Today we are taking BabyDrive to the UK!! Where we have the pleasure of driving the 2023 Hyundai Bayon in top-spec Ultimate trim. A small five-seater hybrid SUV, it sits below the Kona in Hyundai's European range similarly to the Venue does in Australia. Being overseas I don't have my usual array of prams, shopping bags and child seats to put the Bayon through our usual full BabyDrive testing but I did have my beautiful family of four and two very tall nephews to see how suitable it is for family life…
In the back of the 2023 Hyundai Bayon, there are ISOFix in the two outer seats, they are behind beautiful concealed zips like you'll find in the Peugeot 2008.
There are top tether anchorages for the outer rear seats, they are clearly labelled and easily accessible through the boot.
We installed child seats in the two outer rear seats in the 2023 Hyundai Bayon as there is no central top tether anchor point. (If the Hyundai Bayon were brought to Australia a central top tether anchorage would need to be installed.)
Any Infasecure child seat would fit nicely in either of the rear outer seats of the 2023 Hyundai Bayon. I installed the Infasecure Attain More in the outer rear seats and they fit well.
We found that with an Infasecure Attain More child seat installed forward-facing we could fit my 180cm tall teenage nephew in front of it and my other 180cm nephew and a tall eight-year-old beside it! With rear-facing child seats installed, about a 170cm driver can fit in front of it.
The 2023 Hyundai Bayon made for a surprisingly comfortable small family SUV when it came to fitting all the combinations and generations of BabyDrive passengers and child seats asked of it over our two-week period.
The same can be said for the boot space, this was also surprisingly capable of all we asked of it.
Without my pram selection and shopping bags I can't tell you if your exact pram will fit in the boot. However, I can tell you it carried ‘Doby' my nephew's dog, whom our Ozzie kids affectionately renamed ‘Dobbo' very comfortably in the boot!
The boot floor drops down about 5-10cm which just gives you that extra depth and makes a big difference to the space your dog has and also when fitting in prams and suitcases.
We borrowed a basic umbrella pram while we had the Bayon and it fitted diagonally across the boot space and we could fit the girls' scooters in around it and on top of it.
Storage in the ear cabin of the 2023 Hyundai Bayon is quite minimal but ample for a family of four or five. There is a single map pocket on the back of the driver's seat that will hold and conceal an iPad.
There are no cup holders in the back of the Hyundai Bayon. The door bins are a good size in the back and will hold a refillable water bottle.
In the back of the central console box are a phone tray and USB-C ports for charging.
In the front, the storage is better. There are two cup holders in the central console which hold a reusable or disposable coffee cup and the central console box behind them is quite small in the 2023 Hyundai Bayon.
There is a wireless phone charging tray in front of the gear lever and there are USB sockets there too.
The glove box will hold a wallet and iPad with the manual…
… and the front door bins will hold a refillable water bottle, iPad and wallet too.
When it comes to driving the 2023 Hyundai Bayon is a comfortable family car. Being in the UK the one I tested was a manual rather than an automatic (available as an option) which has been really enjoyable as I love driving manuals 🙂
The Bayon has quite a small turning circle which makes it easy to manoeuvre around town and to park in school and supermarket carparks where space is tight. I found visibility a little tricky out of the rear side windows when changing lanes on the motorway so I relied heavily on the indicator camera visuals in the driver's digital display, like other Hyundais such as the Staria.
The media system in the Bayon is Hyundai's modern and easy-to-use system.
You can control the climate through the media screen…
… and the Bayon has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as well.
When you put it into reverse you have a lovely clear camera image and a couple of views to choose from…
…you can turn the parking sensors off with a button down in the central console.
Across the front dash there are four aircon vents; two in the centre and one at either end, but none in the back for the rear passengers. Being a small hatch-like SUV we didn't find it too much of a problem and pointed the central vents towards the rear passengers.
The 2023 Hyundai Bayon Ultimate had some luxuries we did enjoy like the heated front seats, which were very welcome as we are not used to the British cold!
To sum up with the Hyundai Bayon, it makes a great little family car, for the four of us and the occasional lanky teenage nephew making us a five, it has plenty of room inside for child seats as well.
In the boot there was room for our suitcases or our umbrella stroller…
… or the family dog ‘Dobbo'.
The 2023 Hyundai Bayon has a four-star EuroNCAP safety rating. Scoring 82% for child occupancy testing and 76% for adult occupancy testing. It was quite fuel-efficient at around 6 litres per 100km.
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