Hyundai i45

[Jp66]

Btw, what is the OMV value?

[Domh]

Wow, 9l/100km that's very very good fuel consumption for a 2.4l car , especially one with such a big body.

[Zyrofillica]

Engine capacity 1,998 cc

Engine type 4-cylinder in-line 16-valves DOHC

Compression ratio 10.5

Bore x Stroke (86 x 86) mm

Power 165 bhp

Torque 198 Nm

 

nice specs from a normal MPI tech engine. even beating mivec specced engines! this is not the DI spec one right? Hyundai engines are amazing.

[Wintersonata]

Congras on your new ride. How much did you pay for it?

Did Komoco ask for top-up with the recent COE rise?

Edited April 17, 2010 by Wintersonata

[Alfisti168]

Just visited the showroom i45 2.0. No license yet, hence here are just my first impressions of the interior:

 

STYLING

Exterior styling is very cool. The rear looks like a widened Avante. But overall it is still a nice car.

Interior: Only came across the black interior with piano black trim. very nice. More avantgarde than the Teana and Camry which i went to see today too.

 

EQUIPMENT

Interior looks very well-equipped. Has rear air-con too - a big plus. But on closer look, you realise the that the aircon is controlled by a 1-2-3-4 knob (the 2.4 has dual zone climate control). and there's no auto wiper and headlamps -- mentioned by humblepie above.

 

STEERING WHEEL

Well, it is circular. have buttons on both sides for both 2.0 and 2.4 (in 2.0, the LHS buttons are for the radio and the RHS for the trip computer. For 2.4, LHS for radio, RHS for cruise control). I like the steering wheel - it is smaller than the camry and hence sportier. Thick too. However, there is leather only at the top and bottom of the steering wheel. The sides are actually plastic. If you rest your hand at the 9-and-3 position, you will feel half-leather and half-plastic - something that shouldn't happen for an i45.

 

QUALITY

the aircon knobs didnt impress me. But they are not really a turn-off either. Still, it could be better. Buttons for the radio can be made from softer plastics. But they are not often touched, do they? Whereas the buttons on the steering wheel, and those for the windows are good. My concern lies on the plastics surrounding the front cupholder. You see, I brought my nail across a small portion of the soft-touch surface. Then I looked at it. No scratches! Wheeeeeeee. Then i looked from another angle. OMG! That surface marks easily. The front seats are well sculptured, but the seat base is short. Camry and Teana seats have sufficiently long seat base and are more comfortable as a result. The driver's RHS armrest too reminds me of the sonata taxi. It feels the same.

 

THE SPACE

front footwell is very spacious. But your left leg will rest on the plastic on the lower dash. And that is exceptionally unyielding. Sitting at the rear, the same problem with the seats arises. THE SEAT BASE IS JUST TOO SHORT. Legroom is not bad, if you were to use a ruler to measure, but below the front seats, there isn't much room to rest my feet. Camry is much better. Though the situation here is slightly better than the Teana, I would prefer the Teana coz it has more comfortable seats. Also, the width of the rear has not improved from the old Sonata. If you are the odd one sitting in the middle, you will definitely rub shoulders with your neighbours. But as I exit the car, I start to understand why. You see, for good side-impact protection, the seats are sculptured such that even if you sit beside the window, you are still a stretch from the door armrest. And when I exit the car, I stretch my legs and fleetingly, I feel like a five-year-old. However, it must be said that the same situation is replicated in the new e-class (yes, i went to see it today too).

 

THE BOOT

opening the boot is a strange experience. You see, from the car, you pull the button to open the boot. And you hear the boot explode. And after a while, you feel as if a car has just kissed you from the rear. Not a huge impact, but it is disconcerting. When I get down, I realised the boot has been completely opened. maybe it makes things more convenient, but I am just not used to it. The boot is spacious, but the camry's even more so.

 

VERDICT

interior, on the whole, looks cohesive, pleasant, sophisticated and attractive. Trounces the Mazda 6 by a huge margin. I do actually like it despite all its flaws. But the driver's seat is a major let-down.

Edited April 20, 2010 by Alfisti168

[Humblepie]

Nice review Alfist. I must say that you are a very observant person. Funny, I never noticed the seats and perhaps I can safely assume that you are a taller than average person. I am of average height only!

 

Something too I would like to add - there is no visible difference on the exterior between the 2.0L and 2.4L. Both have those not unattractive 17 inch rims. They have Hankook tyres on them and they are not bad either in terms of grip and comfort. On the subject of tyres, I have recent changed the tyres on my 2 seater (the other car) from Toyo T1R (Japanese) to Kumho Ecsta (Korean Ultra high performance) tyres. The grip was much better than the Toyos and more comfortable too (at the expense of sharper response). That is just saying that Korean automotive products have improved markedly.

 

With the COE going north at an alarming pace, the i45 will still represent the best value for money excecutive salon car and cheapest in this case doesn't mean worse fortunately. Not sure if the Chinese makes an Exec car for this market, but I will not expect the Chinese cars to catch up so quickly - maybe another 10 years or so.

[Alfisti168]

hmm. my SE told me 2.0 have 17" rims, 2.4 will have 18". I dun believe it though.

 

Nn uu are wrong. my height 167 only.

Edited April 21, 2010 by Alfisti168

[Ender]

Saw one on the road a couple days ago. Good looking and strong road presence, hard not to take notice if it's nearby.

[Ferraricalifornia]

this i45 is miles better than the NF it replaces....

 

i thought the 2.4L should have auto headlamps and auto wipers???

 

and is there any news that KMC will bring in the two-tone black and beige interior???

 

how about the panoramic version?? is it worth the extra money???

[Darryn]

They are not going to sell to as a taxi or the taxi owner not going to buy from them?

 

That make a huge differ hor

 

they are not going to make the car available to taxi operators. In reality, for this sort of use, there is a lot of additional support required to be able to offer the car as a cab, if Hyundai dun wanna do it, then its not gonna happen.

 

But I think that the prev sonata will still be made available as a cab.

 

[Johnsun007]

v. nice car.. i tested drive it last week. 2.4L got sunroof. beautiful.

[Alfisti168]

this i45 is miles better than the NF it replaces....

 

i thought the 2.4L should have auto headlamps and auto wipers???

 

and is there any news that KMC will bring in the two-tone black and beige interior???

 

how about the panoramic version?? is it worth the extra money???

got. depends on the exterior colour. iirc if you buy black exterior uu will get beige interior.

[Mahjong74]

Are you the one driving the new black i45 along

Upper Bukit timah road this afternoon?

 

Nice Car.

[Throttle2]

went to HD last weekend so pop by Hyundai. saw the i45. nice car. materials used are good for a korean.

 

how much?

 

[Humblepie]

Alfist, trust me - the 2.4L has 17" rims as well. That is why I am considering changing them to 19" just for the looks. But since getting the car and realizing that the Hankook tyres are pretty good, I'm holding back for now. As this is a rather big car, chances are that with 19" and low profile tyres, the rims will get scratched in no time. Changing from 17" to 18" - too subtle for the money, IMO. If you have to spend some serious $, should at least be able to tell the diff.

 

[Darryn]

went to HD last weekend so pop by Hyundai. saw the i45. nice car. materials used are good for a korean.

 

how much?

 

$107k (before drop in COE) for the 2.4

[Alfisti168]

ic.

 

But uu not scared the loss of performance when uu change to the 19"rims meh?

Edited April 23, 2010 by Alfisti168

[Wintersonata]

$107k (before drop in COE) for the 2.4

 

According to SG carmart, it's still selling at $105,999 after the COE drop.