New 271bhp Hyundai i30

[Brendan2234]

I really like the look of this!
And I can't H&T in my 172 either, had it down to a fine art in my Impreza as the pedals were set up beautifully for it, but in the clio the brake pedal biting point is just far too high relative to the throttle pedal. Slide your heel across and... Nothing there!

Fundamental aspect of performance driving completely overlooked in the development of the clio I believe, but perhaps that's a downside of trying to base a sporty hot hatch on the regular shopping trolley model where it wasn't a consideration. Be interesting to see whether hyundai have any similar problems with this.

Has anyone seen one on the metal yet?

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

Sorry, but if it has 5 doors - it's not a hot hatch. End of story.
That includes the Focus RS, MK4 Clio's & the brand new Megane RS.

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

Sorry, but if it has 5 doors - it's not a hot hatch. End of story.
That includes the Focus RS, MK4 Clio's & the brand new Megane RS.

Lol what?

If it's not got a boot, it's a hatch. If it's quick, it's hot. It's a hot hatch

 

[SC03OTT]

Lol.

 

[Addicted]

Sorry, but if it has 5 doors - it's not a hot hatch. End of story.
That includes the Focus RS, MK4 Clio's & the brand new Megane RS.

You must be exciting at parties lol

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

Really want one of these

 

[just-that-ek]

Sorry, but if it has 5 doors - it's not a hot hatch. End of story.
That includes the Focus RS, MK4 Clio's & the brand new Megane RS.

"Hot hatch (shortened from hot hatchback) is a high-performance derivative of a car body style consisting of a three- or five-door hatchback automobile"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_hatch



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Darren S]

Please Hyundai - keep your 'N' brand something special. Don't follow other manufacturers and start cheapening your own flagship range by producing an 'N-Line' or 'N-Style' range. Have your entry level stuff. Have your premium stuff. Don't create a wishy-washy grey area in the middle that is in neither camp.

Also, I am surprised at how well this handles given its weight. Kudos again to the engineers.

 

[davo172]

This is a good thing. Pick one up at 2 or 3 years old for pennies then run it into the ground over many many years. One of these may well become my daily instead of another Fiesta ST when I get to the point of retiring the RS.

I agree but someone has to stump up for the big loss from new !

 

[Goodj]

Please Hyundai - keep your 'N' brand something special. Don't follow other manufacturers and start cheapening your own flagship range by producing an 'N-Line' or 'N-Style' range. Have your entry level stuff. Have your premium stuff. Don't create a wishy-washy grey area in the middle that is in neither camp.

Also, I am surprised at how well this handles given its weight. Kudos again to the engineers.

There'll be an N-line

Just like there's an M-Sport
and S-Line
and SRi-VX Line
and ST-Line.
Or GT by RenaultSport

It's about selling cars, not making friends on Pistonheads

 

[Darren S]

There'll be an N-line

Just like there's an M-Sport
and S-Line
and SRi-VX Line
and ST-Line.
Or GT by RenaultSport

It's about selling cars, not making friends on Pistonheads

Would be nice if they broke the mould though. They’ve already got the largest car plant in the world, plus many fingers in many other areas of manufacturing industry.

It wouldn’t really harm them to make the N brand distinct and a true representation of the best that they can produce.

 

[Goodj]

It'd wouldn't hurt their bottom-line if they could make an N-line brand a trim level for the 1.0.

Remember the Fabia vRS? See how they don't make them now?
That's, among other things, because buyers wanted it a car that looked the part and didn't care if it had any juice to back it up.

Your utopian ideals are all very noble, but regrettably have no place in the business world. They won't have made this N brand to just shift a few hundred loss-leader hatchbacks, it's there to promote the rest of the Marque for people who wouldn't have thought about it before.

This exact thread is a perfect example..... Other than the odd Coupe or C'eed GT, find me another 3-page thread about a Hyundai or Kia. Unlikely.

So even if no-one buys one of these super-Korean hatches, it's made some of you think "you know what, maybe Hyundais are a reasonably good alternative to a Renault, or Ford"

 

[Darren S]

It'd wouldn't hurt their bottom-line if they could make an N-line brand a trim level for the 1.0.

Remember the Fabia vRS? See how they don't make them now?
That's, among other things, because buyers wanted it a car that looked the part and didn't care if it had any juice to back it up.

Your utopian ideals are all very noble, but regrettably have no place in the business world. They won't have made this N brand to just shift a few hundred loss-leader hatchbacks, it's there to promote the rest of the Marque for people who wouldn't have thought about it before.

This exact thread is a perfect example..... Other than the odd Coupe or C'eed GT, find me another 3-page thread about a Hyundai or Kia. Unlikely.

So even if no-one buys one of these super-Korean hatches, it's made some of you think "you know what, maybe Hyundais are a reasonably good alternative to a Renault, or Ford"

You’ve kind of agreed with me there in a roundabout way though. You’ve said that it’s sparked the attention of people who would normally dismiss them. Why? Because it has impressive abilities and features, tagged into a new branding that makes you take notice. It needs that moniker - that tag - to make it aloft from its siblings.

Keep it amongst the sea of other Hyundais with no differentiator - and it’s a wasted exercise. Worse - achieve notability, that god-awful term of a ‘USP’ and then water it down shortly afterwards by tagging the lesser creations of your stable with the virtually identical branding. Unfortunately it does add to sales with Joe Public who know no different - keeping the bean counters happy, but true fans of that ‘specialness’ feeling a bit jaded. Imagine a Cosworth-Line being slapped onto a 1.1 Ford Orion in the day!

Skoda is an odd one. First you get where they are coming from - adding vRS to both the Fabia and the Octavia. Then like you say, they ditched it - but now leave it in the Octavia camp, along with both petrol and diesel and in both saloon and estate forms.

It’s a weird decision. Just when you thought they were gaining traction several years ago in pushing a performance brand within their own brand, then kind of/maybe/we-don’t-really-want-to-step-on-other-VAG-creations, happens.

It’s like sticking a Tesco Finest label on an Everyday Value tin of beans. It sends out a mixed message that neither justifies the higher price of the Finest stuff, nor promotes better quality in the Everyday Value item.

As you say though - it’s what sells that’s the driving force behind it. The same rationale that creates a zillion varieties of SUV and crossovers for no reason at all - other than fooling the buying public into thinking they are committing to a lifestyle that’s so unique and so ‘them’. When actually, 82% of your car is shared with 14 other cars on the road - it’s hardly unique at all.

 

[Goodj]

If it drags people into a showroom, where they then get hen-pecked by the other half into getting an i2 1.0 N-Line instead of the Evo- wet-dream-machine, because of real-world considerations..... then it's entirely done its job.

If you strap a bodykit and big wheels to a shopping trolley, to many people that's enough. Look at the Corsa "limited editions". Indeed, look at all the Clio 1*2 "replicas"...... They can barely drag themselves up a hill, but people still think they're great, because they look the part.

Hell, even Mazda do it with MX5s, every year, they take the less-popular engine/diff/suspension combo, paint it an exclusive colour and BOOM, that's the 1.6/8/5's shifted for another year. The ones that "driving enthusiasts" want, with the LSD's, Bilstiens and best-of-generation motor, will sell anyway.

Carguy on forum: "M-sport trim spec 330? Why!!!!! Clearly no-one would buy that! waste of time, you'd just buy an M3!!!"
Carguy on the phone to Insurers: "ooft....well, OK, I mean, that's double what I'm on now but...I guess it is an Emfwee"
Carguy, later, at BMW dealers: "HOW MUCH!!!!!!!...OK, how much is a 330 M-sport without the badges?"
Carguy, that afternoon, on same forum "I went for the 330 M-sport in the end because of the better refinement on motorways, better MPGs for my commuting and...... Also, M3 is a waste of money, why would anyone buy one when there's the 330?"

 

[charltjr]

Very true, my missus would be a case in point, she likes a "sporty" looking car that feels "nippy" but certainly doesn't need a hot hatch of any sort. Her current 207 GTi has way more performance than she'll ever need. She never takes it beyond three or four thousand RPM at part throttle, on the very few occasions she has to get her foot down it frightens her because she doesn't feel in control.

For her an N-line/S-line/ST-line/Si/whatever is absolutely 100% what she wants.

Thankfully it doesn't impact on my car buying decisions

 

[Darren S]

Very true, my missus would be a case in point, she likes a "sporty" looking car that feels "nippy" but certainly doesn't need a hot hatch of any sort. Her current 207 GTi has way more performance than she'll ever need. She never takes it beyond three or four thousand RPM at part throttle, on the very few occasions she has to get her foot down it frightens her because she doesn't feel in control.

For her an N-line/S-line/ST-line/Si/whatever is absolutely 100% what she wants.

Thankfully it doesn't impact on my car buying decisions

Haha! Fortunately/(unfortunately?) I don’t have that issue. More cylinders, more capacity, more power are all plus points for my wife, when it comes to cars.

I’ll admit - I got a bit concerned when I borrowed a works Mondeo for a few days the other week and she ‘really liked it’. I was on the verge of giving her a Victorian Dad back-hander and sending her to bed without any supper.

Women. Getting above their station...

 

[Jamess182]

Seems I upset a few people with my 5 door comment.... oh dear.
5 doors just completely and utterly ruin the look of any hatchback. For example, the MK3 Focus RS just looks like a souped-up school run car, designed for mum's to nip down to Morrisons in to do the weekly shop. The MK2 RS on the other hand... what a monster.

 

[182Trophy]

I really like the look of this!
And I can't H&T in my 172 either, had it down to a fine art in my Impreza as the pedals were set up beautifully for it, but in the clio the brake pedal biting point is just far too high relative to the throttle pedal. Slide your heel across and... Nothing there!

Fundamental aspect of performance driving completely overlooked in the development of the clio I believe, but perhaps that's a downside of trying to base a sporty hot hatch on the regular shopping trolley model where it wasn't a consideration. Be interesting to see whether hyundai have any similar problems with this.

Has anyone seen one on the metal yet?

The clio is fine for heel and toe. Learn how to press the brake with the balls of your feet and rotate your ankle to stab at the throttle (the correct way). Used to love barreling into a roundabout and go 4th to third to second very quickly. The throttle response on the clos is great tbf. Yeah the pedals could be better but a nice hard press and there is no problem at all.

 

[Goodj]

Seems I upset a few people with my 5 door comment.... oh dear.
5 doors just completely and utterly ruin the look of any hatchback. For example, the MK3 Focus RS just looks like a souped-up school run car, designed for mum's to nip down to Morrisons in to do the weekly shop. The MK2 RS on the other hand... what a monster.

Sure you don't just like cars that look like they've fallen out of a Max Power centrefold?
The RS Focus......surely just for builders who like to drive with a bicep taking up half the windscreen?

Oh....and MarcCup, but in his case the entire dashboard is full of receipts and graphs :smile::up:

 

[DrR]

Given the choice I’d never had the 3 door, such an arse for practical reasons. Such as getting out of it.

 

[Smiffyboy1990]

I’am all for this -Line stuff, granted it’s a shame they all sound familiar now but it’s the modern day equivalents of the old Warm variants like for example the 205 XS, Nova SR’s, and so on.. Cheap, insurable and subjectively fun to drive.

 

[Brendan2234]

The clio is fine for heel and toe. Learn how to press the brake with the balls of your feet and rotate your ankle to stab at the throttle (the correct way). Used to love barreling into a roundabout and go 4th to third to second very quickly. The throttle response on the clos is great tbf. Yeah the pedals could be better but a nice hard press and there is no problem at all.

If I have to contort my ankle past the point of comfort to get an effective blip on the throttle then the pedals aren't designed for it IMO. To be fair, it might be different if I had old fluid with a bit of water/air content and a spongy brake pedal as a result, and it also might get a bit easier under really hard braking on a track.

It's just noticeably poor compared to the Subaru and the MX5 i had previous to that. Both those cars could be heel and toed without thinking at any level of braking or rev matching. Maybe the japs are just better at that kind of stuff!

 

[Silent_Scone]

Seems I upset a few people with my 5 door comment.... oh dear.
5 doors just completely and utterly ruin the look of any hatchback. For example, the MK3 Focus RS just looks like a souped-up school run car, designed for mum's to nip down to Morrisons in to do the weekly shop. The MK2 RS on the other hand... what a monster.

Judging a car by how many doors it has. You ok?

Look, let's just look at this objectively, and the facts.

5 doors are for heroes, discuss

Given the choice I’d never had the 3 door, such an arse for practical reasons. Such as getting out of it.

Yeah, even small people - generally in car seats. Just a bit of a pain. So that leaves the niche of having really small mates.

 

[Jamess182]

Judging a car by how many doors it has. You ok?

Yes, of course you can judge a car's design by how many doors it has lmao... what are you on about?

Given the choice I’d never had the 3 door, such an arse for practical reasons. Such as getting out of it.

Go and buy a Land Rover then?

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Sure you don't just like cars that look like they've fallen out of a Max Power centrefold?
The RS Focus......surely just for builders who like to drive with a bicep taking up half the windscreen?

Oh....and MarcCup, but in his case the entire dashboard is full of receipts and graphs :smile::up:

I honestly don't like any of those cars. Including the last one.. I'll keep my mk2 Cup thanks (yes I know it's f**king slower don't bother going down that route). Yeah you can say that about the MK2 Focus if you want, but it's still a much more focused and aggressive car than the mk3 - which is a 5 door school run car with an awfully plain exhaust note. Ford are a bunch of sellouts.

 

[DrR]

Go and buy a Land Rover then?

What?

 

[Clio_fool]

The looks of a car certainly are affected by the number of doors it has but to blanket say 5 doors look s**t is wrong. Seat did a good job of hiding the rear doors on that Leon and nobody can tell me that the Lancia is ruined by the rear doors. The i30 looks fine imo, the focus I personally don't like, but that's not just because of the door's. Would I took better with 2 less? Who can say when there's not one available to see?
I'm going to my nearest hyundai dealer this weekend to get.my name down for a test drive.

 

[Jamess182]

What?

If you struggle getting in and out of cars.. go and purchase a large and spacious one...

The looks of a car certainly are affected by the number of doors it has but to blanket say 5 doors look s**t is wrong.

Not really, just my opinion. I think the only hatchback that can get away with it is the A45 AMG. Otherwise they ruin the sporty look entirely.

Anyway, I'm done now. Don't want this to drag on any futher. Enjoy your evenings.

 

[DrR]

If you struggle getting in and out of cars.. go and purchase a large and spacious one.

That’s not the issue, doors on 3 doors are usually so big you can’t open them enough to actually get out if you’re parked next to something.

 

[SC03OTT]

Isn’t the point of a hot hatch that it is a souped up school run car but has potential for fun as and when wanted? I mean, that’s why I have one. Space for the shopping/kids on a daily basis but enough power for a play when I’m on my own.

 

[Clio_fool]

Isn’t the point of a hot hatch that it is a souped up school run car but has potential for fun as and when wanted? I mean, that’s why I have one. Space for the shopping/kids on a daily basis but enough power for a play when I’m on my own.

Yep I believe that is the idea. Kudos to hyundai for building a good one, I hope it pays off and N cars raise the image for the brand. Hyundai AND Kia are a long way from their products of a decade ago but buyers perceptions of them hasn't matched their development.

 

[Ian_182]

My favourite looking car at the moment is a blue golf R 5 door with Pretoria alloys.
Im just not keen on the 3 door version.
Cars have moved on and back in the day a 5 door escort cosworth wouldnt have looked the part but nowadays many high performance hatches look good with 5

 

[imprezaworks]

Yep agreed. And the r estate version would get my vote.

 

[Jonnio]

Would be nice if they broke the mould though. They’ve already got the largest car plant in the world, plus many fingers in many other areas of manufacturing industry.

It wouldn’t really harm them to make the N brand distinct and a true representation of the best that they can produce.

Fiat/Abarth seem to be doing well at keeping everything separate. Not sticking bumpers and scorpions on crummy standard Fiats and calling them Abarths anymore......

 

[Darren S]

My favourite looking car at the moment is a blue golf R 5 door with Pretoria alloys.
Im just not keen on the 3 door version.
Cars have moved on and back in the day a 5 door escort cosworth wouldnt have looked the part but nowadays many high performance hatches look good with 5

I'd still pick three doors myself, but that's due to not needing the practicality of rear doors. I do like it when manufacturers tried to 'hide' the rear door handles in their cars - some of them really cleverly.

From an engineering perspective, it would be interesting to see if there's any/much chassis twisting and weight differences between 3 and 5 door examples of the same car? I suspect it would be negligible - certainly in everyday driving terms.

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

4 doors are stiffer than 2 doors in general. Weight, dunno.

Would you notice by driving it? Probably not.

 

[The Chubby Pirate]

Isn’t the point of a hot hatch that it is a souped up school run car but has potential for fun as and when wanted? I mean, that’s why I have one. Space for the shopping/kids on a daily basis but enough power for a play when I’m on my own.

You should know by now that if someone has an opinion on the internet, yours is completley null and void.

Think of it as everyone having sky but that f**king dude getting erect over five door hot hatches in here being the only barer of a remote.

Slowly slowly going off Cs for the first time in a long time.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Isn’t the point of a hot hatch that it is a souped up school run car but has potential for fun as and when wanted? I mean, that’s why I have one. Space for the shopping/kids on a daily basis but enough power for a play when I’m on my own.

Yeah, pretty much. Sales figures would also agree with you. It's subjective, for instance, I wouldn't want a 5 door Clio. But then, I wouldn't want another Clio, period. So there's that.

Bottom line if you cut the bullshit and aesthetic preferences, the i30n is a more capable car than a 3 door Mk2 or Mk3 Clio for instance, and it doesn't look ugly <at least not for having extra doors>. Who cares if it has 2 extra handles. It's better than not having them and needing them.

 

[White16valver]

4 doors are stiffer than 2 doors in general.

Is there definitive evidence for this?

I would have thought cutting two extra holes in the side of a metal box would have reduced the strength of it?

 

[Silent_Scone]

Replace stiffer with heavier and there's some truth in there lol

 

[Darren S]

Replace stiffer with heavier and there's some truth in there lol

I can't recall which model of M3 it was, but I remember seeing the unladen weight difference between the coupe and the convertible versions - and being surprised by it.

Even with a fabric roof, the extra metal needed to stop that chassis unnecessarily twisting was quite heavy indeed. Again from an engineering perspective, it makes you appreciate the likes of the Porsche Targas and other cars with the large panoramic glass roofs. Skills aplenty.