Road Test: Hyundai i40 Tourer 1.7 CRDI BlueDrive Executive

Price as tested: €26,495

+ Handsome, spacious, economical, high quality, comfy
– Still some cheap cabin bits, dynamically not quite up to Mondeo standard
= Cracking family wagon


62 miles per gallon. That’s 4.4-litres per 100km in new money. That kind of fuel economy figure would be impressive enough if we were talking about a family hatchback or even a small city car. But we’re not. We’re talking about a big, handsome, spacious, comfortable, useful even luxurious family estate. One that gets 62mpg.

Hyundai has been on a steady roll for some time now. Ever since the current Santa Fe came out, the Korean brand once upon a time best known for producing cheap, but otherwise unremarkable, cars has since then given us the i20 (decent), the i10 (very good), the i30 (properly excellent) and the ix35 (really good). So when lined up against all that, the fact that we reckon that the i40 is a serious breakthrough car for Hyundai should speak volumes.

It’s the first proper stab by Hyundai at the Mondeo-Avensis-Passat axis (the old Sonata had its charms but it was never a serious contender) and as such it lands Hyundai smack dab in the midst of one of the most viciously competitive sectors of the market. Cars in this class have to be only slightly more expensive than a family hatch but as comfy as a limo, as good to drive as a sports saloon and as well built as a solicitor’s safe. And the i40 scores highly in pretty much each of those areas.

Let’s get back to that economy figure. OK, so the 4.4-litre per 100km figure was scored on only one journey we took in the i40, but in fairness, that was a four hour schlep from Galway to West Cork, so it’s pretty representative. Our overall week-long average of 5.0-litres per 100km (56.5mpg) is still very impressive. And at 113g/km of Co2 it’ll cost you just €104 a year to tax.

And it’s from a remarkably refined engine. Hyundai’s 1.7 CRDI diesel has always been impressive, but in the i40 it’s genuinely whisper quiet, only giving up some diesel-y rattle and gargle at low rpm on a cold start.

More good news; the rear seats are impressively spacious and, at 553-litres, the boot is simply massive. Up front, the seats are comfy, space is good and quality is mostly excellent. For our money, those blue-striped dials still look a little low-rent, as do the very cheap feeling column stalks, and why is the rear demister all the way on the opposite side of the dashboard from the driver? Small quibbles, but they do detract from the otherwise almost-premium feeling.

And the i40 does trip up in one other area; the way it drives. To call it bad would be simply wrong. To call it good would be right, but this is a class where excellence is the norm and the maddening thing is, we know that Hyundai can do it better. The suspension is quite soft, the steering a little distant and there’s a slightly wobbly feeling of the whole car being under-damped. It’s not, you might think, something that anyone other than a keen driver would notice, but the Mondeo, Passat, Avensis, Insignia and 508 all feel much better and more confidence-inspiring to drive. And having driven an early prototype i40 earlier this year that had noticeably sharper chassis settings, we know that Hyundai have a sharper-driving i40 tucked away in a cupboard somewhere.

Still, when a car looks this good, is this comfortable and refined, this economical and, for the €26,495 Hyundai is asking for this Executive model (Bluetooth, electronic parking brake, iPod connection, 5-Star EuroNCAP safety rating, stop-start, climate control, reversing camera and a 5-year unlimited mileage warranty) is exceptional value for money... well, would you quibble about some chassis shortcomings and some cheap windscreen wiper stalks?

Facts & Figures

Hyundai i40 Tourer 1.7 CRDI BlueDrive Executive
Price as tested: €26,495
Price range: €24,995 to €26,495
Capacity: 1,685cc
Power: 115bhp
Torque: 260Nm
Top speed: na kmh
0-100kmh: na sec
Economy: 4.3l-100km (65.6mpg)
CO2 emissions: 113g/km
Road Tax Band: A €104
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star: 92% adult, 86% child, 42% pedestrian, 86% safety assist