Recently we bought a 2016 Santa Fe and when the i30 was released, the partner and I went back to the same dealership to test drive the new i30.
The dealership was fantastic and let us drive one of every spec and also the Elantra
We drove:
The i30 Active CRDi with the. 7 Speed DCT. For a base model car it is packed with equipment and has nice alloys. The 1.6 diesel is a great motor, having now owned an FD and GD diesel they have been rapidly improving the U2 engine. The DCT felt interesting with the diesel engines characteristics it had heaps of grunt 100kw / 300nm. There was a bit more engine vibration than I would have liked, but other wise drove well.
The i30 SR Premium with the 1.6 Turbo Petrol with the 7speed DCT felt great. The DCT felt better matched to the petrol engine with nice sharp shifts. I loved how the auto system operated it's voice over for the navigation but continuing to play music from the rear speakers and speaking through only the front speakers. Felt rather flash.
The Elantra Active 2.0 GDi 6spd auto felt powerful and refined, while the conventional 6spd auto changes gears smoothly and was always in the right gear, it just screamed with given WOT. I think this is where I'd prefer a manual transmission. The car felt like a brick on the road, solid as a rock.
The final car was the Elantra SR 1.6 Turbo with the 7 speed DCT. Out of all the models this was our favourite the exhaust had a nicer note that the i30 SR Premium and I much preferred the interior which felt more refined and detailed. The Cluster looks awesome! Own thing I didn't like on the i30 was the rather plain looking cluster. The Elantra SR, handled cornering great and was a pleasure to drive. While the Elantra didn't have all the tech that the i30 had, I'd still take the Elantra over the i30.
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