2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium Hatch Review

Ever since the Hyundai i30 was introduced way back in 2007, it has been a hit for the brand. And with its latest generation, what once was just a simple small hatch to get from A to B and now it has now ventured out to be so much more. Take the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium for example – it blends the everyday drivability of a hatch, the features of a mid-sized sedan and the sporty nature of a hot hatch all in one package. But is it as good as similar offerings from other brands? We test the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium hatch to find out.

There are so many small hatches on the market today, although the currently saturated market is slowly declining as people move – unnecessarily, in our opinion – into SUVs. There are competitors such as the Mazda 3, Kia Cerato, Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla. So is the i30 deserving of its popularity? Let’s find out by testing the recently upgraded i30.

Price & Specs: 8/10

The days of the Hyundai i30 being priced like budget hatch are now over, but that’s not to say that it’s bad value for money. The i30 can be had as a hard core N Performance model but if that is too much in performance or asking price for you, then the 2021 Hyundai N Line Premium may be for you. It has a decent amount of performance for the money, but it’s both more comfortable to live with on a daily basis and budget friendly compared to the i30 N.

Priced at $34,220 plus on-road costs for the N Line Premium auto we tested – the most expensive non-N i30 – you get a 10.25-inch touchscreen with inbuilt satellite navigation, wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a seven-speaker Infinity sound system, digital radio, leather upholstery with a power driver’s seat, heated and cooled front seats, keyless entry and start with remote start, LED head- and tailights, auto lights and wipers, a panoramic glass sunroof, a 7.0-inch colour driver’s display and wireless charging as standard.

Standard safety tech includes six airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with cyclist and pedestrian detection, lane departure warning with lane keep assist, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, tyre pressure monitoring, front and rear parking sensors with a reversing camera, driver attention monitoring, auto high beam, traffic sign recognition and adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality.

Competitors to the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium include the $38,790 plus on-road costs Mazda 3 G25 Astina, the $32,695 Toyota Corolla ZR, the $36,990 drive away Kia Cerato GT, the $37,450 Volkswagen Golf R-Line, the $34,990 drive away Skoda Scala Monte Carlo and the $30,990 Ford Focus ST-Line. There are variances in spec levels between the cars but the i30 priced in the middle of the pack – under the Mazda 3 and the Volkswagen Golf (in their highest specs) but above the Cerato, Focus, Scala and the Corolla.

Pleasingly, if the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium is too expensive for you, there is a regular i30 N Line hatch for $29,420 plus on-road costs. We think the regular N Line’s value equation is superior to the N Line Premium as it only loses N Line Premium’s 10.25-inch touchscreen with navigation for a smaller 8.0-inch screen, the Infinity seven-speaker sound system for a standard six-speaker system, the panoramic glass roof, power driver’s seat, heated and cooled front seats and the auto dimming rear view mirror – but that’s it for a big $5,000 cut.

There is only one standard colour in the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premiums colour palette which is solid white but for an additional $495 you can choose from ‘Phantom Black’, ‘Intense Blue’, ‘Amazon Grey’, ‘Lava Orange’, ‘Fluid Metal’ and our test car’s ‘Fiery Red’.

Performance & Economy: 8/10

The sole engine option for the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium is the brand’s familiar 1.6-litre ‘Gamma’ four cylinder unit – not the newer ‘Smartstream’ unit in the i30 N Line sedan. In this application it produces 150kW of power and 265Nm of torque driving the front wheels through either a standard six-speed manual transmission or an optional $2,000 seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, which was fitted to our test car. The engine is spritely and offers up a good linear power band through the rev range.

Comparing the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium’s engine to its competitors brings it out on top, or well a tied win. It shares it’s outputs with it’s mechanical cousin the Kia Cerato GT but then from there it goes down. The Mazda 3 G25 has outputs of 139kW and 252Nm, the Ford Focus ST-Line has 134kW and 240Nm and the Skoda Scala and Volkswagen Golf have identical outputs of 110kW and 250Nm.

The dual-clutch seven-speed automatic transmission will be the most popular gearbox choice and while it is a good unit, we found that at slower speeds it was indecisive at times. There was also a slight hesitation when accelerating or while shifting through the paddle shifters. But when warmed up and out on the open road, the DCT does suit the engine and makes for a great seamless package.

The claimed average fuel consumption of the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium with the manual transmission is 7.5L/100km, but the auto records a slightly lower 7.1L/100km – with a mixture of highway and city driving, we achieved an average fuel consumption figure in the mid 9L/100km in the automatic. The i30 is the most powerful amongst its competitor set, but it’s also the thirstiest – a 2.5L Mazda3 claims 6.5L/100km, the 2.0L Corolla 6.0L/100km, the Focus 6.2L/100km, the Scala just 5.5L/100km and the Golf 5.8L/100km.

Ride & Handling: 9/10

Tuned in Australia for Aussie roads – thank you Hyundai – the i30 N Line range offers a nice balance of sport and comfort, which is a big selling point of a warm hatch versus a hot one. Even despite large 18-inch alloy wheels, the i30 N Line rides quite well. The ride is firm but more than tolerable, and its body control is excellent – this is also because, unlike standard i30s in Australia and their torsion beam, the N Line and N versions of the i30 use fully independent rear suspension, which is both more comfortable and sportier than a basic torsion beam.

Although it does share its platform with the Kia Cerato GT the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium feels much more comfortable. That’s largely because Kia also tunes its cars for Australia, and that car is strangely firm – almost i30 N firm, which is over-the-top in our opinion.

Handling is where the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium really shines. Standard fit are Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres which are some of the best tyres available on the market – a clue as to Hyundai’s aspirations for the N Line. In reality, it is a genuinely fun and entertaining car to drive. The steering is perhaps a touch firm, and it could use more feel, but the i30 N Line’s cornering ability is great. Thanks to the tyres, it really grips well and really is one of the best-driving cars in the segment – especially when it comes to handling. Keen drivers need not worry if an i30 N is unattainable as the i30 N Line still provides a big smile on a keen driver’s face.

Interior & Practicality: 7/10

While the driving experience in the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium is great, the interior isn’t as positive. The design isn’t the most modern and the materials feel dated – while the dashboard and door tops are covered in a soft veneer of plastic, the other plastics are overwhelmingly hard and cheap to the touch. The leather upholstery used isn’t the best quality either, though it is supple – we just wish the interior had an extra layer of finishing and the Mazda3’s cabin is definitely a much higher quality and more luxurious place to spend time.

There is a sense of the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium’s sporty nature in the interior with the sports seats that wrap around you, as well as the red seatbelts and other red cues in the interior that make it feel like effort has been put into the sporty nature of the car. There’s also the faux carbon fibre leather effect on the seats that – like in Volkswagen Group products – we hope disappears soon.

The 10.25-inch centre screen in the 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium is intuitive and very easy to navigate. There are shortcut keys under the screen and even a ‘favourite’ button that can be configured to do a number of things. The Apple CarPlay looks great spread across the whole screen – though we wish it were wireless like the smaller screen – and the inbuilt navigation is easy to set and use too. The ‘premium’ Infinity sound system isn’t great though – it lacks oomph.

The rear seat room in the i30 is more than adequate with more than enough shoulder, knee and head room for most occupants. Rear air vents feature across the i30 range – which is still a rarity in this segment – and a rear centre armrest but as far as rear amenities go that’s it with no charging ports or an extra climate zone.

The boot in the i30 is pretty healthy as with the rear seats in place there is 395-litres of cargo space over 100-litres more than the Mazda 3 and 62-litres more than the Toyota Corolla ZR hatch, though it’s still smaller than its Cerato GT cousin (428L) and the Skoda Scala (467L). Fold the seats down and you get 1,301L.

Service & Warranty: 8/10

The 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium comes with the brand’s five-year unlimited kilometre warranty, which is the same that is offered with the Mazda 3, Ford Focus, Skoda Scala and Volkswagen Golf – though less than the Cerato’s seven-year/unlimited km equivalent. The i30 also comes with 12 months of roadside assistance, which is extended for a further 12-months at every scheduled service.

The 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium requires servicing every 12-months or 10,000km, which is the same as the Cerato GT and the Mazda 3, but other rivals offer longer 15,000km intervals. The total service cost for the i30 over the span of three years or 30,000km is $897 – over the same time period, the Mazda 3 G25 will set owners back $1,011 and the Kia Cerato GT will cost $1,083. The cost to service the i30 over five-years or 50,000kms is $1,495.

The 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium DiscoverAuto Rating: 8.0/10

The 2021 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium combines reasonable power, a lot of features and practicality in one easy-to-drive package. It’s more powerful than its competitors and cheaper to service, although the service intervals could be longer and the addition of features such as a heads-up display and memory settings for the driver’s seat would be nice. It’s also not very fuel efficient and its dual-clutch auto can be quite indecisive.

So why should you buy one over the Kia Cerato GT or the Mazda 3 G25 Astina? Well the i30 is less expensive to buy than the Mazda and less expensive to service than both of them, but most of all, it makes the daily commute fun. The 1.6-litre turbocharged engine is engaging and Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres make the chassis that much more fun. As a high-end-but-not-hot-hatch, the i30 N Line Premium is a great choice.