Our Hyundai i30 finally gave me cause for irritation this week.
A light on the dashboard came on to tell me the front left tyre was under-inflated. I thought this strange, as I had personally checked the pressures only a few days previously. Still, we dutifully checked the tyre and indeed found it to be just 1PSI lower than the other three.
No problem there, perhaps the Hyundai is just a perfectionist. However, with the tyre re-inflated, the light on the dashboard remained on, which turned out be fine because the manual says it should take 20 minutes of driving for the car to re-calculate the pressures and switch off the light.
But, having driven from Surrey to North London, it remained illuminated. It took until I was half way down the M25 and heading to Surrey the following day for the warning to disappear.
Up until I hit the M25 I had been stuck in near constant traffic jams, so perhaps the i30 just needed 20 minutes solid movement rather than the stop-start driving common to London’s overloaded roads. It’s a shame the light went off before I had a chance to photograph it, so you’ll have to take my word for it that it was there.
Despite this glitch I can’t stay mad at the i30 for long, and I’m still very fond of it. I’m not alone either. As a practical and easy to drive hatchback the Hyundai is a popular member of the BusinessCar fleet for staff with odd jobs planned for the weekend.
Editor Tristan Young gave the i30 its biggest load-carrying test with a recent trip to the dump. He packed the car to the gunwales with garden detritus and professed it to be more than up to the task, although he did leave a visitor behind – a snail – who was so impressed the car it decided to have a good look around. We know because it left a trail of its journey around the boot.
The rear seats, however, fold in a slightly awkward manner, with the base rising up on wobbly legs [1] before dropping down into the rear footwell [2]. The seat backs then come down to create an almost completely flat load bay [3], but only if the driver’s seat is not too far back. If your driver is blessed with long legs then the seat back prevents the rear seat from folding all the way down.
Further compliments have come from sources outside the office. One of our photographers who took the car for a weekend expressed shock when he discovered the engine was just 1.6-litres, rather than 2.0. He was impressed to the extent that he even asked about prices and running costs. His five-year-old Ford Focus may soon find itself replaced.