FAMILY CAR REVIEW: 2019 Hyundai i30 Elite

How good is the storage in the 2019 Hyundai i30 Elite? How big is the boot of the 2019 Hyundai i30 Elite?

The i30 has two cup holders in the central console that are well sized to hold a reusable and disposable coffee cup and behind them is a small central console box, with an armrest lid.

There is a phone well in front of the gear lever which has a USB, AUX and a 12V socket here too.

There is a glasses case in the ceiling and both front visors have lit vanity mirrors.

The glovebox is a really good size and will hold the manual, my wallet and an iPad.

The front door pockets will hold a lot, I found a large refillable bottle fitted with a 600ml water bottle. All the doors have little storage wells in the handles too.

In the back, the door bins also hold a large refillable water bottle and there are handle wells too.

There are net map pockets on the back of both front seats that will hold but not conceal an iPad.

There are two cup holders in the rear central fold-down armrest, they would hold a reusable or disposable coffee cup.

Storage is good in the boot of the Hyundai i30 for a small hatch.

The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.

Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.

I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.

With the boot floor in its lowest setting, it will hold 10 shopping bags, which is one more than a Toyota Corolla, the same as a Mazda3 and one less than a Kia Cerato.

If you remove the parcel shelf, a Duet twin stroller fits with five shopping bags.

The Flexx tandem pram fits with four shopping bags.

The Urban Jungle single pram fits with three shopping bags around it.

The Nano compact stroller fits with eight shopping bags.

The parcel shelf is solid but removable, held on by two cord ropes. If you remove it you do have to leave it behind as there is nowhere to store it in the car.

With it removed you could fit a medium-sized dog in the boot.

The shape of the boot opening is great for lifting prams in and out of and you can do an emergency nappy change on the boot floor!

How noisy is the 2019 Hyundai i30Elite ? How good is the media system in the 2019 Hyundai i30 Elite?

The 2019 Hyundai i30 is a bit of a beepy little car!

The media system is great in the 2019 Hyundai i30, it is really easy to use and navigate.

It has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto too which is even better.

The built-in sat-nav is good and has a handy button on the left of the screen to mute the voice guidance easily which is really helpful.

You can select within the screen settings whether you adjust the sat-nav voice volume from the volume knob or screen button which is great.

You can also easily move the audio to be just in the back over your child's seat so you don't have to listen to their nursery rhymes in the front!!

The reversing camera image isn't crystal clear but it is a nice big image that fills the whole media screen.

You can turn the sensors off with a button by the driver's right knee.

Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!

That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.

If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?

It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?

A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.

Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!

I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.

You can lock the windows from the driver's door control panel.

The i30 beeps if you turn the ignition on without having your seatbelt fastened or with the driver's door still open which is a little irritating.

The indicator is not too loud and would not disturb a sleeping baby.

The windows in the i30 close with a bit of a thud but overall are not baby waking.

However, once the engine is started if I then open my door no alarm sounds so you can get out of the vehicle once the baby is asleep without the alarm going off and waking them up!

Since becoming a mum I spend A LOT of time parked up somewhere with a nice view while my daughter is asleep in the back! If it's hot I need to leave the engine running and the aircon on but I do like to get out and drink my cuppa tea in the fresh air while enjoying the fact my limbs are free from said dangling child!!

SO this is a very important test as I have found that sometimes I have been held hostage by a cars BEEEEPING alarms when I have taken off my seatbelt or opened the door while the engine is still running!! (I only stand outside the car, I am not a bad mother!!)

The doors all lock automatically and there is a big button on the central dash to unlock and lock them again and beside that is the seatbelt removal visual, which is well located to easily see if a rear passenger takes off their seatbelt.

How many child seats fit in the 2019 Hyundai i30 Elite?

The 2019 Hyundai i30 has ISOFix in the two outer rear seats, they are not within plastic guides and are easy to connect to.

There are top tether anchorages on the back of all three backrests, they are within plastic guides and are nice and easy to connect to.

Fitting child seats in the Hyundai i30 is nice and easy. I can only fit two child seats in the back there is no room for a third.

Posting bub into their child seat is fine from inside and outside the car and there is room to feed bub in the back with only one child seat installed.

Australia being a country of weather extremes blazing sun and torrential rain means you may find it easier to put bub into their seat from inside the car. If it’s hot you can get the aircon going, cool the car down and not stand out in the heat with the door open while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether bub can be easily installed from either direction.

The seats in the i30 Elite model we tested are black leather with perforated decorative central panels which would make cleaning a little more tricky.

How comfortable is a 2019 Hyundai i30 Elite?

The seats of the Hyundai i30 Elite are relatively comfortable in the front.

I found I could wear a ponytail while driving which was great!

I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get it just right too… said no new mum ever!!!

The steering wheel is fully adjustable in/out and up/down.

The cruise controls on the right side of the steering wheel are very easy to use, I found the cruise control did get carried away on undulating roads at around  60km/h and the speed could fluctuate quite a lot.

Your fuel distance to empty is clearly visible in the display in front of the steering wheel, meaning you can time your fuel stop for when bubs not with you if need be!

There are four air-con vents in the front dash. Two in the centre of the dashboard and one at either end.

There are also two in the back of the central console box, which was great for keeping little rear passengers cool too. They are within reach of the driver too.

The controls for the air-con are centrally located on the dashboard and easy to reach and use while driving.

Visibility is good in the i30, for a small car even when two child seats are installed in the back the visibility is good and the reversing camera helps too, especially when reversing and parking.

One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Tulsi has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread when we drive big cars and utes as they tend to take longer to park in our tight apartment block carpark, the little i30 was really easy and enjoyable to drive and to park!

Visibility is good for rear passengers too, the rear windows are large allowing a lot of light inside the car so it does not feel cramped in the back.

In the back centrally located in the ceiling is an interior light that I could just reach from the font.

There is a handle above the doors on either side in the back, perfect for hanging a baby toy from.

I often will reach back to turn on the interior light if I am driving at night time, I find my little girl gets less distressed traveling at night that way. It helps if I can reach the interior light from the drivers seat so I can turn it on and off whilst driving. I often find my daughter will need it on as we start our journey in the dark but once she falls asleep I can turn it off.

It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.

The 2019 Hyundai i30 Elite is a great car to drive and it is a fun, easy and enjoyable BabyDrive.

There are carpet floor mats throughout the i3o and the Elite model I tested came with auto-lock and unlock doors which I found to be a favourite feature over the week I tested it.

The Hyundai i30 was ANCAP tested prior to the Child Occupany crash testing being introduced in 2018, so it has not been through Child Occupancy testing.

The Hyundai i30 comes with a lot of standard safety gear including seven airbags. This includes front and side airbags for both front passengers, a driver's knee airbag and full-length curtain airbags for front and rear passengers.

It also has Electronic Stability Control, Traction Control, Anti-lock brakes with Electronic brake-force distribution, brake assist and hazard light activation when emergency braking, Tyre Pressure Monitoring, Hill-Start Assist, rear parking sensors, reversing camera and an anti-theft alarm,

At the time we drove the i30, all manual gearbox versions and the cheapest Active model did not have Autonomous Emergency Braking but Hyundai promised it would become a standard feature around Easter 2018.

The Premium models have Hyundai Smart Sense safety packages which feature Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane-Change Assist (LCA), Lane-Keeping Assist System (LKAS), Driver Attention Alert (DAA), Blindspot detection (BSD) with rear cross-traffic alert, Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) and Forward Collision Warning (FCW).

The i30 has been given a five-star ANCAP safety rating, on the ANCAP website they have used the results from the Hyundai Elantra testing, which is a similar car to the i30 but a sedan model. They have not yet tested the i30 for its own full safety rating but must feel it is similar enough to share the same results.

Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound.

I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Tulsi’s asleep!