Hyundai Road Tests

Hyundai's drive for improvement continues to bear rich fruit with the new i30 hatchback, David Thomson explains, in this test of the turbo-diesel model.

A new Hyundai hatchback heralded as a breakthrough for the brand is proving too successful overseas for the New Zealand distributor's liking.

Heavy demand in Europe and South Korea in particular means the new i30 will be in short supply for at least a year after going on sale here in February.

New Zealand motorists are only just starting to realise the advantages of diesel-fuelled cars as more and more of this type of passenger vehicle slips on to our market.

The uptake of diesel passenger vehicles here has been slow compared with Europe and Great Britain.

The Hyundai Elantra was the bread-and-butter model for Hyundai, competent rather than outstanding.
But, like other recent product from the Korean company, including the Sonata and Santa Fe, the latest model, launched at the end of last year, is a big step forward.

Having the latest Hyundai Getz diesel on test was rather like a reunion with an old friend: two years ago, you see, I drove a Getz diesel on the Energywise economy rally, and finished runner-up to Chris Amon's Toyota Prius Hybrid for overall fuel consumption.

HYUNDAI'S determined drive from the fringes to mainstream has continued apace with the latest Santa Fe. The quirky styling of the original model has been cleverly shaken off without losing a sense of connection between generations.

"It gets you from point A to B" may have been a description for Korean cars a decade ago.

But the Hyundai Getz shows that has changed.

I've now driven both of the Getz in the two-engine range. First, the 1.4-litre, which starts at $19,990, and, the latest, the more expensive and higher specified 1.6-litre, available only as a four-speed automatic.

AS SUCCESSOR to the awkwardly styled and dynamically dull XG, the new Grandeur represents another solid step forward for ambitious Korean car company Hyundai.

"Hyundai skips a generation," was fellow Otago Daily Times motoring writer David Bruce's verdict after testing the latest Hyundai Sonata a couple of months ago.

IT IS HARD to believe a car company can make such huge advances between one model and the next, but Hyundai has done it with the new Sonata.

In every respect, the fifth-generation Sonata is so far ahead of the model it replaces that you would think it had come from a different family. Talk about the generation gap - in the case of the new Sonata, it has skipped one.

Neatly styled, keenly priced and dynamically competent, the new Hyundai Sonata is set to become the robber-baron of the most important segment of the New Zealand new car market, stealing sales from established players while further lifting the image of the Korean brand.

WHEN it comes to dollars spent, Hyundai's new "soft-roader", the Tucson, is hard to go past.

Which is why the company's outlook in New Zealand and worldwide is positively bullish.

Hyundai sales in New Zealand are charging ahead - last year its sales here jumped 72% - and that was even before the Tucson could have an impact.

MAKE no mistake, Korean motor manufacturer Hyundai is aiming high.

It wants to be among the top five manufacturers in the world by 2010.

New Zealand is doing its bit to help - Hyundai sales last year rose a massive 72% compared with 2003.

Across all sectors, its sales are rising with its small car, the Getz, the star performer in New Zealand.