Hyundai i30 Tourer launches from $22,990

A wagon version of the popular i30 hatch, the Hyundai i30 Tourer wasn't originally intended for the Australian market as it is only built in Europe, where all i30 hatchbacks hail from Korea. Favourable exchange rates, however, means that the replacement for the strong-selling previous-generation i30 CW has been secured for this market.

The Hyundai i30 Tourer has arrived on our shores even earlier than expected, nine months after the all-new second-generation i30 hatch hit the showrooms. The previous generation i30 was launched in Australia in 2007, with a further two-year wait before the i30 CW wagon version hit our shores in 2009.

Key differences between the i30 hatch and i30 Tourer concern the engine choice and rear suspension. The Czech-made Tourer is available with a 1.6-litre GDi petrol engine, giving up 11kw and 15Nm to the larger 1.8-litre engine in the i30 hatch. Both hatch and wagon share an option of a 1.6-litre turbo diesel.

The i30 Tourer does, however, gain a multi-link rear suspension set-up, replacing the cheaper torsion beam on its i30 hatch sibling.

Designed in Rüsselsheim Germany and incorporating Hyundai’s fluidic design language, the i30 Tourer is available in two trim levels, Active and Elite.

In the Active grade there's a choice of 1.6-litre GDi petrol engine with six-speed manual ($22,990) or six-speed auto ($24,990), or 1.6-litre turbo diesel with six-speed manual ($25,590) or six-speed auto ($27,590). The Elite is available in diesel auto guise only, priced from $31,190.

The i30 Tourer’s pricing represents a $2000 increase over the previous generation model wagon, as well as the current i30 hatch.

The 1.6-litre GDi (Gasoline Direct Injection) engine is from Hyundai’s Gamma engine family, and shared with the Hyundai Veloster and Kia Rio. In the i30 Tourer application it develops 99kW of power at 6300rpm and 163Nm of torque at 4850rpm, with fuel economy of 6.3-litres/100km for the manual or 6.9-litres/100km for the automatic.

The 1.6-litre CRDi (Common Rail Direct Injection) engine produces the same 94kW at 4000rpm and 260Nm of torque between 1900-2750rpm as the i30 hatchback.

Fuel economy is rated at 4.6L/100km for the manual and 5.8L/100km for the auto.

There’s an extensive list of standard features across the i30 Tourer range including seven airbags, rear parking sensors, LED daytime running lamps, 16-inch alloy wheels with full-size alloy spare, cruise control with speed limiter function, Bluetooth hands-free phone and music streaming, five-inch touchscreen audio system, remote keyless entry, Cargo blind and safety barrier net and glove box cooling rounds out the highlights.

The i30 Tourer Elite adds a rear view camera, dual-zone climate control, auto electrically folding side mirrors, auto sensing headlamps and wipers, push button start, as well as a 7-inch touchscreen with satellite navigation and SUNA live traffic updates.

Sharing the i30 hatch’s 2650mm wheelbase, the i30 Tourer adds 185mm in total length and offers 528-litres of stowage capacity with the rear seatbacks up, an increase of 150-litres over the hatch, and 113-litres over the previous-generation i30 wagon.

Fold the rear seats flat and luggage capacity expands to 1642-litres, an increase of 326-litres over the hatch and 247-litres over it’s predecessor.

The new i30 Tourer also sports a low loading height and ingress angles for easy access, as well as giving the wagon sportier edge to the tailgate design.

Elite models also feature illuminated door handles with puddle lamps, rear seat centre armrests, auto up/down on all windows, and an auto windscreen defog function and a supervision instrument cluster with a colour TFT LCD centre display.

The seven-inch touchscreen on the i30 Tourer Elite operates with Navteq mapping and features motorway junction views, lane guidance, speed warnings, 3D landmark visuals, multi-route planning, easy access to “parking” location function, and address input with intelligent typewriter.

The entire i30 model range gets a five-star ANCAP safety rating with a full suite of safety gear including stability control, traction control, anti-locking brakes with electronic brake force distribution and brake assist. The i30 Tourer ads emergency stop signal and hill start assist (for manual models).

Expect the new-generation Hyundai i30 Tourer to arrive in showrooms later this month.