I bought this ex-demonstrator car in June on a whim really - my previous Kia C'eed SW 2.0CRDi SW Sport was a very good vehicle but a poor ride (45 profile tyres and hard suspension) and I wanted a bit more comfort etc.

Anyway, saw the car, liked it - all the "toys" you can reasonably "play" with and, as it's a Blue Drive, it has higher profile (60) tyres which soak up the crashes from most of the ridges, ruts and potholes we suffer from these days.

Generally it is a lovely car - the engine is very quiet and refined, very tractable and the turbo lag is minimal. There is plenty of room inside and the boot is a decent size although the external opening is a little restrictive (due to the almost "coupé" shape of the body) and the access to the extra load bay, with the seats down, is also rather small.

I particularly like the reversing camera (with on screen guidelines that move as you steer), the cornering lights, the electronic handbrake (once you get used to it) and the general fit, finish and quality of the interior.

However, I think Hyundai have made some silly mistakes along the way :-

1) You can not use the Radio, Phone, Nav etc. for more than 10 mins when the engine is not running - you get a warning on screen advising you to start the engine or the system will turn off! Yes I know all these multi-speaker (inc. a woofer) systems & CD players etc. consume a few more watts than your old 2 speaker Blaupunkt but remember this car has a considerably larger battery than back then! For example – I drop my wife at Sainsburys to do a quick bit of shopping - I decide to sit in the car and listen to the radio - 2 tracks later - sorry chum, that's your lot - unless you want to start the engine to continue listening. Now bearing in mind this is the Blue Drive, ecological, economical, low CO2, save the Planet version, Hyundai want me to run a 1.7 litre diesel engine to power my radio for half an hour! Which Planet are they from?

2) The 7" information screen is very nice and it is mounted fairly high up so you don't have to look too far from the road to see it. Unfortunately it is totally unusable after dusk and I have to turn it off - it is just SO BRIGHT! It has 3 settings for brightness - with not a lot of difference between them and, if you have had experience of LCD displays, you will know that to be readable in bright daylight, with light from all the car windows streaming in, they do have to be set for extremely high brightness/back-light and this one obviously is and is fully legible in the day. As darkness falls and you turn your lights on the dashboard display dims (obviously) as well as the plethora of panel and switch illuminations etc. The large display screen - no - it resolutely stays at its daytime level of illumination and, did I mention, IT IS TOO BRIGHT! They have provided a button which turns the display off (leaving whatever was running on the display still working) but why not make this step through Off/dim/medium/normal for example. It is impossible to drive safely, at night, with this display on as the glare is overwhelming. My 4 year old, £150, TomTom automatically dims its screen to a user settable brightness at night - my new, £22,000 i40 does not?

3) TMC - on the test drive I noted there were settings and buttons for TMC. I borrowed the "media" manual, before delivery, and read all about the Navigation system and how to set the TMC to reroute automatically or not etc. When I eventually got around to trying this out I kept getting "Not available" as a result for local or on route information. When I queried this with the dealer I was told the TMC does not function in the UK - basically because Hyundai have not paid the license fee, but it works in most of Europe? But hang on a minute, I understand that TMC works on the i20 and i30 etc. in the UK so Hyundai must be aware of what is required for the UK? They seem to be taking the stance that because they don't actually specify TMC as a feature for the i40 (in the UK) then it is quite acceptable to infer it is a feature by fitting the controls, menu structure and settings in the vehicle as well as telling you how to use it in the English section of the multi-lingual manual and letting you find out the hard way that you have been conned! I was told that the multi-lingual manual is designed for the whole of Europe and therefore the “English” section is not specific to the UK?? WHO the hell else is going to read the English section then – the French! They are suggesting that, maybe, an update to enable TMC is on the cards later this year – there will be a huge row if they want money for it – IF it ever materialises! UPDATE-Oct 2012 - I am told the update is iminent!

4) I am often quite critical of the "i****s" who sit in a queue of traffic, in the rain, at night, with their foot on the brake pedal so all you can see from behind is a big red glow in the windscreen - well, I have now inadvertently and unknowingly become one of these inconsiderate i****s myself - welcome to the i40 "auto hold" function! Briefly, when activated, this takes over from the handbrake so when you come to a complete stop you can then take your foot off the brake and the car will "hold" you stationary - so far so good. BUT, it also holds the brake lights on as well? Hyundai says that as the system is actually maintaining the pressure in the hydraulic line, normally activated by the foot pedal, then it must also keep the stop lights activated? I say they are looking at the technology rather than the function - the function provides, in effect, an automatic parking brake - and parking brakes should NOT illuminate the brake lights!

5) There is no clock! Well, I will qualify that - IF you turn the main screen power off (No Radio/CD/USB/Phone/Nav etc) then you can press a button to bring up a permanent oversize, full screen, analogue clock (strangely this is NOT too bright at night?) If you want to know the time whilst the media system is on you have to press the same button but the result is an ugly grey box, superimposed on the middle of the screen, with text showing the time - briefly! Every OTHER car I have had since the 60's has had a permanent clock one could glance at.

6) Mine only being the middle Style spec, I don't have the graphical colour LCD info screen between the 2 main instruments as fitted to the Premium model (including a clock) - fair enough. Mine has a slightly less graphical mono LCD. BUT, again, hang on a minute, this car is supposed to be able to attain in excess of 60mpg (yeah, in your dreams) so Hyundai have fitted an ugly, tiny, horizontal bar-graph for the instantaneous fuel consumption which is only vaguely calibrated and with a maximum reading of 50mpg? So I could assume that Hyundai started with a reasonable "trip computer/info system" (comparable to that fitted to my last 3 vehicles) and decided this would be only fitted to the Premium model - for the lesser models it seems they decided to leave bits off, make it look ugly and generally inferior? UPDATE-Oct 2012 - I have actually acheived 61mpg, but it was a pretty boring drive!

7) If you buy the "Tourer" you get a nicely finished load bay, adjustable luggage rails, storage "cubbyholes" carpet etc - all very nice - buy the saloon and you get NOTHING - well actually you get a bit of "felt" style carpet, PERIOD! If you buy their "reversible" boot mat be warned it IS NOT reversible as the boot floor is assymetrical and the mat is unfinished on the underside anyway - apparently it is/was mis-described on the marketing material. I actually bought a third party, heavy duty, rubberised liner tray complete with flip out bumper loading protector - it cost less than the genuine carpet (which was returned for a refund) - it looks nice and fits well and as it has raised edges it will contain any accidental spillage/mud etc.

As I said earlier it is a very nice car BUT, due to flawed logic, poor testing or market research, incompetence, or penny pinching – take your pick – it seems to have an ever growing list of very annoying things that are just not up there with the rest of the specification and seem, well, so stupid and ill conceived!

As far as I am aware all the above also applies to the tourer version of course.

Originally I was only going to drop one star but having read all the above again and got totally exasperated I decided I needed to drop 2 stars. Such a shame, it could and should have been a 5 star rating – with just a little more thought and in depth testing from Hyundai.