Everything you need to know about the Hyundai i20

 

By Martin Pretorius

It’s likely that many motorists still remember Hyundai’s arrival on local shores in the early 1990s. Let’s be honest: those first Elantras weren’t exactly state-of-the-art, and the driving experience on offer clearly showed their elderly Mitsubishi-derived bones.

But, believe it or not, that old Elantra was already a massive leap forward for Hyundai, because their very first cars were much, much worse. One of those early models was called the Hyundai Pony – this was the real ancestor to today’s popular i20, and without it, Hyundai as we know it may never have progressed to where they are today.

The other Pony car

This story begins in the early 1970s. At this stage, production of Hyundai Motor Company’s very first car (a rebadged Ford Cortina, built under license in Korea) was getting really long in the tooth, and they realized that there’s a vast market for an affordable, more-modern compact car.

So, they roped in an ex-Leyland (the defunct British car maker) big-wig with some blueprints of his old projects, and got to work. The resulting car appeared in 1975, and it was... interesting. Underneath, Mitsubishi drivetrain parts and some formerly-Ford suspension bits mixed with a Leyland-like platform, and up top sat a boxy hatchback body, styled by Giugiaro.

Truth be told, the Pony born of such indiscriminate breeding wasn’t exactly a magnificent beast, but it did lead the way in Hyundai’s export drive, and, in 1982, became the first Hyundai model to be exported to the United Kingdom. The Excel, a new front-wheel drive model, appeared in 1985, and proceeded to rack up strong sales in the USA. This started a bloodline of cars that ran from Excel through Accent, eventually giving rise to the Getz and gradually gaining the brand credibility in the Western Hemisphere.

Germany joins the party, and the story Getz interesting

As an early product of Hyundai’s European Engineering Center, the Getz was the company’s first product to truly step into the realm of Western automotive standards. Up until this point, most Hyundais had a distinctly Korean flavor, with styling which could best be described as quirky and interiors which were low on style and substance alike.

And then, suddenly, the small Getz hatchback appeared, with chiseled, Germanic looks and a cabin roughly the equal of its concurrent Fiesta. The result was predictable and immediate success – in many ways, the Getz was the car that moved Hyundai into the big leagues.

The difficult second album, aced

In the cases of promising newcomers to the commercial music scene and new car model ranges alike, creating the follow-up to a successful début is a particularly challenging task. It has to be at least as good as the original (but ideally better), or else it will be deemed a failure and most likely see an early fall from the charts.

Consequently, the follow-up to the very popular Getz was extremely carefully thought-out and thoroughly developed, giving us a car that elevated its predecessor’s success to a new level. The (again German-designed) i20 immediately a force to be reckoned with in its segment and its successor continues this legacy.

We’re currently into the latter half of the second-generation i20’s lifecycle, and it’s still a very popular contender among the high-value hatchbacks. Following a recent model range re-alignment, there is a selection of 1.2- and 1.4-litre engines, three trim levels, and with an automatic gearbox available for the 1.4-litre derivatives.

The range opens with the R234 900 i20 1.2 Motion, which sends its 61 kW and 115 Nm to the front wheels through a 5-speed manual gearbox. Standard equipment includes 2 airbags and ABS (but no stability control), air conditioning, electric windows all round, a multi-function steering wheel, and an audio system with USB- and Bluetooth compatibility. The up-spec i20 1.2 Fluid retains the same mechanical bits, but adds alloy wheels, climate control, and rear parking sensors to justify its list price of R246 900. Performance isn’t its strongest suit, with the 0-100 km/h amble taking a leisurely 13.3 seconds on a good day, but it is fairly economical, and should return realistic mid-6 litres/100 km average fuel consumption (the official claim is 5.9 litres/100 km).

The 1.4-litre derivatives feature the same trim as the corresponding 1.2-litre variants, but gets a power boost to 74 kW and 133 Nm to complement their 6-speed manual (in Fluid or Active trim) or 4-speed automatic gearboxes. The 1.4 Motion Auto will set you back R259 900, the 1.4 Fluid Manual has a R272 900 sticker, and the 1.4 Fluid Auto costs R289 900.

The 1.4 Active gets some bodyside cladding, different alloy wheels, and silver-painted roof rails for a list price of R284 900. Even with its power advantage compared to a i20 1.2, the i20 1.4 isn’t particularly quick: the 0-100 km/h sprint happens in around 11.5 seconds with a manual gearbox, and the auto isn’t much faster than a manual 1.2-litre at 13.2 seconds. The most economical (manual) 1.4-litre has a claimed average fuel consumption figure of 6.5 litres/100 km, and the automatic should use about a litre more.

While the current i20 doesn’t push the boundaries of Hyundai’s design the way its predecessor did, its position as an accomplished but basic small hatch is still intact. Thank goodness it shares so much with the Getz, and absolutely nothing except its brand name with the Pony!