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  As a family car, the Hyundai i30 CW is something of no-brainer, ticking all the requisite boxes. Photo Gallery

Odd to think how the definition of ?normal? has changed.

Barely more than a decade back, a “normal” family car was a Falcodore. Wagons were beginning to give way to SUVs and no-one except ‘white van’ drivers and proper offroaders used diesel. And, perhaps most of all, Korean cars were all $13,990 driveaway then chuck away.

Yet toddling about town over the past few weeks in this very evidently quality Korean diesel-running wagon is to feel not remotely out of place, certainly not around the inner western part of Sydney where the compact import rules and the rattle and hum of oilers are as much part of the local soundscape as low-flying passenger jets.

As a family car, our i30 CW is something of no-brainer, ticking all the requisite boxes. There’s abundant head, leg and storage space, the full panoply of safety acronyms and – best of all – that doughty but frugal 1.6-litre turbodiesel which has this lightweight device fairly zipping through Sydney traffic while using some seven litres per 100km.

Love those cargo nets in the back. A preposterously expensive option in German makes, these save the shopping from sliding.  Wouldn’t mind another ratio though. The four speed auto does a decent job but can be caught napping by the surging 255Nm that’s on tap from down low.