Hi, this is my first post here lol.

My Husband and I were looking at the i30 online last night and were very interested in it. I was wondering if you could answer some questions for me about the car.

Firstly, how many anchor points does the car have? We will be needing 2.

Will there be enough space for 2 car seats and a booster seat across the back seat?

Now for the silly question lol. How many cup holders does it have and were are they located?.

Thank you in advance for your help :beer: .

Oh, I forgot to mention, we have had 3 hyundai's before and love the cars. We have had 2 new excels and we are now currently driving around in a 2003 Getz.

This post has been edited by kamkam: Jun 4 2008, 11:03 PM

I can answer re the cup holders....

2 in the front, one behind the other just to the rear of the gear stick. One for large bottles, the other a bit smaller.

2 in the back in the drop down armrest. These are both of the smaller variety.

Hey, thanks for the reply :) :) . Bugger about the cup holders being in the middle. I will have 3 kids in the back lol. I wish car makers wouldn't put the cup holders there, or maybe I am just fussy :P .

Hi kamkam,

The i30 has 3 anchor points and enough room across the back seat for 2 car seats and a booster.. IMO,

Great Car.... see also

www.i30ownersclub.com

:)

Dazz

That is fantastic, thank you for your help :) :) . I am going to check out the website you posted now :) .

kamkam,

The i30 has child ar anchor points (in addition to the standard anchor points in the rear cargo floor) known as Isofix. These seem to be common in Europe although I did find mention of them on a few Aussie sites. Seems that some new child booster seats have this system. Somewhere on this site I think you will find a UK member (soon to be living in Oz) asked about them.

The i30 has more room in the back than other cars in its class making it much better for adults to attend to children in the back from outside the car reaching in.

Bob

Thank you for your reply Bob :) . Everything that has been written about the i30 makes me even more adamant that this is the car to own.

We might have to make a trip to SA to buy it. The dealer in Alice Springs hasn't got the competition so we won't get as good of a deal then if we went to SA.

The other question I had is with fuel economy. We will be driving to places like Ayres Rock and the Devils Marbles. It is a 130km zone, which chances are we won't be doing, but we will be sitting on about 110. How much fuel would we be using per 100kms approximately.

Also, how much fuel does it chew towing a trailer. We go camping a fair bit and take our trailer with us. It is made of aliminium but has a bit of gear on it.

We are selling our Toyota Prado then will look at buying the i30. We just need a buyer.

Alice Springs - I'm envious. Lived up there (Hermannsburg) for just over 4 years in the early 80s and have been back several times to Alice. Have a daughter up there now who works in local government, plus a number of old friends.

Re fuel economy - We got 4.9 on a recent 4000km round trip to Qld driving mostly around 100-110 (Average speed was 85kph). We had luggage and 4 in the car.

Re towing a trailer - I've done it once but only with a double bed and a mattress. Raised fuel economy from around 4.8 to 5.2.

Who are the Hyundai dealers in Alice?

Bob

PS We also own a 2007 Getz (wife's car, although I like driving it sd much as she likes driving the i30, so everyone is happy when we have to swap).

This post has been edited by tjaliwalpa: Jun 5 2008, 07:28 AM

I must admit I love living in Alice. It is beautiful, although the weather is starting to cool down a bit. Hermannsburg is an interesting place to live. We passed through there on the way to Palm Valley. I have some beautiful photos from Palm Valley. I also have a Albert Namatjira hanging proudly on my wall that we bought from Hermannsburg. A reprint, not an original. Cost us about $40 lol.

There is only one dealer here and that is Centralian. They also stock a few other types of cars too. The other dealer is Peter Kittle and we wouldn't go there after one of the staff tried to rip us off on a car we were considering. She said there was no way she would drop below $5k because that is how much it owed them. I called back, spoke to another person and was told the car was $4500 but he can talk and lower. That was when we bought the Getz. It was more then we wanted to spend on a round a bout car, but luckily we did as we are now selling our main car.

Thanks for the info on the towing. That is really good economy. Even if it goes to 7ltrs, it is still good.

This post has been edited by kamkam: Jun 5 2008, 04:36 PM

Need to keep in mind that Bob's talking about the diesel obviously.

This post has been edited by funkigreendog: Jun 5 2008, 06:33 PM

a territorian hey ! cool.

since you own so many Hyundai's why not have a look at teh Hyper Auto Club.

it's an australian Hyundai club that has about 500 members, and there is a branch in the NT, be it small. always welcoming new members !

http://www.hyperaustralia.com/forums/index.php




good luck with the purchase of the i30 !

Hey thanks for the link Medic_01. Looking into the forum now.

funkigreendog, yeah I thought it was the diesel. Diesel here is about 30 cents more then petrol, so either way I think it will even out in costs.

Do your research on the Internet, even take a short trip (while flight fares are still cheap, before the fuel hikes hit it ...) to a major capital city to get the i30 if needed. The only problem you're likely to have is the i30, especially the diesel, is so darn popular that there is simply no room for any discounts. This won't change until the Czech plant starts i30 production in 2009. So you really like the car, pay for it (there's obviously nothing wrong with that, since most ppl would rather pay for something they want, than pay less for something they're only half-hearted over) and enjoy the car.

I spent the past 4 months searching high and low and testing every conceivable small diesel on the market, and the i30 was the one I would have preferred most, closely followed by the Mazda 3 Diesel. But the best I could do with the i30 specced up to the same level (traction control, side skirts, cruise) to the Maz 3 was $31k - not surprising because there is simply no desire for any dealer to discount.

So this week I put a deposit on an all-black 2007 but brand new Maz 3 diesel yesterday .... Mazda has been a victim of their own success with the 3 petrol selling like hot cakes (highest selling private car in Aust), leaving most of its uneducated customers (including a heck of a lot of women) not knowing they have a 3 diesel .... plus not being available in automatic has hurt them too. They've only just resumed ordering 3 diesels for 2008, after suffering a massive stockpile of 2007 diesel cars .... contrast that with the popularity of i30 diesel ... interestingly City Ford in Sydney has heaps of their 2007 Focus diesel at $21990 ($6k off), but by the time on-roads and the safety pack are added, it will touch $25k, and after sampling it, that car drives well, but the fit and finish of the car inside compared to the top notch i30 is like comparing Toyota and Audi (I'm serious - the i30's interior is so well put together it's incredible).

At the end of the day my Maz3 deal ($26.7k on-roads with roof racks included) was a no-brainer, but 12 months from now with the i30 Czech plant running, it would have been a different story .... but overall, I'm very happy with the Maz3 ... it really is a beautiful looking car.

Anyway, the only bummer is I'll have to source a full sized spare wheel and tyre to replace the pathetic (should be banned) space saver in my Maz3 .... I would not have had this problem with the i30! The i30 boot IMO also sets the standard for all small cars - so well designed with storage spaces and full sized alloy wheel and tool set located in the wheel well ... amazing.

So I guess it comes down to how much you really want the car - if it has that "fits perfectly" feeling, think less of the money and just go for it .... the i30 certainly has that for a lot of people! But looking for i30 discounts right now is akin to hen's teeth .... :)

Lastly, if you get the i30, at least you can be a full-fledged member of this forum unlike me! (I find this forum much more helpful and informative though, than the slightly hoonish Mazda 3 forum...)

But do u know that the MAZDA 3 MZR-CD is using SOHC engine?

as i30 we use DOHC

Welcome KamKam, despite what others may say, there are very good deals to be had by shopping around, price is always negotiable despite what a salesperson may say to you, its their obligation to pass your offer onto their sales manager.

Any sales manager who lets a buyer walk away when they have every intention to buy on the spot has no intention of doing business with you period, they must have met their quota for the month and are cruising for suckers who will pay more than retail.

Its a great small car, perfect for todays environment in more ways than one, though Im not so sure about towing using a front wheel drive car.

When Ive towed, Ive always used rear drive vehicles.

Whats for certain, you will love the car as many here do, I just see it as a reliable appliance that gets me from A to B cheaply.

This post has been edited by turbo1600: Jun 6 2008, 03:55 PM