My mother in law has an '06 plate Kia Rio whaich she has owned from new. It is showing no signs of rust anywhere on the bodywork and there have been no MOT advisories for any rust underneath. The two places she has lived since getting the Rio have bothe been coastal towns.

Also, regarding the car in question, the i30N hatchback is currently recieving huge praise from the motoring press regarding how well it drives. So i wouldn't jump to any conclusions about it not being as good to drive as the Mazda.

Not sure if you were aiming your comments to me, but the car I was referring to was the standard i30 Fastback (HJ's review says the car isn't as good at handling as the Mazda, Focus etc and has a hard choppy ride, even compared to its [standard] hatch sibbling). The (standard) i30 generally has improved in terms of handling, but its still not up to the standar of those I mentioned, taking the reviews into account. Its closer, and probably better than my older Mazda3 (even when new), but the others have moved on as well. I might have been underwhelmed by the perfomance of the latest Mazdas, but I couldn't fault their handling.

What I am hoping for is for the great dynamics of the N cars (and it seems, not that a hard ride given the cars they are) to be translated into suspension imporvements for the standard models - I don't really need an N version, the 1.6 T-GDI would be perfect, the 1.4 T-GDI is still likely better (driving wise) than the Mazda 2.0 (at least in 120PS form) and with a mid to upper spec model on 16in or at most 17in rims. More of a GT car than a hot hatch/saloon is what I want. If I could afford the N and it wasn't a really harsh ride (even after a few years), well....

Hopefully as they sell (though, like the Mazda3, I suspect the i30 Fastback generally won't sell that many, in comparison to the hatch - smaller saloons [even the Audi A3 one] just don't sell well in the UK), some owner's reviews will filter through to this website. Maybe having a N car in the range will help sales of them generally.

Andy have you considered the Civic 1.5T? Seems like it might be up your street - Japanese, strong turbo engine, independent rear suspension with decent ride...

I like the latest version's interior (except for the rubbish voume controls via the touchscreen - not a safe feature), performance and (hopefully, according to the review) drive, not so much the exterior looks. However, there are two things that means its a no, for me anyway:

1) The price - Hondas now are VERY expensive, on a par with Audis and rarely can you secure more than a few £000 in discounts at dealers, and even when you can via brokers, a Civic still costs about £5k more than an equivalent Mazda3, SEAT Leon or Skoda Octavia. It may have better engineering than the Mazda, but not to that extent (costing 1/4 - 1/3 more).

2) Its too big. Its nearly the size of the current Mondeo (and probably why, for this and the last gen Civic, sales of the Accord plummeted and is now not sold in the UK). Realistically, I would like a car the size of the 3dr Golf or Leon SC (same boot size as the 5dr), and at most the same size as my Mazda3 (the current model is essentially the same size as my mk1). I already find it difficult (no parking sensors and a high bootline) to park my car, so I wouldn't want a car that's even bigger. The latest Mazda3 and i30 Fastback (similar size) are the maximum size I'd go to.

If they had not made the current car bigger (and if they'd made it in a 3dr version [similar to the Golf and Leon - why I like those] like the early 2000s Type R), then I might of forgone issue 1) if it met every other criteria. I'm personally not a fan of CVT autos either (OK for pootling, sound like a vacuum cleaner when you put your foot down a bit), which counts against it compared to the smooth TC in the Mazda, even if that does sap some performance.

I may be a bit picky as regards whatever car I'm going to buy next, but I'd rather wait until something comes along that I can live with. If Hyundai can (or have done, in the case of rust proofing [only time will tell]) resolve some issues as regards the standard i30 Fastback, then I would consider that over the Mazda3.

Saying that, the mk4 with its HCCI or SCCI petrol engine and seemingly great looks (at least for the hatch, if the motorshow version is anything to go by) might tempt me - if it turns out to be reliable and meets my driving comfort/dynamics criteria. It should be noted that this new model won't initially get the new engine type across the range - the current 1.5 and 2.0 N/A GDI engines will continue on for the mid and lower end models, which, as I've said before, won't be enough for me.

I really rate the Leon in 1.4 TSi FR spec. Sporty but not overly so, gutsy but economical and the later belt driven engines are so far proving utterly reliable. I’d have one of these before a high spec Kia or Hyundai that’ll crash in value. The FR Leon will appeal to younger boy racer buyers as it ages which will help resale.

As most will know we had 100% reliability form our Leon 1.4 TSi and it was absolutely brilliant to drive and ride in. Ours was a SE with the standard 16" wheels with 55 profile tyres since I did not want the 17" wheels with 45 profile tyres but they do appear to cause an issue on the used market. Ours was imaculate with a full Seat history and 18 months of Seats warranty remaining when we sold it. It sat on an independant VAG specialists forecourt for 9 months before being sold. With an FR badge it would have flown off the forecourt in weeks (if not days).

As for Kias rusting I am not convinced this really happens. Loads of aging Kias round these parts (Kia is the only new car retailer in town) and only rarely do you see one in poor condition and that will mostly be one of the unloved models from 15 or so years ago (think Mk 1 Rio). Only seen one rusty Ceed and that car had been crashed and never repaired, any brand would have rusted with that treatment.

Ideally I'd like to change from a manual to an auto, mainly to make the driving experience more relaxing, especially when driving in urban areas/heavy traffic. You're right - as I keep my cars a long time, I would be very concerned with a system (the DSG and Ford equivalent) that isn't reliable and consistently useable (i.e. the hesitation/jerkiness problem with some dual clutch systems) over the ownership period I would envisage. Its the reason why I prefer TC auto boxes, but that means I need to buy a more powerful car to offset the reduction in performance sapped by the TC box.

If there were no other significant 'issues', I could (unless I was commuting solely in urban areas) accept a manual gearbox or the Hyundai DCT (if that still proved reliable/useable over the long term). I probably wouldn't want a CVT if part of my driving was (as it is now) on faster, open roads where driving (occasionally) more spiritedly doesn't fit with the way CVTs work (even if the Honda and Toyota/Lexus versions are reliable)

As I've admitted before, I'm being VERY picky about my next car - fortunately, for the moment at least (touch wood), I don't need to make that choice, so am mulling over options, and Hyundai reworking the i30 Fastback into an N version may hopefully give me another option if they (as part of the process) improve the ride quality of the standard models in that range, making the 1.4 T-GDI 140 (like the 1.4/1.5 150 ACT TSi in the VAG cars) a decent prospect, especially as the boot opening is significantly larger than the Mazda3 equivalent.

I still have some reliability doubts (more electronics than anything else, which is why I don't like top spec models - as long as I can have climate control and electric windows, that's fine by me) as regards VAG cars, though perhaps not as much (avoiding the models with lots of gizmos) as I did a year or two ago. The customer care and overall honesty of VAG as a whole (e.g. Dieselgate, Monkeygate, others) does still worry me - to be honest, Mazda's post-sales patchy customer care does as well, but this is less important due to their better long term reliability, at least on their petrol-engined cars.

Besides my personal circumstances (trying to change my career [no ideas at present[) meaning a change of car (even though I can afford it) isn't a smart move at present, none of what's currently on offer either meets all my minimum requirements for the next one or ticks enough boxes (especially improvements over what I already have) to justify changing. I'm just hoping Hyundai's move here will help my process move forward.

In general, I like the way Hyundai and KIA are progressing (more than Mazda, although they are doing so with more limited R&D resources), especially on the driving dynamics and customer care/car reliability front, which mean a lot to me.

I wasn't really planning on making this thread devoted to my car-change issues, more using my journey in that regard to illustrate my hope for what the N car for the i30 Fastback might do for that model range more and, hopefully, for small saloons more widely, which I like but aren't that popular in the UK. If I were living in North America or Down Under, I'd have far more options as more of these type of models, and higher powered ones (e.g. the Mazda3 Fastback is available in 2.5 N/A petrol form).

The other thing that often means cars get crossed off my list is firm ride due to the combo of large wheels, low profile tyres and firm suspension setups, often for styling purposes, but sometimes to hide poor handling compared to rivals that can 'stand' having softer setups and more 'normal' tyres. My bad back won't take such a ride, and many mid-spec cars don't even offer a 17in wheel/tyre option on them and just come with 18in rims - even if the brakes (you don't need 18in brakes on a mid-spec engine like the 1.4/1.5T, perhaps on a 2.0 version) are only a 16-17in dia type and can accept a smaller wheel. This means taking a substantial financial hit when purchasing the car to change all 4 (maybe 5 depending on the type of spare carried) wheels and tyres. I also won't, EVER, consider a car that can't take a spare wheel in the underboot area: only a tube of goo = no sale.

I similarly like (a bit less so than the small saloons) the small crossovers/SUVs like the Mazda CX-3, Hyundai Kona, KIA Stonic, VW T-Roc & Co, but, like the small saloons, in the UK, if you want/need a petrol engined version, you oftenonly get the option of lower powered ones (Stonic), they are firm riding (the Kona) or are expensive for what they are in comparison to similar (and often larger, better equipped) hatches/saloons (Mazda CX-3 and T-Roc), many of them attracting far less discounts, even via brokers, despite them selling in far less numbers than hatches.

Only the (IMHO) not-so-good models such as the Nissan Juke get decent discounts, probably because they don't have a good reliability record compared to rivals.

See what I mean: picky. Hopefully I'll get there in the end. Probably best to concentrate more on the generalities of Hyundai making an N version of the i30 Fastback, although I very much appreciate everyone's comments and input on my (future) choice.

I should probably stop now before I send you guys to sleep (as you can see, I have a LOT of time on my hands at present)!