Tested: Hyundai i10 1,1 GLS

Road tests, especially those of budget cars bought by the thousands, have plenty of potential to be a bore. So standardised are production standards and client expectations that there is less and less basis with which to judge cars in the same segment.
Small boot, great fuel economy, bubbly headlamps and good value are adjectives that can all be levelled at (take your pick) Kia’s Picanto, Citroen’s C1, Peugeot’s 107 etc etc etc. How on earth does one actually significantly differentiate these cars bar the way the design either grabs or deters you?

I just spent an extended weekend with the quintessential example of the modern budget car, namely Hyundai’s i10. And it really is all of the above, so for this review, I’ll try to focus on the little things that set it apart from the rest and which may just tempt you into considering one.

COMFORT

Standard aircon, power steering, a decent MP3 sound system and increased levels of refinement add up to a comfortable little car. It certainly isn’t a chore to drive and cruises well once up to speed. About that aircon, however – it isn’t the most powerful unit I’ve experienced and could struggle to cool down a packed interior on a hot day.

PERFORMANCE

The i10 is fitted with a 1,1-litre engine producing outputs of 49kW at 5000 r/min and peak torque of 99 N.m. at 4000 r/min. These are not mind-blowingly different from rival offerings, and the driving experience is pretty much on par with the Picanto. What I enjoyed about the i10 was that its motor is not only quiet in operation, but emits none of the desperate, whiny noises that other small-capacity motors do. Whilst taking it to 5000 r/min won’t send you hurtling for the horizon (or even the car in front of you), this aural quality does mean that you won’t feel sorry for the car when pushing on a bit.
The gearbox and clutch operation are typically light-car effortless. In fact, the clutch initially felt laughably light to me, with close to zero muscle required for engagement. Once acclimatised, the ease with which you can manoeuvre through city streets will be much-appreciated by female drivers. Again, a “difference” I found here was the i10’s elevated and very comfortable positioning of the gearlever on the lower fascia, and not immediately in front of the hand brake as traditionally done.

COOL FACTOR

The i10 won’t win any awards in this category, unfortunately, which could prove a bit of a problem in a segment that also contains the sharp Chevrolet Spark and Peugeot 107 / Citroen C1 sisters. The biggest compliment I can pay the i10 is that it is a vast improvement over the Atoz, being far better proportioned and a more quality-looking item. It’s cute and will appeal primarily to females.
Inside, there is perhaps a tad more personality on offer. The speedo is set on a sporty-looking white background with blue detailing and the basic dash design does just enough to stop you from nodding off out of complete boredom. A more adventurous colour scheme than my black and grey example wouldn’t hurt, however.



BUILD QUALITY

There is very little to report here, as the materials are not remotely opulent, but perfectly acceptable for this type of car. For example, a lack of padding on the door panels will be missed by anyone downgrading, but is fine for anyone looking for an economical runabout. Most of the dashboard is constructed from plastics that look better than they feel which will only bother people who enjoy stroking their car’s interior surfaces.
The way the doors and boot close and the car’s general NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) are all an improvement over the Atoz.

HANDLING

A 1,1-litre capacity engine without turbos, superchargers or a dragon blowing fire up its backside is hardly going to challenge the chassis. Handling is therefore predictable, easygoing and without much entertainment value. The steering is super light and complements the other major controls in that regard.

PRACTICALITY

Modern small cars seem to all be cast in the same mould; namely, make sure four reasonably-sized passengers can be accommodated at all costs, but don’t worry too much about a boot. So while the i10 is spacious for its size inside, lifting the rear hatch reveals no boot at all. Just a little slit of space for a t-shirt, a sock and a box of Corn Flakes (the 750g, not the 1kg box).

SAFETY

Here exists an unfortunately negative – and major for most – difference between the i10 and its rivals. There are no air bags on all but the high-spec, range-topping HS model and ABS brakes are not fitted as standard. Why individuals with less capital still have to sacrifice their safety in 2011 is beyond me, but there you have it.

RUNNING COSTS

With a minuscule 35-litre fuel tank, according to the fuel gauge I managed 270km on just under half a tank with the air-conditioner in constant operation. 500km on a thankful should therefore be an easily achievable figure in a mix of city and highway driving, equating to a consumption figure of around 7 litres per 100km. This is good rather than excellent consumption.
However, these figures should serve only as a guide as fuel gauges are differently calibrated from car to car - I’ve come across gauges that drop from full to half fairly quickly and then slow down as they approach empty.

SUMMARY

At R107 900, the little i10 1.1 GLS impresses with a decent mix of quality, specification, value and the solid reputation that Hyundai has earned in South Africa after almost two decades of sometimes soulless but always dependable motoring.
In the unlikely case of safety features not being at or near the top of your checklist, then there are few blemishes that can be levelled at the i10 package. However, if like me you put extra emphasis on style and safety, I’d wash cars, cancel my gym membership or beg until I could put together the extra R8000 required to get hold of the Chevrolet Spark.

Chinese Risk Buckets

Yesterday, I went car shopping with two friends in Cape Town. Sadly, it wasn’t for me – that day may not come around for a while!
Anyway, my friend was on the lookout for a decent second-hand hatch back in the R100 000 – R110 000 price range and it was the Daihatsu Sirion and Toyota Yaris that stood out as early preferences.

But this little piece of writing is about neither of those cars. Rather, it’s about the state of the Chinese vehicles that far too many people are buying at prices that seem wonderful. Over the course of the hour or two we spent looking at cars, I inspected the state of several Geely’s, Chery’s and something called a Zotye Nomad that was as hideous as its name suggests.
Some of these Chinese cars were new; some were two or three years old. But the standard of their construction was truly shocking. The Nomad, for example, was virtually new and yet had a rear hatch door handle that was barely attached to the body of the car. No man!!!
A brave poke or two around a Chery QQ revealed panel gaps large enough to accommodate a small child’s arm. Inside, without touching a thing, one could easily see the poor quality of the plastics and fabrics.

The cheerful-looking but miserably-built Chery QQ

But by far the most shocking of the lot was what my friend referred to as “the C-Class Corolla”… in looks only, of course. Yes, I speak of the Geely CK small sedan. It really does very closely resemble the previous generation C-Class from the front and the previous Corolla from the rear. And yet, the thing still looks terrible.

Geely's CK - nastier than ever after a year or two of use

But it was the way this relatively new car had aged that most turned me off. The seatbelts looked as if they had been dipped in urine, so yellowed had they become in colour. The “leather” seats looked as if they had been stitched manually by someone’s demented grandma, so shoddy were they put together. The dash looked badly weather-beaten and bits of plastic around the interior were cracked. An early 90s Ford Laser parked nearby looked stunningly finished by comparison.

All of these observations seem plainly obvious to the casual eye and yet, these Chinese toys are still selling. The general public seem unable to look past an attractive sticker price and standard electric windows, instead missing out on the fundamentals that make a decent motorcar.
Furthermore, poor crash test ratings, stability issues and unstable braking systems have been reported for many of these Chinese vehicles, demonstrating that the lack of engineering integrity runs far deeper than some cheap knobs and plastics. Even more frightening is that these are family saloons and small hatch backs bought by young families and students looking for little more than the best possible deal.

Quite simply, it’s up to the few of us in the know to get the word out and make sure our friends and family make wise purchasing decisions. I predict it’ll be at least another five years (perhaps even more) before the Chinese even start to approach European assembly standards and until then, it’s best we all steer well clear.

Top motoring highlights of 2010

A flood of recalls from some top manufacturers and an industry-crippling metal workers strike were amongst the less-than-memorable motoring events that made headlines in 2010. Well, that and the continuing existence of the Chrysler Sebring Convertible…
But none of these misfortunes were enough to stop these significant motoring highlights from making waves last year.

BMW 1 Series M coupé

Like any “M” BMW, months of fuzzy illustrations of what the 1 Series M Coupé may look like preceded its eventual launch late in 2010. This is the car that BMW fans could barely wait for – finally, a genuinely compact BMW with an M badge attached to it is a reality. The M3, great as it is, has become so large and pricey that it is out of the reach of those who would most pride its ownership.

The 1 Series M Coupé comes with some nicely beefed-up bodywork, a 3,0-litre, twin-turbo motor and some nifty weight-saving technology, all to realise a claimed 0-100km/h time of 4,9 seconds. Official pictures released by BMW show the M parked alongside the original M3 and if the greasy bits under the skin emulate the original as noticeably as the design does on the outside, get ready to see some bloodied noses from the likes of Audi in comparative road tests everywhere.

Budget cars in SA (Vivo and Figo)

Although not as cheap as the Citi-Golf and Tazz, the new Volkswagen Polo Vivo and Ford Figo have done much to plug the QUALITY budget car gap in the local market with two proven, good value propositions. Proven, because the Vivo is of course based on the hugely successful previous generation Polo and the Ford Figo on the previous Fiesta. While the Vivo rules on the sales charts and is South Africa’s current top-selling passenger vehicle, it’s the base model Figo at a tad over R100 000 that is the quintessential example of a modern budget car: great value, spacious, well-built and with all the important equipment fitted as standard.

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

Not very long ago, Mercedes-Benz would be the last of the German brands to be named as a maker of a seductive, well-balanced and shatteringly fast super car. Yet, in the SLS AMG, it has achieved all of this and more.

The design is breathtaking and despite exquisite use of the original 300 SL’s Gullwing door design, the new SLS forsakes that car’s comparative daintiness for all the aggression and anger of a typically modern super car that could easily star in the latest hip hop music video – and the sound of that gigantic V8 would be the one bagging the Grammy.

On another positive not, a revived local passenger vehicle market saw an increase in sales of 23% for the first three quarters of 2010. A significant shift to smaller cars as consumers are forced to downsize has seen buoyant A- and B-segment activity – a good sign for the aforementioned Figo and Polo Vivo, both of which should see even stronger numbers being moved in 2011.

A Jump Start to Motoring Basics: Engine Size Explained

For many, buying a new car in 2010 means sifting through a mind-boggling array of acronyms that make up the technological achievement that is the modern automobile. But even before one has to deal with those acronyms, comes the challenge of figuring out what size engine should be fitted to the vehicle you’re paying too much money for. In many cases, I come across drivers who don’t know that they drive a 1.6-litre or a 1300 so for this post, I’ll be explaining what the numbers affixed to your car’s rear end signify. The letters, like “GTi”, “GLE” and TSi… well, that’s for another post entirely.

Most cars are fitted with internal combustion petrol engines. These have pistons that travel inside cylinders – okay, that is already getting rather technical – but all you need to know is that the pistons and cylinders are the greasy bits that move up and down inside your engine, compressing a mixture of fuel and air until a spark ignites it, thereby generating the power that propels you past the Golden Arrow bus blocking your path.

So, engines contain cylinders and cylinders contain pistons. The size – or displacement – of your engine is the maximum amount of space in the cylinders that can fill with air and fuel. Engine displacement is measured in either cubic centimetres (cc) or litres. A 2.0-litre engine will therefore have a total displacement of approximately 2000 (a 1989cc engine will be rounded off and referred to as a 2.0, not a 1.989-litre!) cubic centimetres. In comparison to a 1.6-litre, a 2-litre engine obviously has a larger capacity and therefore the ability to pump a greater amount of air/fuel which enables it to produce more power than the average 1.6.

"325" denotes a "3 Series BMW" fitted with a 2.5-litre motor

A common motoring adage says that “there is no replacement for displacement” and it largely holds true. The easiest way – alongside forced induction - to generate more power out of an engine is to increase its size. Of course, engine size generally correlates to the size of the vehicle – this is why you will never see a Fiat Uno 4.0-litre cruising by. If you do see such a car, it will more likely be flying to the moon than cruising.

A CitiGolf fitted with a 1400cc motor and a diagram of an internal combustion motor with 4 cylinders. The coloured areas represent the engine's displacement.

Of course, the obvious disadvantage of larger engines is that because they’re able to pump a larger amount of an air/fuel mixture, they’re heavier on fuel. Also, whether presented as a 1600, 160 or 1.6, these are all engines with a displacement that is the same or similar enough to make no real difference.

Perhaps the next oversight that many make when relating to engine size is that a 1600 is definitely faster than a 1400. However, there are many variables that one has to take into account when comparing the performance of two vehicles. For example, a 1.6-litre VW Citi-Golf is faster than a VW Jetta fitted with a 2.0-litre. Even though the Jetta has a larger engine and produces more power, it is much heavier.

For a more accurate (but never entirely perfect) performance comparison, one has to take into account the power to weight ratio of a vehicle – this figure can be used to compare vehicles in different segments and with different sizes of engine.

So, there we go. A basic guide to engine capacity/size/displacement explained… may you now nod knowingly at the thousands of 180i Corollas, 1.6 Polos and 1.4 Fiestas as they whizz by you.

A Jump Start to Motoring Basics

I recently had a really entertaining conversation with a colleague who didn’t have the slightest idea of what those sparkly, chromed numbers on the back of cars related to. My statement that they indicated the engine size was met with wide-eyed wonder that left me smirking but also got me thinking.

As car enthusiasts, we often take for granted that our basic knowledge of cars falls under the category of “general knowledge” when in fact, it does not. There are masses of drivers out there piloting pieces of exotica without the slightest concept of what they’re driving beyond what the badge on the leather-bound steering wheel says. For example, I am fairly certain that the 40-plus female with an old-school bob hairdo that I often drive alongside in the mornings has no idea that the BMW Z4 M she cruises in has a 3,2-litre masterpiece under the bonnet. A masterpiece that must wonder why on earth it never exceeds 60 km/h when it was designed to blast way past that velocity before one has to change gear.

Granted, there is no real need for her to know this. But part and parcel of what makes many of us enjoy driving so much is having a basic knowledge of the machine that we’re operating.

Another friend of mine recently bought herself a second-hand car but didn’t know how important it was to find one that came with a full service history, almost always abbreviated as “FSH” in adverts. Again, a basic piece of information to me but a complete unknown to her.

There is now of course the inevitable question of what my point is. Well, like a Blu-Ray DVD player or the latest BlackBerry, cars are far more easily enjoyed, appreciated and safer to operate if one understands the basics that make the vehicle what it is.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be writing a few “car basics” articles for the automotively-challenged individuals out there. These will be for everyone, especially the girls and (a few) guys who know only the colour of their cars, who change gears too early or too late or who think that stability control is what acrobats employ while negotiating their way across a tight rope.

Keep following me on Twitter where I’ll be posting updates of these articles as they’re posted.