2008 Hyundai iMax
February 12, 2008 by George Skentzos
Alongside the iLoad commercial van, Hyundai is offering its new iMax people carrier, offering practicality and efficiency comparable to its European and Japanese rivals without the price tag to match.
The Hyundai iMax shuttle accommodates eight occupants in comfort, designed to meet the needs of the corporate sector whilst also catering to large families.
Seating is comprised of two bucket seats for passengers up front, followed by two rows of bench seats, each suitable for three adults with ample leg room.
Even with all eight seats occupied, the iMax still provides enough place to stow belongings, with 851-litres of cargo area.
Interior ambiance replicates a much smaller family car with two-tone interior trim, a six-speaker audio system and dual zone ducted air conditioning throughout.
Interior appointments include: keyless entry, central locking, electric wing mirror adjustment, power front windows, a tilt-adjustable steering wheel, remote fuel flap release, and an auxiliary input jack.
Dual front airbags, remote keyless entry (two remote keys are standard), alarm and anti-lock brakes (ABS) are standard, although much like the iLoad, ESP and TCS is yet to be calibrated for the petrol variant but is standard on the diesel.
The iMax is also available with either the 2.5-litre CRDi diesel engine which develops 125kW and 392Nm or the 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine producing 129kW and 228Nm.
Fuel efficiency for the diesel is welcoming at just 8.5 litres per 100km for the five-speed manual and 9.6 litres per 100km for the five-speed Selectronic automatic transmission.
Models and pricing
- Hyundai iMax shuttle
- Hyundai iMax 2.4 petrol auto $36,990 RRP
- Hyundai iMax 2.5 CRDi manual $39,990 RRP
Print it: 
can’t believe it doesn’t offer a suite of airbags for a people mover.
Diesel would be the way to go!
Does that mean they are going to get rid of the trajet?
Maybe Duck although they sell the Hyundai version of the Kia Grand Carnival in the States known as the Entourage. I think the Trajet was phased out a couple of years ago over there.
Anti spam was Toyota! Is this an Omen?
Nice looking van and it has a front which has to be a good thing.
Might give Hiace a run perhaps.
Do Kia still make the Pregio?
Haven’t seen a direct van based people mover for quite some time now.
No thanks.
How will this give the Hiace a run? The Hiace is a van, this is an 8 seater. Completely different market, I’d say.
Sorry, comment mean’t to go on the iload space.
Nice van, with a front, whats the length of the van?
On a naming convention…
Iload, Imax whats next…
ImaHyundai
Model copied from nissan elgrand.
But still a good effort from hyundai.
Great car!
REALCARS -
Pregio is still made in Malaysia RHD and Ecaudor in LHD.
No longer imported into Oz because the pollution from the engine was killing all the dolphins :-)
I will miss mine, never missed a beat, brakes where pox though!
Cheers
F-0
It mentions above that there is a 5 speed auto available with the diesel, but the Hyundai website says its only available in a manual. I think Hyundai should bring out an auto diesel if they really want to sell these.
It is a really nice van. i went for a ride in one last night . plenty of leg room and drove fairly well in time that i saw.
Very nice vechile for a fairly young car company.
Just ordered a new i Max and we have ordered a bench seat from the i load to make it a 9 seater to meet the australian standards . we have got the 1st 9 seater and get it any day now. it is so roomy as i have 3 car seats and we are not crambed up as our poor star wagon was a bit too squeezy. Thanks Hyundai as we are very happy. for all those people that need a 9 seater hyundai can do it.
Hope you dont have as much trouble with yours as we have. Its been in the shop 4 times now forthe same problem. No one knows why. It has cost us more than $6000 in standby fees for another vehicle cause its a taxi.
They’re nice vans. I’ve seen them up close…
However, I just imported a 2001 Nissan Elgrand (the Imax obviously copies heavily from the latest Elgrand version). For well, under $20,000 I bought a spotless 8-seater with a 3.5l VQ35DE engine. Yes, I don’t have the economy of the Imax (although if I went for the diesel things would be different), but this thing is an eye-turner, with pickup you wouldn’t believe at half the price of an Imax.
For a new vehicle, the Imax is great, though.
Lots_A_Kids, which dealer did you go through? I’ve spoken with 3 in Brisbane and they tell me you can’t but the front seat of the iLoad in the iMax. Is this an custom/engineered mod? Or was your dealer happy to just do a swap?
I’m buying one next week. We’ll be removing the back bench seat to make room for a wheelchair+passenger, wheelchair lift and harnesses, so we’ll lose 3 seats at the back, so if we could gain 1 at the front by doing an iLoad/iMax swap that would be great!
Hope you can read this and reply in time, I’ll be grilling these dealers again!
Daniel S how did you go with the fitting of the wheel chair, as we are looking at doing the same as yourself. Were you able to go ahead with a internal lifter or did you go with a side lifter? we have been looking at vitos, or Volksies but to be able to pick up the imax for under 40k changes everything.
I have been looking for an 8 seater to replace my 1984 Ford Spectron (Mazda Traveler) and have looked at several vans. Most are just too expensive. The nearest rival to this van is its cousin the Kia Grand Carnival.
The iMAX has a diesel and even with the petrol motor is more economical to the Kia. It also has 3 point seat belts for the middle passengers.
The biggest problem with the iMAX is the lack of leg room in the third row for adults. The third row has no seat adjustment like the Torago has. The second row of the iMAX will not go forward enough to allow a 6 foot adult to sit in the third row, whereas the Kia is an almost true eight seater. I say almost because even though it has leg room in the third row it lacks head room.
If you never have to carry 8 adults the iMAX is excellent value
The old Ford had has plenty of head and leg room in both second and third rows but only a 1.8 liter motor and age that goes against it.
Wonderful and space car
Wonderful and spacious car
I had one on demo last week. It was a petrol version – Auto transmission.
I thought it was quite good to drive on the freeway, but lacking power about town…. very down on power and sluggish pulling away from the lights.
No arm rests on the front seat unlike the Trajet (very poor)
Huge boot space. (very good)
Seats do not fold flat??? (Very poor) limits the type of loads you can carry. Have to remove seats for larger loads.
No ABS? (Poor)
No Cruise control (Poor)
High to step into, difficult for the elderly.
Cheap sound system (Compared to my 2005 Toyota Camry).
Reverse park sensors (excellent)
No rear screen wiper (poor)
2.0 metres high (will not fit in my local car park!
I loose my Toyota Camry next week and pick up an I-Max :-(
It will have the 2.4 Petrol engine, Automatic Transmission, cruise control (extra) ABS (Extra) Side steps for better access (Extra)
Mixed feelings really, will be good for going out with a large group, but as it’s my company car it’s free, I guess I shouldn’t complain too much……. I’m gonna miss my Camry!!!
Daniel S
We got our i max from Hyundai Morley city in Perth last week and it is a nine seater. They ordered a row of front seats from the i load and an engineer called W.Jack Apjar in Bayswater Perth was the only one that the infrastructure would let do it. They did a fantastic job and now we can go out as a family and it is so spacious only thing is there is no back wiper and you need a reversing camera to see especially when you are at a car park. even that there is sensors at the back.
I had 50 Hours to complete a round Trip from Hervey Bay to Melbourne so with no sleep a brand new one of these and an IPOD with direct link into AUX port I was crusing. First of you really sit up HIGH and I mean HIGH as a Bonus your lights are up high so you are really flooding the road with plenty of light (BEING AN ANTI FOG LIGHT PERSON) they were not used even in the fog they provided me with no help and all you people that insist on having them on when its raining or foggy should be bannished!!!
Like a pair of Lightforce HID’s the lights were AWESOME and in low beam terrific. THESE Are not the 60/55 combos you would expect in a vehicle like thie rather 60Watt low BEAMS fixed and then a seperate space for 55 watt bulbs with a Very small but powerful reflectore. Climate control just worked I loved having the warmer air coming through the rear cabin vents and a slightly gcooler and fresher breex through the front. IT WAS ONLY ME in the van so seriously SELFISH!!! NO A/C used at all as I was ungry for range. The best I could squeeze was 750kms before MR Jerry had to help out to get me up to Moonie. As a result that was over some hilly terrain so I dare say on flat run you will score 800km. Petrol version of course. Cabine is quite comfortable & Seriously QUIET. The transmission is smoothe but High end changes in the hiolls are SLOPPY to say the least. 3-4th can be a dilleo not enough trque and its straight down to thrid. makes me wonder why they have the third gear the 2nd gear pulls a long load and then 4th intervenes and third or O/D just seems useless even when slowing down into a town if you hit the button MEH!!!
Ride was quite smoothe and beelive me I had hit some really really rough roads. For a van this TALL it is seriously quiet and although Iam not a VAN MAN If the cost was a little less I would certainly consider it.
4.5 out of 5 I cant fault it but I think it could have been a little more in some areas but since Iam not a VAN MAN I will leave that .5 available for the next time. THANKS AGAIN
Chris N: We had three companies in Brisbane look at what options for lifts, etc we could put in the car. Tramanco worked out the best and they can fit a wheelchair lift in the back for around the $10k mark. It means removing the rear seat altogether though.
lots_a_kids: Thanks for the reply, we’re not pursuing the extra seat at the moment….as we our boy is only 5yo we can easily pick him up into the seat at the moment, so we’ll be delaying the wheelchair lift/removal of rear seat for a while.
But we did buy the iMax, great car.
Just one piece of advice for anyone that gets one, make sure your sliding doors are closed properly and the interior lights are off, we left one of our side doors incorrectly closed for a few days and it drained the battery completely. There are a few things that could be better, but value for money is excellent!
Daniel S:
Great stuff. the car is great to drive and the kids just love the room as there is so much boot space. i had front sensors, a reverse camera, tow bar and seat covers. the only important thing is it needed a rear wiper as i have to wipe it nearly every day to get the dust off. i should be a sales person as so many people have seen my 9 seater and a few have ordered a 9 seater in perth. but if the 12 seater comes out i will buy one straight away. good luck with your car and hope your son enjoys the car ride.
we have been waiting for or new imax for a couple weeks now. after been told the colour we ordered is not availible until another shipment arrives, so we had to make do with silver (not happy). love all the room and seating as our 4th son is due in a few weeks and our other 3 boys are all still in car seats, plus two dogs we need plenty of room. we are a bit worried about buying a new release car, realy hope it doesnt have any problems. 5 year warranty sold us though. it would be great to have a auto diesel avaliable as we would much pefer a diesel.
Will become a family of six next year and will have four children under 5, all requiring car restraints or booster seat. Does the iMax have at least four anchor restraint points, as the website says it only has three?
Had one for 1 month now. Nice car to drive but have concern with the mileage we are getting. Basically only 400km on a 75L tank… That equates to around 18L/100km, which is hardly near the 10.6L/100km they claim on their website. This is the petrol automatic model… Wondering if there is a problem thats causing it to consume too much gas? We are very light on the throttle, and yes we are in Overdrive mode for 95% of the driving…
Any other owners can comment on fuel economy?
We have bought a new deisel auto and have 4 kids under 3. We had to get a grab bar installed behind the back seat to make more than 3 anchor points. Now we have 6 anchor points.
4 kids under 3? Do you have a television? If so then perhaps your husband needs a job!
Where did you get the grab bar from?
nice car….if your looking for a similar one…especially
those who needs a chair lift…try to look for an imported
nissan elgrand,which cost much less,but similar feature..
We now have our imax and are very happy with it. We are now looking to buy a large Jayco campervan or small pop top caravan. But we are not sure how we will go about towing it in the imax petrol, as they are a bit sluggish with power. Has anyone had towing experiance with the petrol imax?
Deano we are also having fuel consumpion problems. We are lucky to get 450km a tank we have had our imax petrol for 4 months now. We have only driven around town though and not any road trip yet. I wonder if driving on the open road would make much difference? I sure hope so!
Family of 6, I think I’m just going to accept that the Imax petrol doesnt go near the specs re fuel consumption, and reading more about it, they use ADR 81 regulations which means they dont have to quote fuel use in terms of fair or blanaced city vs highway driving, so I reckon there figures are purely highway driving, and perhaps with the most favorable conditions too, nothing near what you encounter on actual roads.
I think it just chews a lot of juice because it is a very heavy vehicle matched with a smallish engine for its size so it probably chews heaps on takeoff each time which makes it not too efficient for city driving.
Saying that it is a nice car with plenty of room… Makes most other vans look tacky and small and cramped in comparison. Only wish they could have finetuned the engine a bit better for better economy, and fixed those darn gear ratios! 3rd to 4th ratio is shocking in practice.
we have just hit the 5000km and the car seems to be working a lot better. heaps more power and go. don,t know about the petrol consumption yet but this last tank seems to have lasted a lot longer than usal. i will watch how many ks i get out of the next tank. both my hubby and i have noticed a huge difference in the car though.
We Are in need of a new Van…& think this may just be the go…
Are they very high in height??
& also are they alot longer then say a mitsibishi starwagon??
thanks
I just took the TD auto version for a test drive. I was disappointed that the rear seats don’t fold down past 45degrees or can be removed! I was also surprised that the middle row split is set up for left hand drive vehicles – meaning that the single folding seat is on the drivers side.
I really like the look of this car, but am worried about the lack of airbags too.
I thought the auto was a bit sluggish taking off from lights – I am wondering if anyone has the TD version in manual and if it has more “get up and go”? With all the minuses tho I am still thinking of getting one :)
Well… so excited we pick up our Imax today :) I cant wait!!! So beautiful to drive & such a good looking car
Hi
I am really interested in this car, however need more than 3 anchor points for car seats. Kelly, where did you get your grab bar and where was it installed? I dont even know where to start looking?
Many Thanks