I had a holiday in Queensland and I rented a car.
Well, when I say I rented it, my girlfriend booked it. I was filled with dread, because I knew she, not being a car person, would have just picked the least expensive one and called it a day. Thankfully, she didn't. "I went with the second cheapest because it said it had back doors". When I looked at the receipt, my fears were founded. "Nissan Almera or similar". The Almera is a shocking car that, in my mind, has no redeeming features. It's the car that you might know in the States as a Nissan Versa, a hideously-proportioned Micra with a boot designed for the Chinese-market. And in Australia, it was bought exclusively by rental agencies who could charge extra for it because it was a 'sedan', even though it's actually a baboon's arse.
Anyway, when we were shuttled from the airport to the rental office, I was hoping to god for an Or Similar. Some paperwork and credit cards exchanged later, and, well, the lord did provide.
It was a Hyundai i20 five-door. Now, normally in this situation I'd be a bit irritated at getting a car that is smaller than what I booked. The Almera is a bit bigger than the i20, and can fit more stuff in it, and I wouldn't typically class an i20 as 'similar'. But given that there were a few Almeras sitting out on the forecourt rearing their ugly arse at me, I thought it best to just leave while I was ahead.
The i20 is Hyundai's crack at the massive supermini market, apart from the slightly bigger and less popular Accent which they confusingly sell alongside this. It was a replacement for the highly popular Getz, but it never really enjoyed the same success. Well, I thought it didn't, because I never really noticed them on the roads before. In Queensland, every second car on the road is a Hyundai, and every second one of those appeared to be an i20. It's a 2008 design that was facelifted a couple of years ago, and it's about to be replaced. It's not a bad looking car, its got enough creases and curves to keep it relatively modern, but in white base model rental spec, it's not exactly exciting. It don't think it has aged as well as its twin under the skin, the Kia Rio.
Inside is a similar story. It's not a 2015 place to sit, but it works. Even this base model came with some brightwork to liven up the dash and steering wheel. That steering wheel is reach and height adjustable, which is great, and the seat was comfortable and supportive. Apart from the slightly dated design, the only let down was the amount of hard plastic around, particularly on the door trims.
The cost cutting has to come in somewhere, I suppose. The i20 can be had for around the $14,000 mark, and they don't skimp on equipment. It's got air con, electric windows and mirrors with neat electric folding for a party trick, a comprehensive trip computer, bluetooth, and the full safety suite of airbags and electronic stability control.
Power is delivered courtesy of a revvy little 1.4, via a notchy six-speed manual. It's not fast, but it was a zippy thing to drive in traffic. A short first and second gear made it feel very peppy at low speeds, but trying to hustle it up to 100 wasn't the quickest affair. Once you're moving, however, it had enough grunt to keep up with motorway traffic in sixth gear with a full load of four adults inside.
Around the city, the car was really impressive. Comfortable and easy to drive, with enough power for the daily grind, and easy to park thanks to its petite dimensions. What I didn't expect as much was for that impressiveness to continue when the roads got twistier.
One day we headed up into the Gold Coast hinterland, which involves a few roads you could describe as 'driving roads'. Now, it might have been because it was a rental and I wasn't afraid to give the little Indian Korean a thrashing, but it was actually a fun car to drive. The steering was progressive and the handling predictable, the economy Kumhos threatening with understeery squeal when pushed. Keeping the car in second around the twisties kept the power on the boil, with the engine happy to rev out past 6000. It's a light car, and that's no doubt a big help to the i20's dynamism. Hyundai make a lot of noise about how they locally tune the suspension setups on their Australian-delivered models, and with a firm yet compliant ride and decent road holding, it was better than a $14k hatchback has a right to be.
So, would I buy one?
If I needed something small, cheap and new that promised a long life of minimum fuss motoring, it's certainly a good option. But I don't think I would. The Kia Rio is the same car underneath, but a little bit cheaper, a little bit better equipped again, it has two more years of warranty, and in my opinion, it's better looking. If it drives as well as the little Hyundai, it'd be a winner in my mind.
To sum up, better than it should have been. Good work, Hyundai.