We bought a Hyundai i30 1.6 CRDi on an 09 plate after it had had 6 months as a hire car.

We ran it for five and a bit years / 65k miles, until we sold it privately this April. Whilst it had always had a few trim squeaks and rattles, nothing mechanical ever went wrong with it. I have a suspicion that some suspension component was starting to be less than 100% on the right rear corner, but given the number of speed humps my wife had to cover on her commute to work, this is not hugely surprising. Mechanically I have no reason to suppose the car would not have carried on in the same manner, possibly needing some suspension work at some point.

It was a comfortable, reliable and surprisingly enjoyable to drive car that I was sad to let go - but arrival of son #2 meant it just didn't have the room we needed.

As you're taking the car on long runs, I shouldn't have thought that a diesel would take any harm from being left in between journeys. That said - whilst HJ's car-by-car doesn't show any particularly prevalent issues, that doesn't make them invincible, and as with any used car of any significant age, condition and evidence of proper service history is vital - a 2007 car is now 9 years old and no matter the reputation for reliability when new, how it's been treated since is more important.

Edited by steelghost on 20/11/2015 at 15:02

Cant comment on Kia's, but they are about same as an i30. I have had my 2010 i30 diesel auto since new, currently on 65k miles, pristine & and regularly dealer serviced. A great deal has gone wrong with it during its life - including instrument cluster, gearbox, steering column and much more. Suggests to me very poor component quality control. Compound that with a breakdown a year ago that took the Hyundai dealer + Hyundai UK tech 3 months to get to root cause - despite use of flight recorders etc. They seemed to throw parts at it at random, fortunately at cost to Hyundai thanks to the warranty. My car also creaks and rattles a lot and always has. I can compare with an Astra of similar vintage or a Focus that is rather older and my i30 really is the (very) poor relation.

I have approached Hyundai UK customer services & even their CEO regarding all of this on several occasions (eg about extending warranty etc) but they dont want to know.

So - sorry - beware - I would not recommend an i30...unless you want to by mine? And no I will not buy another!

Might also be worth checking aftermarket parts prices as they seem to me to be much more costly than for other equivalent cars.

Thanks all, for your comments.

I read a comment on another forum which mentioned that earlier models of the Kia ceed diesels had a different turbo, which was prone to failure, and that models post-2010 face lift had an upgraded turbo. Does the same apply to the hyundai i30 as well?

Would you know if the turbo failure issue was widespread or is it relatively rare? If the turbo failed, were they replaced with the upgraded turbo? And if the turbo has not failed, is it something to be wary of on the pre-2010 models?