Hyundai i30 Tourer review

This is the new i30 Tourer. It’s the third-generation of Hyundai’s rival for estate versions of the Ford Focus, VW Golf and Vauxhall Astra. And it’s far and away the most stylish yet.

Don’t believe us? Look at the side window profile, which brings to mind the Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake. This is Hyundai in a confident stride after over a decade of ongoing product improvement. Having nailed the basics – good interior quality, lots of tech, decent handling – it can now get busy with the styling pencils. We’d day it’s a smarter piece of design than the regular i30 hatch, a statement you can level at lots of estates these days.

Worried that impedes on its ability to carry stuff, the primary purpose of a practical car like this? The i30 Tourer has 602 litres of space with the back seats in place, or 1,650 when they’re all flipped down. Loads more than the Focus, about on par with the Golf, and more than the i30 Tourer before it. Which was a far boxier thing to look at.

Family cars are about far more than space these days, of course. So there are numerous 12v power sockets available, Bluetooth for all models and a plethora of active safety technology on offer. In fact, standard equipment on all cars covers a lane departure warning system and lane-keep assist (where the car steers to keep you in lane), a forward collision warning system to help avoid low speed crashes, autonomous emergency braking to actually stop them and hill start assist. Posher i30 Tourers get blind-spot monitoring and a reversing camera.

If you like connectivity then there’s proper smart phone link-ups (such as Apple CarPlay) available, as well as wireless phone charging. You’ve a choice of four engines: a 118bhp 1-litre petrol, a 138bhp 1.4-litre petrol and a 1.6-litre diesel with either 108bhp or 134bhp.

You can have a seven-speed automatic gearbox on the more powerful petrol and diesel engines, with a six-speed manual standard otherwise.

And while the i30 Tourer used to cost £1,500 more than an equivalent hatchback, the difference is now a mere £500. If you’re unsure about how you’ll use your car – or how big your family will be in a year or two’s time – that’s a small enough difference to make this a very tempting option.

Cars get little more worthy and sensible than a small Hyundai estate, and we’d forgive you for passing the i30 Tourer by for a something more exciting. But it’s one of the company’s most compelling offerings so far, blending all of the practicality and ease of ownership its buyers doubtless love with a bit more style than usual.

It’s still a car that’s easygoing rather than enthralling to drive – by quite a margin – but we live in hope that Hyundai’s sense of humour sees the i30 N hot hatch lend its powertrain to the estate…