Hyundai's i30 shows the marque is serious about shifting up the automotive pecking order, writes William Wadsworth
Hyundai's test dummies must have spindly legs, because the front passenger footwell of the i30 seems rather tight. Even with the seat back, there seems little shuffle room for my size 46 feet, and that's a scuff in a five-door hatchback that's said to have been designed for European tastes.
There's plenty of legroom for daintier folk in the back, and the carpet and centre fascia surfaces accommodate high-heels. But then they'd have to, for Hyundai wants to kick off its little-budget shoes and impress in the west, as Toyota did.
The South Korean marque is doing just that. Despite recent strikes and senior executive strife, Hyundai has created some very exportable wheels. The Santa Fe SUV has been a best-seller in the US and among local expats; the two-litre Tucson offers 'Bowen Road Tractor' status to our sandwich class for the cost of an average Japanese jeep; and the Sonata shows how Korean saloons can look attractive without feeling tinny.
Yet upwardly mobile Hyundai wants more social status for its new baby. So the doting marque gave it a posh name ('i' as in hi-tech and '30' for the C segment) and drew it up at its design 'finishing school' in Russelsheim, Germany, where automotive Henry Higginses and Jean Wongs have tried to teach the five-door hatch to hold the road 'proper', as a European one should.
They've almost succeeded. The test car looks so European on 16-inch alloys, at first sight, that you might cover the boot badge in the main picture above and marvel at the marque's Pygmalion act. But look closer and you might find hints of an Audiesque U-shaped grille, the side-on bonnet snub of the Volvo S40, and Benzie-Porschie splodgie headlights. Cattier critics might also point to the i30's Bangle-style side crease lines to a BMW 1-Series-type rear, and liken the i30's exterior to the first swirls of a Sunday afternoon date in the boss' old Esprit.
The test car's interior retains its Korean accent, however. Hyundai's hallmark glacier-mint-blue dashboard-dial tint is an eye-popping giveaway, but it's also probably the most legible instrumentation I've tested all year. Beyond that, the i30 is as ergonomic as a BMW, with much thought given to cubby holes and an impressive centre-armrest box with iPod and USB inputs, and even a lining to stop the clatter of its contents on corners. The aircon minds its Ps and Qs, too.