Hyundai i30 Fastback Review 2024

If your head and heart come to an agreement on car choice, the outcome is likely to be the Hyundai i30 Fastback. After all, it has the style and pace to satisfy your heart’s passions yet also delivers all of the practical, sensible elements that your head deems necessary. With more boot space than an i30 hatch, the Fastback ticks a box there, and its running costs are the same as its hatch sibling. All that wrapped in a lower, more sporting body shape holds great appeal.

When Hyundai launched the i30 Fastback, it offered it with the same 1.0- and 1.4-litre turbo petrol engines offering, respectively, 120- and 140PS. The more powerful engine is the better all-rounder as it’s quieter and smoother at higher speeds, and it has more in reserve for overtaking. Around town, the 1.0-litre is more than competent, though. The later 1.5-litre with hybrid assistance is the pick of the lot, however, if your budget stretches this nippy yet frugal package. Or, for hot hatch fans, there’s the 2.0-litre turbo motor with 175PS in the N Performance version.

Pinning down rivals to the Hyundai i30 Fastback is tricky as there are none from mainstream car makers. The Mazda 3 saloon could be counted as one but misses the hatchback versatility of the Hyundai. That leaves the more expensive BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe and Mercedes CLA as the only other options, and they are both pricier to buy without offering any great benefits in equipment or driving fun.

There is no doubting the durability and reliability of the Hyundai i30 Fastback both inside and out. All of the cabin’s controls work with a positive action that tells you they will still be doing the same thing after many years and miles.

It’s not quite as plushly finished inside the Fastback as, say, a Peugeot 308, but that’s more due to the French car being superbly well detailed in this area. There are still plenty of soft-touch and padded surfaces in the i30 for it to feel very high grade.

A large 10.25-inch touchscreen display on top of the Hyundai i30 Fastback’s dashboard houses the infotainment system. This puts it easily in line of sight when glancing down from the road ahead, and it’s also easy to reach from the driver’s seat. Some functions can also be worked from the steering wheel buttons, such as the radio channel or volume, or the hands-free phone connection.

The infotainment system is a really good one and up there alongside Ford’s SYNC system. The screen responds promptly when pressed, it looks bright and the graphics are crisp. There’s a relatively small number of menus, so it’s easy to learn where to find the features and information you want and need.

Speaking of which, among the features included in the system are sat-nav, DAB radio and Bluetooth. You can also connect your phone via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto if you’d rather have access to your preferred navigation and entertainment apps.

There’s also a seven-inch display screen for the driver that can show everything from basic driving info to music selections and large-format sat-nav instructions.

You could be forgiven for thinking a sportier take on the hatch theme would compromise on practicality, yet the Hyundai i30 Fastback has a boot that is bigger than its hatch sister model.

At 450-litres, the Fastback has 55-litres more capacity than the hatch version, so you’ll have no trouble fitting in all the usual stuff you encounter in daily life.

There is a high load sill to lift weightier bags over, however, and quite a drop from there to the load floor that makes getting those same bags out also needs a bit of muscle and care not to strain your back.

Tie-down points and a couple of hooks for shopping bags add to the practicality, and you can tip the 60-40 split rear seats forward to free up as much as 1351-litres, which is again more than the hatch can muster. However, the Fastback’s rear bench doesn’t tumble forwards or fold flat into the floor, so you are left with a considerable step in the load bay when dealing with longer loads.

As a small counter to this, the normal boot floor is height adjustable, so in its higher position you have some hidden storage underneath the boot panel.

When the Hyundai i30 Fastback was launched, there were two engines to pick from – a 120PS 1.2-litre turbo petrol and a 1.4-litre of the same ilk with 140PS.

The three-cylinder 1.0-litre engine does a very good job around town and its six-speed manual gearbox has a light, crisp feel. It’s happy to rev and can manage 0-62mph in 111.5 seconds, but it’s not the ideal choice for those who cover a lot of motorway miles.

A better bet for longer distance driving is the 1.4-litre four-cylinder engine, which has a manual six-speeder as standard or an automatic transmission as an alternative. It pulls with more force from all revs and needs just 9.2 seconds to get from 0-62mph. That makes all the difference on faster roads and inclines, and the 1.4 is also more refined than its smaller stablemate.

In 2022, Hyundai replaced both of these engines with a single unit – the 1.5T GDi hybrid. It comes with 160PS and has six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic transmissions. Acceleration is a step up, taking 8.3 seconds from 0-62mph, and it pulls with more than enough urgency for overtaking or pulling out of busy junctions.

Finally, there is the 275PS 2.0-litre turbo petrol of the N Performance version of the Fastback. It needs just 6.1 seconds to cover 0-62mph and it will head on to 155mph. It also has a sporty crackle to the exhaust note when you select the N driving mode.

The firmer suspension set-up of the Fastback compared to the hatchback Hyundai i30 does introduce some more noise to the cabin at all speeds. While we wouldn’t call it loud or uncouth, it is there all of the time and the Fastback is not as refined as a Mercedes CLA.

The engines, however, are more than happy to settle into the background and remain barely audible when cruising along in town or on the motorway. Put your foot down hard and there is some roar from under the bonnet but nothing to disturb the cabin’s peace.

In the N Performance model, it can make as much or as little noise as you want depending on which drive mode is selected.

Wind noise is not an issue with the i30 Fastback thanks to its shape, so sustained motorway driving is a pleasant experience.

The whole Hyundai i30 range, including the Hyundai i30 Fastback, was awarded a five-star safety rating by the experts at Euro NCAP. It scored more than 80 percent for protecting adult and child occupants in a crash. The assessors were impressed with other aspects of the car’s safety as well.

Plenty of driver assistance features are fitted to the i30 Fastback. They include cruise control with a speed limiter, automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, a driver attention monitor, and a notable nine airbags.

Hyundai sits very comfortably inside the top 10 of car makers in the most recent HonestJohn Satisfaction Survey, so it bodes well for the ownership prospects of the i30 Fastback.

Hyundai has built up a strong reputation for the quality of its cars, which is backed up by a five-year, unlimited mileage warranty.

Your insurance premium for the Hyundai i30 Fastback will be based on groups running from 8 to 18 for the main models.

A 1.0-litre SE Nav model sits in Group 8, while the 1.4-litre version in SE Premium spec will reside in Group 15. Go for the 1.5t GDi engine in the later N Line specification and it edges up into that higher Group 18 bracket.

For the N Performance hot hatch, you’ll be looking at cover using a Group 29 rating, which puts the Hyundai on a par with the likes of the Ford Focus ST, Cupra Leon, and Volkswagen Golf GTI.

As a used car now, all Hyundai i30 Fastback models will pay £180 per year for road tax. Even the N Performance model comes into this bracket – there’s not the additional £390 charged for cars that cost more than £40,000 as the hot hatch cost below this threshold when new.

For company drivers, the hot hatch’s 182-191g/km of carbon dioxide emissions will make it expensive for Benefit in Kind payments, while the 1.5 Hybrid softens that particular blow with emissions of between 137- and 142g/km.

When Hyundai launched the i30 Fastback in 2018, it started in SE Nav trim that came with an 8.0-inch infotainment touchscreen, DAB radio, Bluetooth, lane departure warning, and cruise control. There’s also a wireless phone charging pad.

On the outside, 16-inch alloy wheels are standard, along with a reversing camera, rear parking sensors, and electrically adjusted and heated door mirrors. Electric windows are included for all four door, and there’s air conditioning, as well as electric lumbar support adjustment for the driver’s seat.

Move to the Premium trim and you gained 18-inch alloy wheels, panoramic glass sunroof, dual zone climate control, and electric driver’s seat adjustment.

The N Line is marked out by 18-inch alloy wheels and a body kit consisting of deep bumpers and side skirts. On the inside, you’ll find sports front seats.

The infotainment system has a 10.25-inch touchscreen display with sat-nav, DAB radio, Bluetooth and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto phone connectivity, allowing you to use your favourite smartphone navigation and entertainment apps via the screen. The driver has a 7.0-inch display that shows driving and vehicle info.

You also get dual-zone climate control, cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera and keyless entry and start. Safety features include automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist and a driver attention monitor.

Being the rapid version of the Hyundai i30 Fastback, the N Performance has bigger 19-inch wheels, a more sculpted body kit and lowered suspension. It also comes with some extra goodies, including electrically adjustable and heated front seats, driving position memory, a heated steering wheel and a wireless phone charging pad.