SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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This is a launch report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. The driving experience was limited to a short drive over a preselected course. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get a test unit for trial. Thank you for understanding.

Third-gen charmer: 2021 Hyundai Grand i10 revealed

Revamped

Posted: October 29, 2020

The numbers

Prices range from R191 900 to R256 900.

Engines:

1)    998 cc, inline three-cylinder with multipoint injection and 12 valves
Power: 49 kW at 5500 rpm
Torque: 94 Nm at 3500 rpm
0-100 km/h: 14.9 sec (m), 16.6 sec (a)
Top speed: 153 km/h (m), 148 km/h (a)
Claimed average fuel consumption: 5.4 l/100 km (m), 5.9 l/100 km (a)

2)    1197 cc, inline four-cylinder with MPI and 16 valves
Power: 61 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 114 Nm at 4000 rpm
0-100 km/h: 12.3 sec (m), 14.5 sec (a)
Top speed: 167 km/h (m), 160 km/h (a)
Claimed average fuel consumption: 5.9 l/100 km (m), 6.9 l/100 km (a)

Tank: 37 litres
Luggage: 360 – 910 litres
Ground clearance: 157 mm
Turning circle: 9.8 metres
Towing mass: Not rated
Warranty: Five years / 150 000 km with additional two years / 50 000 km on powertrain
Roadside: Seven years / 150 000 km
Service plan: One year / 15 000 km

You can no longer Glide in a Hyundai Grand i10 unless it’s second-hand. The last new one glided (glid?) off a South African showroom floor around December 2019, but few people noticed and no-one really minds.

The plusses that made it Head Honcho of the local range were synthetic leather upholstery, LED daytime running lights and rear parking assistance. Ho-hum. Even Fluid models have those now.

Let’s explain. The third-generation Hyundai Grand i10 was revealed to the local press a few days ago. Briefly it’s slightly longer, wider and lower on a wheelbase extended by 25 mm; grille and lights have been revamped; dash and instruments were transformed; all-round visibility improved thanks to a larger rear window, re-angled A-pillars and bigger wing mirrors; the back seat area gained a repeater vent and a power socket; front and rear seats were re-engineered for greater comfort, the boot’s a tiny bit bigger and the touchscreen multimedia system now does screen mirroring for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Despite ongoing economic pressure, prices increased only marginally - between R9 400 and R12 400.

Engines, gearboxes, brakes, suspension and seven-year warranty with roadside assistance remain as before. And so does the line-up. Less Glide of course.

There are five offerings: 1.0 Motion manual, 1.0 Motion automatic, 1.0 Fluid manual, 1.2 Fluid manual and 1.2 Fluid automatic.

Motion derivatives provide anti-submarining seats covered in cloth and vinyl with height adjustment for the driver; 14” steel wheels with plastic caps; fully sized spare; dual front airbags; ISOFix baby chair mountings; disc/drum brakes with ABS and EBD; conventional parking brake; halogen headlights with welcome and follow functions; tilt-adjustable urethane steering wheel with audio and Bluetooth controls; filtered, manual air conditioner; electric windows and mirrors and the 6.2” infotainment kit mentioned earlier.

Fluid level flows up to alloy wheels (14” for 1.0 engine and 15” for the 1.2); artificial leather upholstery; the option of two-tone paintwork; split rear seatbacks with pockets; front fog lamps; LED daytime running lights that bracket the upper grille; single-touch downward for the driver’s window; a light in the glove box; heated and folding side mirrors; luggage net; hooks in the boot and reverse parking alarms.

We were let loose in a 1.0 Fluid manual to tour some North Coast highways and byways and get a feel for it. Within the constraints of one-litre capacity and natural aspiration, it performed strongly. Fit and finish was as we expect Korean products to be, it handled confidently, shrugging off my co-pilot’s attempts to make it understeer around a traffic circle and it felt more spacious than the old one.

It’s a worthy successor to the previous two generations. Even though Gliding’s no longer an option.

Information gathered at a manufacturer-sponsored press event



What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

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