The recently introduced third generation Hyundai i20 surprised with its very sharply cut visage and equipment it was supposed to offer. It’s really a long way from a “holobyt” in which there is no radio, to a rushed thing like an adaptive cruise control that can take data from traffic signs, and a system of automatic deceleration before cornering on the highway.
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What is the new i20 live, I got the opportunity to try around Frankfurt, Germany. I was most looking forward to the “intelligent” manual transmission, which controls the clutch electronically, even though the car has a normal gear lever and a normal clutch pedal.
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We come to the i20 parked in a row. The live bow is not as wild as it came to me in the first photos. Properly determining the shapes of the back is a little trickier for a huge number of lines and curves. And yes, the design is controversial, but at least no one calls it the same as all other cars, as is strange fashion today.
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The new i20 is controversial, but also interesting.
Photo: Hyundai
All cars in the test fleet are fully equipped and the basic twelve-engine bay is missing, which will be of great interest to us, at least according to the estimates of the Czech Hyundai Division. I open the door – there is also a keyless access on the menu – and fit into the seat with a relatively distinctive side guide of the seat and backrest.
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The seats are not exactly soft, but their side guidance is excellent.
Photo: Hyundai
The cabin is well assembled, it doesn’t throw anything anywhere and the soundproofing of the car is relatively good. I also have plenty of space everywhere, I can even fit “behind me” much more comfortably than in a Volkswagen Polo or a Škoda Fabia. However, the ubiquitous plastics are hard, in the back, including the door armrests, and the headrests are also uncomfortably hard.
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Transmission like no other
Eager to get to know the iMT transmission, which no other carmaker has, I chose the car with it for the first hundreds of kilometers or so. The clutch pedal is surprisingly soft.
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However, its operation and the engagement of the electronically controlled clutch plate are perfectly smooth. Modulation of the clutch engagement with the left foot is normally possible, and I dare say that most people do not know the difference.
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The iMT transmission has a lever and a clutch pedal as a normal manual.
Photo: Hyundai
The reason why Hyundai built such a thing is that the car can disengage the clutch independently of the driver, and thus “sail” itself without disabling the driver to neutral. It does, but not very predictably; I couldn’t make him start sailing.
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Allegedly, in conjunction with the mild hybrid system – it is its operation that the iMT transmission is supposed to be the biggest benefit – it is supposed to turn off the engine completely while driving. Of course, I did not get into such a situation at all.
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The three-cylinder with a mild hybrid should be able to switch off completely while driving.
Photo: Hyundai
The Mild hybrid is part of a one-liter three-cylinder, which offers 100 horsepower in this variant. It’s not a strong man, but between 2 and 4.5 thousand revolutions it pulls quite nicely. Under two thousand revolutions, where I’m still pushed by the shift advisor, it vibrates uncomfortably, and over four and a half it dies slowly again, and there’s no point in turning it higher. With a brisk ride, usually around three thousand revolutions, I achieve an average consumption of 7.4 l / 100 km.
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The operation of the mild hybrid is most felt when braking by the engine and it can also start the engine quickly and with unprecedented smoothness. Covering the turbocharger delay and shifting assistance is not so well known. It works here with a voltage of 48 volts and although there is an indicator of energy flows in the display, I would rather have it in the form of a small scale inside the tachometer.
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Displays beautiful but imperfect
This is, at least in “my” piece, on the 10.25 “display that forms the instrument panel, and thus gives designers complete freedom of display. They came up with four modes of what “alarm clocks” can look like, one with “hyundai”, the other with “Mercedes” – the one I like best, the one with white alarms – the third with fake carbon inappropriately.
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Top left standard, “sporty”, “sleek” and “cube” display of digital alarm clocks.
Photo: Hyundai
And the fourth, where round alarm clocks are replaced by cubes of numbers, again a little unnecessarily. Although he gets rid of the circles, he does not use the newly acquired space in any way. However, it is to be honored that in all modes the “digital alarm clocks” are clear and easy to read.
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The system in the central display is identical to the already known hyundai. You will enjoy details such as the current frequencies with numbers in digitrons if you tune the radio manually. On the contrary, for example, the icons would suit more color, or at least if they did not look like from a dozen packages of icons to download to your mobile phone. And there is also no place to rest your hand when working with the display.
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The virtual digitrons in the central display are a nice detail. The “buttons” below the display are newly touched.
Photo: Hyundai
The longer I spend time in the interior, the more it seems to me that a number of interior plastics seem to be a cheaper substitute, for example, for fake aluminum, which may get some top performance. But I’m sitting in it, not counting the N Line and the “full-fat” i20 N.
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At one hundred and twenty (horses) it stretches better
This impression disappears a bit when I switch to the 120k variant with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, because it has a bright ceiling and some interior plastics. Unfortunately, the seats are still black, but it still looks a little better here. Unfortunately, as I will find out later, you can have either blue or none of the ambient lighting, which doesn’t fit the red body very well.
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Ambient lighting in a car of this class is not usual. It’s nice – if you like blue.
Photo: Hyundai
The 120k variant of the T-GDI three-cylinder petrol engine is much faster than the weaker version, even so much that I would guess the difference is more than twenty-horsepower. She also doesn’t like it under two thousand revolutions, but it also stretches around five thousand and the ride is more pleasant. Consumption between 6 and 6.5 l / 100 km is real and faster driving, I reached 6.4 liters.
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The dual-clutch transmission shifts smoothly and doesn’t jerk, it doesn’t even have a problem shifting quickly from D to R and back when maneuvering in the parking lot. Her reactions to accelerator pedal commands are brisk and the engine does not oversteer in Comfort mode, and not at all in the Sport.
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Active lane guidance works off the highway anyway.
Photo: Hyundai
It is connected to the adaptive cruise control, which cooperates with the traffic sign reading system, and if you turn it on in the car settings, it offers taking over the speed limit from the sign, or with a tolerance of 5 or 10 km / h. With the manual transmission, “only” active lane guidance is available, but it works without cruise control and quite well, although not perfectly off the highway.
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Untouched detail here and there
For a common cruise control, which was equipped with a centipede with an iMT transmission and which, surprisingly, is not associated with a speed limiter, I have to point out only the detail. The button to turn it on has an alarm clock and a toy car, which is exactly the one that is commonly called adaptive cruise control, which can confuse someone.
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It reminded me of another looseness that I noticed in other Hyundai cars. The fact that the light control on the turn signal lever is nicely aligned in position 0, and vice versa in the Auto position, which will be 99 percent of the time, creates annoying sharp edges.
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Yes, driver alignment is a detail. But it’s also a turn signal lever that you’re still reaching for. So the detail keeps reminding you.
What the two versions I rode have in common have a very well-tuned chassis. It belongs to the stiffer ones and especially on sunken canals or transverse inequalities it can give a blow.
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He can’t cope perfectly with Prague-type streets, ie smooth asphalt and a few meters of unevenness. But it offers a lot of grip and a lot of safety in corners – and after just a few meters I build a decent confidence in it.
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The back seats are surprisingly spacious.
Photo: Hyundai
As a whole, the new i20 is an extremely successful car that will do a good service to people who do not want to wait for the new Fabia or the modernized Volkswagen Polo. Its sales are starting now. However, with a relatively ambitious price list, where you won’t even get a radio for 280,000, let alone air conditioning – things that the current Škoda Fabia offers for the same money, for example.
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The Hyundai i20 makes sense if you want interesting technology in the form of an intelligent manual transmission and a little electrification in the form of a mild hybrid, and you’re not exactly a detailist like me. But even if these things are stolen from you, in this novelty you will get a completely capable and nicely spacious car for your class.
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| Hyundai i20 | Style 1,0 T-GDi 100 k 48V 6iMT | Style 1,0 T-GDi 120 k 48V 7DCT |
| Motor: | 998 ccm, in-line three-cylinder petrol engine, turbo, 48V mild hybrid | |
| Max. performance: | 74 kW (100 hp) at 4500-6000 rpm | 88 kW (120 hp) at 6000 rpm |
| Max. torque: | 172 Nm at 1500-4000 rpm | |
| Transmission: | six-speed manual with electronically controlled clutch | seven-stage two-clutch |
| 0-100 km / h: | 10,4 s | 10,3 s |
| Top speed: | 188 km / h | 190 km / h |
| Average consumption according to WLTP: | 5-5.4 l / 100 km | 5.1-5.5 l / 100 km |
| Operating / maximum weight: | 1090-1200/1620 kg | 1115-1225/1650 kg |
| Length x WIDTH X HEIGHT: | 4040 x 1775 x 1450 mm | |
| Basic / maximum luggage volume: | 352/1165 l | |
| Driven axle: | front | |
| Price of the basic version: | 279 900 CZK (i20 1,2i 84 k 5M / T Start) | |
| Basic price of the tested car: | (not for sale in the Czech Republic) | CZK 529,900 |
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Take a look at the current offer of new and used cars Hyundai on Sauto.cz. |
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