Hyundai i30 2021 review: Active sedan

The i30 Active sedan differs from the i30 hatch in that the base model is still called the Active. The i30 hatch base model is just known as i30 now. 

Now that we’re past the point of your mind being blown, here’s the price for the i30 Active sedan - it’s $24,790 (MSRP) for the six-speed manual version that hardly anyone will buy, while the automatic model tested here is $26,790 (MSRP - that’s the price before on-road costs, not a drive-away price).

Even at this attractive starting price point, the Active model comes handsomely equipped with standard features, including black leather seat trim, wireless smartphone charging, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with USB connect and wireless Apple CarPlay and (and USB-connect Android Auto), a six-speaker sound system, Bluetooth phone and audio streaming, an electronic park brake, heated power adjustable side mirrors, a 4.2-inch driver info screen and manual air-conditioning. 

The Active misses out on the bigger 10.25-inch media screen.

It has a standard reversing camera, rear parking sensors, and it runs halogen headlights with LED daytime running lights (the headlights are auto dusk sensing, too), and rides on 17-inch alloy wheels with a full size alloy spare. But weirdly, the boot on this spec of i30 sedan doesn’t have a remote release button - like, there’s no button on the boot, and you can’t kick under the tailgate to auto open it. 

The Active wears 17-inch alloy wheels.

There are some other desirable items missing, as you’d expect for a sub-$30k model. There’s no keyless entry or push-button start, no front parking sensors, and the next spec up scores a bigger 10.25-inch media screen and a Bose eight-speaker stereo, and a 10.25-inch digital dashboard. 

In short, if you want a nicer i30 sedan, the step up to the Elite (at $30,790) seems easily justified.

And while the i30 Active has a pretty decent safety kit bag, again, you get a better gear list if you choose the Elite. More on that in the safety section below.

The interior of the i30 Active sedan is a mixed bag.

That may seem harsh, but the reason it that it’s such an interesting design outside, and even at a glance inside, that the materials and finishes, and the knobs, dials and even the screens look out of touch with the intent of this model.

The interior of the i30 Active sedan is a mixed bag.

For instance, the dashboard design is eye-catching as soon as you sit inside. It has some really interesting lines, including a beautiful soft chrome vent finish that runs the width of the dashboard, a bit like some German luxury cars. Above that are large black plastic panel sections where larger media screens exist in the upper models. 

But in this spec you get an 8.0-inch screen, which is okay in terms of size, but the screen quality seems cheap and pixelated compared with some of Hyundai’s other recent efforts. I had some issues setting up wireless Apple CarPlay - in fact, it was a massive pain, and it took me honestly three days before it worked properly. 

The 8.0-inch touchscreen features Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

At the very least there are two USB-A ports up front and wireless phone charging as well, and thankfully there are volume and tuning knobs down the sides of the screen. 

In front of the driver, rather than the 10.25-inch digital display it was clearly designed for, there’s a conventional pair of dials and a small digital screen. The design of those dash elements are way too sporty in their aim, and look at odds with the rest of the cabin. 

There’s a conventional pair of dials and a small digital screen.

Also at odds is the steering wheel, which features an interesting design. It’s not to my taste, but still adds a bit of visual appeal.

But the centre console area is very basic and frankly looks cheap, with dials that would’ve been at home in a 2011 Hyundai ix35 - yet they have somehow managed to find themselves into this all new redesigned cabin.

The cheap plastic spreads across the dashboard.

The cheap plastic spreads across the dashboard onto the doors and to the back. It just feels like you’re driving a very basic car.

Between the driver and centre console is a pair of large adjustable cup holders, and there’s a big grab handle for the passenger which seems a bit strange and too racy for this trim grade. There’s a covered centre console bin which is large enough.

The seats are covered in black leather.

The front door pockets are oddly shaped - you have to put a bottle in tilted to try and make it fit. I’m really not a fan of the wannabe Mercedes Burmester speaker design finishes, and in fact there’s a lot of that silvery chrome that - apart from the section across the dashboard - looks a bit tryhard.

But as has always been the case with the Elantra, and now with the new i30 sedan, there is plenty of backseat space. 

With the driver seat set for me - I’m 182cm/6’0” - I had just enough toe room, plenty of knee room and okay headroom as well. There are some other small sedans in this class that can’t claim the same level of space as this car offers. 

There's plenty of rear knee room and okay headroom.

There are bottle holders in the doors, a flip down armrest with cupholders, one mesh map pocket, and rear seat directional air vents - which is a big bonus - but there are no charging points.

The rear seat does fold 60:40 for a split fold long item loading, and there are triggers in the boot for that. The cargo hold is huge, at 474 litres (VDA) with five seats up, and there’s a full size spare under the boot floor. But remember, the boot doesn’t have a button on it, which is just another sign of cost-cutting for this grade of i30 sedan. 

The i30 sedan range is split. Choose one of the cheaper options, like this Active model, and you get a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine producing 117kW of power (at 6200rpm) and 191Nm of torque (at 4500rpm). That’s okay for the class, but nothing special.

Get the N-Line version and you get a more fitting powertrain, a 1.6-litre turbo producing 150kW (at 6000rpm) and 265Nm (from 1500-4500rpm). As you can see, the power and torque bands are vastly different - the turbo doesn’t need to be worked as hard as the non-turbo model.

The 2.0-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine produces 117kW/191Nm.

We’ll get to how the engine goes in the driving section below, but you’ll need to know that it runs a six-speed automatic transmission and is front-wheel drive (2WD/FWD). You can get a six-speed manual if you want it, but that’s a very small percentage of sales.

Towing is rated to 610kg for an unbraked trailer or 1200kg for a braked trailer for the i30 2.0L sedan. 

The official combined cycle fuel consumption for the i30 Active sedan is 7.0 litres per 100 kilometres, whether you choose manual or automatic.

On test, we saw a little higher than that across a mix of driving, with a recorded 8.5L/100km over urban, highway and back road testing.

There’s no clever fuel-saving tech here - no hybrid available (check out the Corolla sedan if you want a fuel miser - it claims to use half the fuel of this car!) - and there’s not even engine start-stop technology.

Fuel tank capacity is 47 litres.

Hyundai has been strong in the ownership game for a while now. Years ago it offered one of the strongest warranties in the game - it’s the same now as it was then, a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. But now you can get seven years with a Kia Cerato, while the Toyota Corolla warranty plan extends out to seven years for the powertrain if you maintain logbook servicing.

The brand offers a few options for servicing your car, and the maintenance intervals are 12 months/15,000km for the 2.0L engine (the 1.6T in the N-Line needs servicing every 10,000km).

You can prepay a package for three years/45,000km ($897), four years/60,000km ($1196) or five years/75,000km ($1495). That means if you pre-purchase servicing, you can roll it in to your finance payments, and that means there’s one less thing to budget for.

There’s also the choice of pay-as-you-go servicing. There’s a lifetime capped price servicing plan, and the average annual price over five years/75,000km is $315.20, so there’s a slight advantage financially to prepay your servicing (annually, it works out at $299).

Service your car with a Hyundai workshop and you get roadside assistance included at no cost for up to 10 years, too.