Hyundai i30 Turbo: Softly, softly, catchee Audi

I'm on the Hyundai to hell

Even when pushing hard on damp B-roads the i30 never wants for grip, while body control is very impressive. There’s just enough roll to keep your attention, not so much that your passenger throws up their lunch in your lap. The suspension is enjoyably subtle too. You have a sense of what’s afoot but you don’t lose the fillings from your teeth when the road gets rough.

Big alloys and skinny profile tyres barely hide big brakes. i30 Turbo stops as well as it goes

All things considered and given that the combination of 18-inch wheels and 225/40 section tyres is hardly a recipe for relaxed driving, Hyundai has done a fine job setting the i30 Turbo up. Thanks to some effective soundproofing, the i30 is a relaxed long-distance ground coverer, though I reckon the 11.6 gallon fuel tank could be a wee bit bigger.

Those larger wheels house suitably larger brakes (300mm ventilated discs at the front and 284mm solid discs at the back) so stopping the i30 Turbo at speed is as uneventful as getting it up to speed in the first place. Try as I did, I couldn't induce any brake fade.

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At 2.85 turns lock-to-lock, the i30 has pretty responsive steering, though there’s not much in the way of feel to it. And to be honest there’s not a whole lot of difference between the three feedback settings (Comfort, Sport and Normal). I quickly ended up leaving it in Sport for the sake of consistency. It’s easy to make too much of the lack of feel though. I can’t say it ever got between me and the interaction I look for from a hot hatch.

The rest of the driver experience also errs towards the comfortable rather then the aggressive. The half-leather seats offer plenty of support and grip without making you feel like you are sitting in a vice, while the cabin is ergonomically hard to fault. A large, well-positioned footrest always makes me well disposed towards a car and the i30’s is very large, and very well placed.

Pedals look and feel the part. Big old footrest always welcome in the El Reg garage

Externally, Hyundai has taken a page from Volkswagen’s style book, making the i30 Turbo look quick but not boy-racer fast. Beyond the smart alloys and the occasional Turbo badge, the i30 is decorated with a pretty restrained sports body kit, twin exhausts and LED rear lights. And that’s about it. I like the look of it, but then I like the look of the basic i30 and most of Hyundai's other current offerings.

i30 Turbo looks more at home at cricket club than drag racing in supermarket car park