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. Most, but not all, 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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Glide with me: 2018 Hyundai Grand i10 1.2 Glide

Back to reality

Posted: 8 March 2018

The numbers
Price: R202 900
Engine: Hyundai Kappa ll, all-aluminium1248 cc, chain driven DOHC, 16-valve, CVVT inline four
Power: 64 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 120 Nm at 4000 rpm
Real life fuel consumption: About 6.9 l/100 km
Tank: 43 litres
Luggage: 256 – 1202 litres
Warranty: 5 years / 150 000 km with roadside assistance
Additional Powertrain warranty: 2 years / 50 000 km
Included service plan: 2 years / 30 000 km at 15 000 km intervals


Following a slight facelift and gentle butt-tweak in April 2017, Hyundai’s Grand i10 range was expanded, a month or so ago, to incorporate the 998 cc engine from Kia’s Picanto and to add a new top model to its 1.25-litre lineup.

There are now six versions, three with the 1.0-litre motor and three with the 1250. For more details on the new range, click over to our launch report. Our test vehicle was the new top model, a 1.25 Glide with five-speed manual gearbox. To create it, Hyundai took its 1.25 Fluid m/t (still available and now with optional satnav) and added some features – combination faux leather and fabric upholstery, leather covered steering wheel and shift knob, LED daytime running lights, gear shift-point indicator and rear parking distance alarm.

Then Hyundai massaged some prices: Glide slides into home base at R202 900, what the Fluid m/t previously sold for, and that car now puts a smile on new buyers’ faces at R189 900. For those who prefer two-pedal driving, there’s a four-speed automatic version of the mid-spec’ Fluid at R206 900.

To make the top model instantly recognisable, red accents were added across the dash, to inner door panels and on the gear lever surround. Although we think they look fine, not everyone agrees. One viewer reckoned the splashes of colour were a deal breaker, so Hyundai might want to transfer them to the options list or offer plain black only.

In these days of turbocharged everything, it’s sometimes hard to dial one’s expectations down to reality. This Grand i10 with its 1248 cc naturally aspirated motor can’t be expected to run like a racing car, but it does well with what it has. The little DOHC, 16-valve engine with constantly variable vale timing puts out 64 kilowatts and 120 Nm to dash through the zero-to-100 km/h sprint in 12.2 seconds and go on to a top velocity of 168 km/h.

Maximum torque kicks in at 4000 revs, so it follows that one needs to work the gearbox to get the best out of it. It feels rather flat when dribbling around at low rpm but if that’s your chosen driving style, who are we to argue? We got our happiest results by keeping the motor percolating - between 3000 rpm, where it’s already putting out 114 Nm, and just over 4000 when it’s usually about time to up-shift. Couple that with solid construction, reassuring stability and decent road holding and you have a nice little, almost-but-not-quite, hooligan car.

Add enough space to carry five people comfortably; fair luggage room and good fuel economy and you may wonder why anyone feels the need to buy anything larger or more expensive. It boasts proven reliability too. Stanley Anderson, the South African company’s sales and operations director, told us that Grand i10’s “burn rate,” or cost of honouring warranties, works out at R14 per vehicle per month. That’s roughly a Dollar-twenty US. Can your neighbour’s fancy überwagen beat that? We doubt it.

We kept this report short and simple in case you have already read about the very similar car we drove in 2014. If not, click on over for a read.

Test unit from Hyundai Automotive SA press fleet

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 as well.

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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