IF you want a decent small car you have a lot of choice these days.
A sharp rise in the cost of fuel coupled with emissions based road tax has made these cars very popular.
A new breed of super economical, tiny hatches has appeared of which the Hyundai i10 one. As of 2011, the range now includes a car with emissions of less than 100g/km which is exempt from the London Congestion charge and has yearly road tax rate of absolutely nothing.
Whether that is of any real benefit to anyone is a moot point but it does show how far ahead of the game Hyundai are.
As a new car, this is the cheapest sub-100g/km car on the market by more than £1,000 – you have to make the step up to the Renault Clio or Ford Fiesta to find a comparable CO2 output.
I drove both the new three-cylinder, low emission, 1.0 engine and the refreshed 1.2 and the difference between the two felt like a lot more than just 200cc.
Both cars have the i10’s excellent road manners, brilliant gearshift and well optimised ride. Both have the slightly plasticky cabin ambience and wobbly rear view mirrors and both have the same surprisingly excellent chassis balance.
Only one has the power to really exploit this though and, unsurprisingly, that’s the 1.2.
It is a much better car. That’s not to say the 1.0 is a bad car, it’s not, nor that the three-cylinder engine is unrefined or poor in any way, it isn’t.
It’s just that, as a 1.2 the i10 has the game to step up to the Fiat Panda, Ford Ka or Toyota Aygo.
In fact, I prefer the i10 to the Fiat 500 which is a marketing department’s idea of a “character” car whereas the little Hyundai has honesty in spades.
The 1.2 version is a hoot around town and on the open road. For a small, tall car with tiny wheels, the i10 really works on the motorway. If you do a lot of time at the legal limit then the i10 is amongst the best cars in its class.
It’s also very practical with a well thought out, well resolved use of space.
Four people will fit in easily though their luggage may not. Standard air-con and an aux input for the iPod should keep them diverted as well. Though the dash is bit dated and the plastics far from soft touch it’s pretty comfortable and the driving position is good enough to remain un-noticed.
The only fly in the ointment is the 1.0 engine. It’s robs the car of its refined feel. That would be OK if it were cheaper but it costs over £1,000 more than a basic 1.2.
Unless you enter the London C-charge zone every day then it just makes no sense.
What’s the used market like?
Almost all i10s were bought privately on the scrappage scheme and are unlikely to filter through to the market for a long time.
Currently there are less than 500 for sale countrywide. The majority of these are at dealers and are mostly the now superseded but still very good 1.1.
They range from about £4,000 for an early 1.1 through to £8,500 for a nearly new 1.2 facelift model. There are no 1.0 cars filtering through yet but expect that car to hold its value very well.
What else will this budget buy?
This kind of money gets you a choice of many other capable cars. Check out the Fiat Panda. It’s got the same underpinnings as the Fiat 500 and Ford Ka but it’s much cheaper than either.
You can get Citroen’s C1 for similar money.
In reality though, you may be better off with a slightly bigger car.
A two year old Ford Fiesta at around £7,000 would be the same as a year old i10 Comfort with 15,000 miles on it. The Ford is a car from the class above and does feel it on the road.
So as a secondhand proposition you have to ask whether the i10 makes sense.
Summary
The i10 is an honest little car. But buy the 1.2 if you ever venture out of the city - and buy as new as you possibly can.