After the 3 days rental with the Hyundai i10

“It was a disappointment at first, but then later, it wasn’t that bad…”

I must not be the first one to have booked a rental car you wanted but ended up with ‘the similar’ one. So I had reserved a Ford Fiesta, which I was hoping to drive with interest, but ended up with this Hyundai i10.

So how Korean cars did not have the names of desire nor magnificent comments when people talked about them in the past. With this in my mind I really can’t wait to find any faults from the car and ask for an alternative choice. Scanning the car park I saw the all-new Mini cooper five-door, not my taste on the looks but at least it’s a Mini.

Ha guess what, I found it. The car key was stuck after I tuned the engine off. I was excited to report the problem, hoping to load my luggage into the mini . The staff said, “yea, sorry it is a safety feature sir. You have to push it in and turn a bit further” With no hope for the mini I set off.

Perhaps I should start to be fair to this car. Ok, I have to say Korean cars do look better these days. And with this i10, it looks smarter and more aggressive than its predecessor, thanks to the newly designed front grill and day-time running lights. It has 14-inch alloys and disc brakes all round.

Inside, it has leather steering wheel and gear knob. All the latest entertainment connections such as AUX, USB, Bluetooth and a single CD player are available. Other useful features like central locking, A/C, two 12V cigarette lighter with one placed at a convenient position for passengers at the back and all four electric windows. The i10 is quite decent for an economical class city hatchback.

Being a city hatchback it makes good sense driving around cities. The engine might just be a one litre 3-cylinder engine but it is nippy on first and second gears. The steering wheel will be lighter at manoeuvring speeds and that helps parking too.

Then when I hit the dual carriageway, it is no surprise noticing the engine is down on power to get to the national speed limit. Then when it eventually gets there, road noise builds up yet acceptable. Good thing though, the engine is not too noisy while coping the speed.

In conclusion, would I buy this car? Not really. But at least living with it isn’t bad at all around town. Perhaps just not the right car if you would be doing long distance communing. Through the rental I have helped a friend moving house plus the whole commute for me from Plymouth to Millbrook then to Heathrow airport with a little detour. About 370ish miles? Cost me less than £50 on fuel. So perhaps the motorway is not its natural habitat, at least it is ok for my wallet.

Thanks for reading

Harry Chi Li