Hyundai i10 (2014-2020) Review

The Hyundai i10 is a fantastic little city car that’s great value for money - especially on PCP finance

Strengths & weaknesses

  • Fun to drive
  • Comfortable ride and spacious cabin
  • Great value cash prices and finance deals
  • No diesel engine available
  • Some poor-quality interior trim
  • Not as fashionable as some rivals

The Hyundai i10 is a city car – the smallest and cheapest type of car you can buy - but one that manages to fulfil a long list of standard requirements. Despite its compact size, the i10 is a practical five-door hatchback, with good amounts of head and legroom for rear-seated passengers and there's also reasonable boot space for a weekly shop too.

This sets the i10 apart from a huge selection of rivals, a list that includes the Seat Mii, Volkswagen Up, Skoda Citigo, Peugeot 108, Citroen C1, Toyota Aygo, Vauxhall Viva and Kia Picanto.

Among that extensive list, the Hyundai i10 has the biggest boot (252 litres), while it also includes many other useful features such as a proper three-point seatbelt for the middle rear seat – not always a given on city cars. So five adults can safely travel in the little i10, even if things may start to feel a bit cramped on longer journeys.

The range of engines is to just a pair of petrol motors, but there are plenty of trim levels at a variety of price points, so you should be able to pin down one with exactly the equipment you’re looking for. Manual and automatic gearboxes are also offered – although we wouldn’t recommend the latter, as it's a dated system that's below par compared with several rivals.

Inside, the i10 feels quite robust and solid – you’ll think you’re sitting in a larger family hatchback or saloon. Some of the materials used to finish the interior surfaces aren’t the most high-quality or attractive-looking, though, though for the price this really isn't an issue.

Safety-wise, the Hyundai scored four out of five stars in Euro NCAP crash testing. That’s not a major cause for concern, however, as under the latest and most stringent Euro NCAP testing procedures, the very smallest cars rarely manage the maximum five stars. The i10 comes fully equipped with all the usual safety kit, including airbags, traction control, stability control, anti-lock brakes and a tyre-pressure monitoring system.

This model was replaced in 2020 by the all-new Hyundai i10, which has built on the solid platform of this first attempt to become the ultimate mature city car.

Key facts

Warranty Five years / unlimited miles
Width 1660mm
Length 3665mm
Height 1500mm
Tax (min to max) £0 to £145

Best Hyundai i10 for...

Best for Economy – Hyundai i10 1.0 SE Blue

Blue is the Hyundai designation for the most economical versions of its cars. It’s the model of i10 you need to go for if you want road-tax exemption - on pre-April 2017 models, at least - and can also return almost 66mpg fuel economy in everyday driving. The downside is that, unlike every other i10, this model has four rather than five seats in order to save weight.

Best for Families – Hyundai i10 1.2 SE

It’s a stretch to use something as small as the Hyundai i10 for a family car, but its five-door layout, relatively big boot and spacious interior mean it’s just about possible. The more powerful 1.2-litre engine will help with making decent progress when all your kids and luggage are aboard, while SE specification strikes a pleasing balance between an affordable price and useful standard kit.

Best for Performance – Hyundai i10 1.2 Premium

No Hyundai i10 could be called a performance car, but the 1.2-litre petrol is the more powerful and therefore the faster of the two engines on offer. As the i10 is quite light, it feels reasonably swift on the road despite the modest 87hp power output. Accelerating from 0-62mph takes 12.3 seconds.

One to Avoid – Hyundai i10 1.2 Premium SE

Automatic gearboxes tend to struggle to work smoothly with low-powered petrol engines, so this version of the i10 isn’t recommended. Fuel economy is poor at 45.6mpg and the most expensive Premium SE trim level jacks up the purchase price, too.

History

  • October 2013 The current Hyundai i10 is revealed.
  • February 2015 Premium SE specification level joins the range
  • January 2020 All-new Hyundai i10 goes on sale replacing this model

Understanding Hyundai i10 names

Engine 1.0 66PS Blue Drive

The engine size is given in litres. The power may also be shown in horsepower, which is also written as PS. All i10s are petrol-powered.

Trim level SE

The trim level dictates how much standard equipment you get on your i10. The range is made up of the S, S Air, SE, SE Blue, Premium and Premium SE. SE Blue also includes a series of small modifications that makes the i10 more efficient and tax-exempt for cars registered before April 2017.

Hyundai i10 Engines

Petrol: 1.0, 1.2

Deciding on what engine you want under the bonnet of your Hyundai i20 should be a fairly simple affair. There’s no diesel or hybrid, just two petrols: a 1.0-litre three-cylinder and a 1.2-litre four-cylinder. The former makes 66hp and the latter 87hp, so you won’t be winning traffic-light races whichever you go for, but that hardly matters with this type of car.

The 1.0-litre is available with every i10 trim level except the top-of-the-range Premium SE. In standard form, it takes a pretty lethargic 14.9 seconds to get the car from 0-62mph and is capable of more than 60mpg fuel economy. The special ‘Blue Drive’ version (available only in its own SE Blue Drive trim level) ekes out another 5mpg or so and dips below the 100g/km emissions mark to bag free road tax - for cars registered before April 2017 - but it’s even slower from 0-62mph, at 15.1 seconds. Both versions have a top speed of just under 100mph.

Moving up to the 1.2-litre petrol gives you a useful 87hp, lowers the 0-62mph time to a more reasonable 12.3 seconds and pushes top speed above 100mph. This engine isn’t available in the cheapest S and S Air versions of the i10, but it can be specified in SE, Premium and Premium SE cars. Unlike the 1.0-litre, the 1.2 is also offered with an automatic gearbox, yet this spoils both performance (0-62mph takes 13.8 seconds) and fuel economy (which drops to 45.6mpg), so it’s hard to recommend unless you simply can’t drive a manual.

 

Fuel

Mpg

Bhp

0 - 62mph

top speed

1.0

Petrol

60.1 - 65.7mpg

66hp

14.9 - 15.1 secs

96mph

1.2

Petrol

45.6 - 57.6mpg

87hp

12.3 - 13.8 secs

101 - 109mph

Hyundai i10 Trims

S, S Air, SE, SE Blue, Premium, Premium SE

Six trim levels make up the Hyundai i10 range, although two of them are really just slight variations, so the line-up isn’t as complex as it first looks.

The range begins with the very attractively priced S, although penny-pinchers must sacrifice the comfort of air-conditioning to get that sub-£9,000 price tag. What the S does have is 14-inch wheels with plastic covers, split-folding rear seats, electric front windows, power steering and USB/MP3 player sockets for the stereo. The S Air simply adds air-conditioning. The one thing the S and S Air don’t skimp on is safety: front, side and curtain airbags, ISOFIX child-seat mounts and tyre-pressure monitoring are included across the range.

SE is the next model up in the range, as well as being our preferred version of the i10. Over and above the S and S Air, it gets a height-adjustable driver’s seat, cruise control, central locking, power-adjustable heated door mirrors, electric rear windows and a spare wheel.

SE Blue Drive is the trim level attached to the more efficient version of the 1.0-litre engine. It’s broadly similar to the SE, save for a few important differences: in an effort to save weight (and thus improve economy) its wheels are smaller and there are two back seats, not three.

Premium, as its name suggests, features much more kit, with alloy wheels, a leather gearknob and steering wheel, foglights, a four-speaker stereo (lesser models get two), Bluetooth connectivity and hill-start assistance on top of everything the SE already has.

Premium SE tops the range and adds even more goodies: bigger alloys, heated front seats and steering wheel, keyless entry, climate control, a sunroof and rear parking sensors.

Hyundai i10 Reliability and warranty

Since its introduction in 2013, the Hyundai i10 has established a superb reputation. Owners named it the third-best car to own in the UK in the 2015 edition of Auto Express magazine’s Driver Power customer satisfaction survey and it was rated fourth out of 200 cars looked at for reliability – a very impressive result. Plus, in the unlikely event of something going wrong, you’re covered by one of the best warranties in the business: all Hyundais are guaranteed for unlimited miles for five years. So when it comes to peace of mind, the i10 really is one of the best cars out there.

Used Hyundai i10

Everything that makes the Hyundai i10 such a highly recommended new car also means it’s a great choice on the used market. Perhaps surprisingly, it depreciates quite steeply from new – possibly due to the fact that the Hyundai badge is still not seen as prestigious or desirable. Leave those concerns aside, however, and you can bag yourself an excellent car for very little money.

Many i10s will have very low mileage, and as long as the total is less than 100,000 miles, they’ll still be under their manufacturer’s guarantee if they're under five years old, so buying one is much less of a risk than is usually the case with used cars.

You really can’t go far wrong with a two or three-year old i10 from barely £5,000. Look out for the higher-spec Premium or Premium SE cars especially, as when buying second-hand you don't need to pay much more to get one of these well-equipped versions compared with a more basic alternative.

   

List price

BuyaCar new

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

Best for performance

Price

£11,275

£9,613

£8,745

£7,725

£6,870

Hyundai i10 1.2 Premium 5dr hatchback

Save

 

15%

23%

31%

39%

Best for families

Price

£10,575

£9,008

£7,955

£7,010

£6,240

Hyundai i10 1.2 SE 5dr hatchback

Save

 

15%

25%

34%

41%

Best for economy

Price

£10,325

£8,791

£7,720

£6,805

£6,060

Hyundai i10 1.0 Blue Drive SE 5dr hatchback

Save

 

15%

25%

34%

41%

Other Editions

i10 (2020)

The Hyundai i10 has long been one of the cheapest and best city cars. The more refined, better-equipped third-gen i10 continues that trend