,

then the After Sales Care when they get it wrong Volkswagen might get a decent reputation

and higher up Reliability Surveys for both New & Used cars.

 

But then the likes of Hyundai & Suzuki Design & Build cars for Europe in Europe and Volkswagen will build in the likes of South Africa & Import into Europe.

Volkswagen just keep trying to buy other Manufacturers or part of them to get access to New Technology and Build Techniques because they really struggle themselves to move on because of thinking they are the best.

 

Edited 5 May, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

So now that Martin Winterkorn has won the battle to stay at the head of Volkswagen do you think they will get all the Competitors 

new Models and totally reverse engineer them and improve the Volkswagen Group Products.

Then be able to give a 5 or 7 year / 100,000 mile Warranty as Standard.

(you would think they do already know everything about the competitors cars, but then if they did they would not turning out lemons.)

Why Volkswagen keep being caught out with snagging issues with new models is a mystery.

Keeping H20 out of the Passenger Cabins, & Fluids in the Engines seem beyond the Volkswagen Group

even decades on building vehicles.

Edited 5 May, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

Have they managed yet to get a Golf, 'To sound just like a Civic'.  And be as Reliable.?

 

Why does he not carry his own Tape Measure?

Edited 5 May, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

Will be interesting to see how this review measures up with yours.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/hyundai/i20/91326/coupe

Auto express is reviewing i130,i120 hatch and coupe

Somebody messed up signing off those rear Quarter Panels / Wheel arches.

 

(last week in the thread in Off Topic about being a Car Salesperson i mentioned how you need to remember when selling 

a i30 that the rear resembles a 1 Series BMW,  (not sure why that would be considered as a good thing ??,

and i see a Comment posted with that article.)

I have just helped a relative sort out a replacement for his 08 plate 1.6l i30, he started looking last autumn. After looking at vehicles in the focus and fiesta class he took delivery of a White i20 1.4l 6sp SE around a month ago. He has been very pleased so far and is getting about 50 mpg on the trip. The interior looks quite simple with clear layout and decent quality but no WOW factor, visibility is good. I would say it's strongest points are interior space and exterior styling ? I have not had a drive in it yet but he says it feels little different to his i30.     

 

intrresting you mention that.. i couldnt figure out how, a 50% deposit the 0% finance hp is almost 40e/month more over 36 months than the interest rated pcp with only a 30% (max) deposit over 37 payments?? Same bleedin car??? What am i missing or not understanding??

I got the i20 with roughly the same payments as I was looking at for fabia / polo, although the price was slightly lower

 

 

Representative APR 5.9%

APR Interest rate (fixed) 3.05% p.a.

 

the £1000 deposit contribution nearly covers all the interest for me so in practice pretty much 0%

Edited 5 May, 201511 yr by bluecar1

not my cup of tea to be honest.

 

most Hyundai/Kia stylists (both interior and exterior) seem to me to be visually impaired and obsessed with form over function - the current i30 centre console maze of switches being a prime case in point.

 

although I have to admit to liking my own very reliable, if dog-ugly, Hyundai many years ago.

 

yep, not a fan of the i30 dash and console layout