Hyundai i40 Tourer estate (2011-2019) - Engines, drive & performance
Reasonable dynamics, but the Hyundai i40 Tourer isn’t as sharp as the Ford Mondeo to drive
The Hyundai i40 Tourer is more at home on the motorway or A-road than it is on a winding country lane. If you want a car that can pull off that trick, then take a look at the Ford Mondeo, which is the benchmark for a large, relatively affordable estate car.
The biggest barrier to the i40 providing driving entertainment is its overly light steering, which doesn’t offer anywhere near enough feedback as to what the front wheels are doing. The power steering provides an unnatural feel, which only compounds the problem.
Having said that, the i40 Tourer is a very comfortable car to drive long distances in. The suspension soaks up bumps in the road very well, but it still controls the car’s body movements sufficiently when cornering.
Hyundai i40 diesel engines
Two versions of the same 1.7-litre diesel engine are offered in the Hyundai i40 Tourer. The entry-level version produces 114bhp, which translates to a rather leisurely 0-62mph time of 12.6 seconds. That’s quite a long time to get up to a motorway cruise for a car like this. While the engine responds well, it needs to be driven reasonably hard to keep it in the zone where it produces most of its power.
The more powerful version of the engine is the better bet, especially given the only modest increase in purchase price. It cuts the 0-62mph time to a more impressive 10.5 seconds, with the automatic taking 11.
Once at a motorway cruise, the i40 feels smooth and refined, and while the less powerful engine may need a gearchange or two to make an overtake, the more powerful version takes things in its stride more convincingly.
