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South Koran supermini touts frugality, style and a low starting price - is it a bargain or just plain cheap?

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Is now the right time to buy a small city car like the Hyundai i10?

After several years on sale, the formula for these increasingly rare beasts has been refined, the mechanicals updated and the interiors tweaked to make almost all of the established ones conduct themselves as though they were from the class above.

The i10’s rear diffuser won’t exactly fool anyone into thinking that it’s in any way functional, but it does lend the Hyundai an appealingly sporty aesthetic.

The i10, having received a facelift with some meaner, more assertive looks, a revised range of engines and the promise of 'big-statement' design cues and new on-board tech, appears, on paper, to be a very well-rounded product. It helps, too, that it finds itself with precious few rivals left in the supermini segment, including the MG 3, Toyota Aygo X, Dacia Sandero, and technically-related Kia Picanto.

Relatively speaking, that isn’t an extensive list - and the i10 appears to be in a better position to beat them now than ever before. It’s worth bearing in mind, though, that each of them have also been sufficiently updated to make the climate into which this third-generation i10 emerges a cut-throat one. Time to see if Hyundai’s commitment to its small car formula has been worth it, then.

The Hyundai i10 range at a glance

The i10 range is broken up into three main specifications: Advance, Premium and N Line. Entry-level Advance cars come with cruise control, an 8.0in touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as a rear-view reversing camera, cruise control and a digital instrument cluster, while Premium adds ambient lighting, voice commands, heated front seats and wireless mobile charging. N Line is treated to meaner front bumpers, red accents, 16in alloys and racier trim pieces inside.

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There are three engines available: a 1.0-litre naturally aspirated three-cylinder with 62bhp and 68lb ft, a 1.2-litre four-pot with 83bhp and 87lb ft, and a turbocharged version of the 1.0-litre producing 89bhp and 124lb ft. The 1.0-litre turbo is only available on N Line cars mated to a five-speed manual gearbox, while the naturally aspirated (N/A) 1.0-litre and 1.2-litre engines can be had on Advance or Premium cars, sending power via a five-speed manual or five-speed automated manual gearbox.

As for its suspension, the i10 doesn’t deviate from the established class formula. MacPherson struts are employed at the front axle and a torsion beam sits across the rear. The rear torsion bar is now U-shaped as opposed to triangle-shaped to improve stability, while a stronger steering torsion bar and quicker steering gear should help to sharpen steering response.

DESIGN & STYLING

Hyundai i10 review rear cornering

This generation i10 has only received one facelift, during which it got a subtly redesigned front and rear bumper, some fresh rear lights and foglights better integrated into the grille. Aside from that, it's business as usual.

Measuring 3675 mm in length, 1680 mm in width and 1483 mm in height, the i10 is about average for the class, being 25mm shorter than an Aygo X and around 400mm shorter than the five-door-only Sandero and MG 3. 

Hexagonal-shaped daytime-running light clusters look particularly smart against the i10’s sharply styled grille.

A relatively low roofline and headlights pushed out to the corners of the bonnet lend the i10 a squat, athletic stance. The nip-and-tuck brought about by the facelift has resulted in a generally neat, attractive design that makes the i10 look less supermini, more sporting hatch.

The general consensus among our team is that this car’s styling is one thing that Hyundai has nailed. Where its predecessor was an attractive if largely featureless device, this third-gen car has all the chiselled good looks, chic visual trinketry and premium appeal to see it confidently mingle with its most established competitors.

The i10 logo stamped into the C-pillar on a piece of plastic with a honeycomb pattern is a nice touch, for example, and the refreshed alloy wheel designs make the car look more expensive than it is - even if you go for the entry-level trim. 

What's more, there's enough visual aggression about its sharp front end to shake off the ‘cutesy’ image that’s so often attached to cars in this class, but not so much that it appears contrived or try-hard. In any case, Hyundai has long claimed that a healthy amount of its sales stem from customers taking a shine to its vehicles’ designs, and there's little doubt the i10 is on a strong footing to see this continue.

INTERIOR

Hyundai i10 review interior dashboard

We know cars like the i10 as city cars but there’s little to stop them being everyday family transport these days, such is their capability. Certainly, in the i10’s case, when it comes to accommodating people, it does it easily enough. An average-sized adult can sit behind the same with a couple of inches of both head and leg room to spare, although three people across the rear bench is a squeeze.

A decent driving position is pretty simple to achieve, with surprising space around your extremities and a seat that positions and holds you square at the controls.

The i10's steering wheel features an array of buttons, toggles and switches - almost too many.

The seats themselves are smaller than in bigger family cars but supportive and comfortable over longer distances and the gearlever is sited medium-high. The steering wheel adjusts for rake only, sadly, and a rotary dial to recline the seat would be better than a lever. But Hyundai has largely kept things uncomplicated and the i10 is better for it. There are big, clear rotary dials for the ventilation and similarly large buttons for driver and comfort aids.

While it is an intuitive place to sit, the interior’s visual attractiveness is lacking somewhat. It’s no worse than an MG 3, but a Toyota Aygo X or Fiat 500 are a bit bolder with their choice of shades, textures and colours. Advance cars get textured grey plastic, while Premium-trim variants get a more eye-catching honeycomb design on the door trims, dashboard and centre console - but it never quite pulls the interior up a notch. Perceived quality is about right for this price point, with lots of hard, scratchy materials, but it helps that they feel well screwed-together and the buttons and stalks are nicely damped.

The front of the cabin is practical and gets plenty of storage options, from a shelf above the glovebox to a whole host of them along the centre tunnel. The glovebox itself is also of a useful size, as are the front cupholders.

Practicality continues to the rear. If you’re looking for a car of this size, it’s a reasonable bet that you’re not prioritising boot space, but in its class, the i10’s 252 litres and 60/40 split fold rear seat are competitive.

As far as technology is concerned, there’s a USB-C port, a 12V outlet next to it and a rather outdated USB point you use to connect your phone to Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Which brings us to the infotainment system.

It’s curious to find a large, 8.0in central touchscreen like the i10’s that has so few standard features. You can pair a phone to its Bluetooth system and play music through it, too, or it will control the radio. And you can change some settings – notably which two things sit on the home screen, plus amend the ‘star’ shortcut button to the bottom left.

That it doesn’t do too much else is fine, because you’ll own a smartphone that does navigation, contains your favourite music and can read out your messages just as well as - if not better than - many automotive systems. That being said, when you set a waypoint on the Hyundai's native sat-nav, a dotted line appears showing you the direction to your destination as the crow flies. This is presumably so you can find a better route if stuck in traffic, which is very useful.

While we're grumbling, for this generation Hyundai saw fit to omit a speedometer and rev counter for a digital display with revs measured as decimals. This makes it needlessly more difficult and less intuitive to know when to change gear, for both optimum performance and economy. 

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

Hyundai i10 review engine bay

The i10 has long been among the more powerful players in the class, but now that it has hybrid-assisted class opposition, its pleasingly authoritative drivability isn’t quite so distinguishing; and yet it remains a pretty clear strength.

Bear in mind, though, that this only applies if you avoid the entry-level, naturally aspirated 1.0-litre unit. With 62bhp and 68lb ft, it’s about as fast as you would imagine, which is not very. Accelerating onto a motorway slip-road can be quite a brutal affair and overtaking manoeuvres take some careful planning. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it feels most at home in built-up areas. Acceleration up to around 40mph is undramatic, and there's just enough power at the lower end that you can gently accelerate alongside an increase in the speed limit. Ask any more of it, however, and you'll be left floundering.

The naturally aspirated 1.0-litre unit is quite loud under load at low revs, but there are worse noises than a three-cylinder petrol engine.

Add a turbocharger to that engine, however, and you get a chunk more torque and plenty of general urgency without sacrificing economy too much. This is the type of engine you would readily pit against more powerful, electrically-assisted rivals such as the 194bhp MG 3.

The larger 1.2 doesn’t pull from low revs like the turbocharged three-pot alternative might but it still feels usefully torquey from low crank speeds and moves the car’s one-tonne mass along fairly easily. It’s also smoother-running than the class-typical three-cylinder motor would be at and around idle and it has a more linear-feeling power delivery than some downsized turbo motors – both of which you might like about it.

It’s gutsy enough to get up to the national speed limit without necessarily being revved to the redline in every gear or making you feel like you’re holding up the traffic - a blight that the entry-level motor can suffer from on faster roads.

It spins to 5000rpm without getting noisy or buzzy, although beyond that its refinement and flexibility aren’t quite so good – perhaps as a result of new WLTP-compliant electronic emissions controls that never afflicted previous, slightly sweeter-revving versions of the i10, which ran ostensibly the same engine.

The shift quality of the car’s five-speed manual gearbox is fairly light and pleasant and its braking performance (on range-topping 16in alloy wheels, don’t forget) fairly strong, metered through a progressive brake pedal.

All up, then, you’d characterise the car’s performance as pretty strong by class standards – although it’s not quite worthy of the outstanding praise the i10’s predecessors enjoyed.

RIDE & HANDLING

Hyundai i10 review front cornering

We’ve praised the i10 quite highly over the years for going that little bit above and beyond the city car norm for driver appeal. Although it has never been an obvious choice for those seeking an ultra-involving drive, the i10’s game engines have generally combined well with a chassis blessed with enough body control and handling precision that it takes surprisingly willingly to being hustled along. It has also come across as a car with a pretty simple character, quite plainly not intended to be perceived as anything other than small, light and fairly zippy.

The i10’s handling mostly dodges any sense of precariousness related to its size and body profile, and it mixes agility with grip, body control and high-speed stability well enough to feel like a bigger supermini most – if not quite all – of the time.

The i10 is a surprisingly competent car in the bends; you can actually have fun - but not too much fun.

Is it fun to drive? Perhaps not as much as previous i10s were; that’s the honest answer. Improved lateral body control and cornering stability certainly make it a shade more serious-feeling, as well as more stable, when driven quickly.

The electronic stability controls work subtly at first, but always do so effectively and provide good underlying handling stability, even at the limit of grip. The only caveat to that stability we observed was under heavy braking from motorway speeds. This occurred under road test conditions at a test track, when the i10 pitched sharply enough under full pedal pressure to wander a little before stabilising on its nose and needing steering correction on repeated runs. Needless to say, however, this isn't something most - if any - i10 owners will experience unless in emergency situations, and does nothing to detract from this car's otherwise amiable on-road character.

That character extends to its ride. Our experience with an entry-level car on 15in wheels proved to be a relaxing one. The thick sidewalls of the tyres combine with reasonably supple suspension to give this car better isolation from road surface imperfections than pretty much all of its rivals. In entry-level trim, it really is a remarkably comfortable car, more so than a Sandero, MG 3 and Fiat 500. Smaller alloys also pay dividends for noise isolation; at a motorway cruise there's not so much road roar that you have to raise your voice, although it is there.

Step up to mid-rung cars with their 16in wheels and you'll discover an edge of firmness about its suspension, but it still manages to ride bumps at low speeds with decent compliance, only becoming slightly fidgety above 50mph when faced with recurrent high-frequency inputs. Noise isolation on cars with bigger alloys is slightly worse, however, and left us feeling quite disappointed.

Mechanical refinement is quite good, however, at least until you get to the upper reaches of the rev range. A clutch with a slightly woolly and unpredictable biting point on manual cars makes step-off a little less smooth than in something like the Aygo X, but greater familiarity will make for better ease of operation. We have yet to test an i10 fitted with the automated manual gearbox.

Assisted driving notes

Every i10 gets a forward-facing camera and standard AEB, or autonomous emergency braking (branded ‘FCA’), which includes pedestrian detection. A lane-keeping system with separate departure alert and lane-keep assist (LKA) modes is also standard, as is a simplified driving monitoring system. Both the AEB and LKA are switchable for sensitivity, and neither becomes intrusive in any case, although the dialled-back settings were preferred by our testers.

Switching off the various safety systems is fairly uncomplicated, especially after you've done it a few times. It doesn't help, however, that there's no quick way of disabling them without resorting to the touchscreen.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

Hyundai i10 review lead

Although the days of the sub-£10,000 city car are largely gone, you’d still have a hard time arguing that the i10 represented poor value for money.

The entry-level model kicks things off at just over £16,500, while mid-level cars come with a list price of just under £18,000. That's about what you'd pay for an MG 3, which gets the same calibre of equipment as the entry-level Hyundai. It's worth pointing out, however, that the MG gets a significantly more powerful 192bhp hybrid engine.

Hyundai offers the i10 with a five-year, unlimited mileage warranty as standard.

In spite of some of the i10's rivals now being electrically-assisted, the i10 delivers impressive fuel economy seemingly irrespective of how you drive it. During our time with an entry-level 1.0-litre car, we never saw below 50mpg. On the motorway, that figure was knocking on the door of 70mpg - that's extremely impressive considering the car's combined economy figure of 55.3mpg.

VERDICT

Hyundai i10 review verdict

The i10 is a profoundly different car now compared with even the second-generation model. The good news is that, in a great many ways, ‘different’ can simply be read as ‘better’.

If we acknowledge the amount of cabin space it affords, the assured driving experience it offers, its generous equipment roster, good material fit and finish and technological sophistication, we can only conclude that the i10 has taken significant strides and now represents the very best and most well-rounded A-segment hatchback on sale.

You will be very happy with an i10 if you decide to buy one. It will readily slot into your life as an easy-going, cheerful weapon to tackle the hubbub.

This is a car whose appeal is constructed not quite like those of its predecessors, the peppy performance, spry handling and unassuming character of which have been replaced by distinguishing practicality and all-round completeness – and the greater confidence that comes with that. Spec advice? The ride comfort afforded by entry-level Advance cars as well as their standard kit levels makes it easy to recommend. Paired with the 1.2-litre four-cylinder unit, which effectively blends performance and economy, and you're onto a winner.

The i10 has become a car that, you might say, is just a little bit harder to warm to, but it’s even easier to rate and to broadly recommend than many of its rivals. It’s a very grown-up small car with plenty of big-car features, skirting the tinny runabout vibe of the Fiat 500, the slightly unpolished nature of the MG 3 and the glacial performance of Toyota’s Aygo X. What’s more, it’s all yours for a relatively small sum.

Jonathan Bryce

Jonathan Bryce
Title: Social Media Executive

Jonathan is Autocar's social media executive. He has held this position since December 2024, having previously studied at the University of Glasgow before moving to London to become an editorial apprentice and pursue a career in motoring journalism. 

His role at work involves running all of Autocar's social media channels, including X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn and WhatsApp. 

Richard Lane

Richard Lane, Autocar
Title: Deputy road test editor

Richard joined Autocar in 2017 and like all road testers is typically found either behind a keyboard or steering wheel (or, these days, a yoke).

As deputy road test editor he delivers in-depth road tests and performance benchmarking, plus feature-length comparison stories between rival cars. He can also be found presenting on Autocar's YouTube channel.

Mostly interested in how cars feel on the road – the sensations and emotions they can evoke – Richard drives around 150 newly launched makes and models every year. His job is then to put the reader firmly in the driver's seat.