18 — Centralian Advocate, Tuesday, August 6, 2013

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The 2013 Hyundai i30 Tourer is possibly the best small car on the market at the moment, according to Peter Anderson of carsguide.com.au

New Hyundai Tourerimproves on originalPeter Anderson

THE second generation i30 hasdone something Hyundai hasn’treally done before — it built on thesuccess of the first car and did abetter job second time around.Better still, instead of the two-yearwait for the previous generation’sCW variant, we’ve only had to waitnine months.

The newly-released Tourer hassomething of a reputation to up-hold. Starting with the mid-90sLantra wagon and eventuallyagain with the first-gen i30 CW,Hyundai has done a great job ofmaking cheap workhorses.

The Active CRDi starts at$25,590 and asks $2000 for auto-matic. The i30 Tourer takes thefront of the i30 back to the B-pillarand then grafts on a wagon ad-dition at the rear.

Externally, it does the alreadygood-looking i30 the world of goodand improves the overall design.

Internally it is exactly the sameas the Elite hatch, which is to sayperfectly agreeable. The seats are

covered in cloth, the steeringwheel and shifter in leather.

The seats are probably a bit softin the squab, front and rear, butare comfortable even on longishtrips of a few hours.

The front seat passengers getplenty of leg room while the rearpassengers make do with the sameamount as in the hatch, which isreasonable if not huge.

It’s not really a full-on wagon,it’s more a hatch-plus. Don’t letanyone know how big it is inside,though, as your friends will askyou to do the Ikea run.

The rear seat squabs need a bitof encouragement to flip up, butit’s worth the trouble as it doeslead to a properly flat space, some-thing a few other wagons lack.

Storage abounds, even underthe floor is a full-size spare wheelwith yet more storage arrangedaround it in plastic trays and bins.

Despite the full size spare, theboot floor is low and also doublesas a surprisingly comfortableplace to sit when you’re watching

the under-8s soccer game withyour thermos nice and handy.

The Tourer’s five-star ANCAPrating is supplied via stability andtraction control, ABS with EBDand brake assist. Hyundai’s VSMalso applies steering lock to stopthe car from losing control in theevent of driver inaction or incom-petence. Seven airbags, includingdual front and side, full-lengthcurtains and driver’s knee bagcomplete the passive safety list.

The Tourer also features anunusually good reversing camerawith a wide, clear field of vision.

The dash has a big 7-inch screenthat handles entertainment andsat-nav duties. The sat-nav isstandard-issue Hyundai withSUNA updates and is serviceableif a little fiddly. The Hyundai-builtVGT 1.6 litre direct-injected dieselis good for 94kW and 260Nm oftorque. These are both modestnumbers, especially compared tothe 1.7 litre in the i40, which has320Nm and does 7l/100km. On theroad, the Tourer feels slightly

better than the CRDi hatch. Thehatch is really nose-heavy, it feelslike most of the weight is out infront of the headlights duringmoderate cornering.

The Tourer is a minor improve-ment, perhaps because there’smore weight further back, per-haps there’s been a little tune-upof the front-end.

It’s very quiet inside and ridesjust as well as the hatch thanks toan excellent suspension tune andthe mildly sophisticated multi-linkrear end, replacing the torsionbeam set up. The diesel engine isstrong and once you’re moving itsgot some real grunt in the mid-range, ably supported by the excel-lent six-speed automatic.

The engine is quite happy botharound town and on the highway,returning a decent 6.8l/100km.

The i30 Tourer cements theopinion that Hyundai is now in thetop three of cars to consider.Cheap to buy and run, the i30Tourer is probably the best smallwagon out there by some margin.

StrugglingOpel pullsout of OzKarla Pincott

OPEL has announced it will stoptrading in Australia, and dis-mantle its network immediately.

In an official statement OpelAustralia said it could not viablyfollow its competitors’ recenttrend for cutting prices, and wouldhave needed to ‘‘significantlyreposition the price of its corevolume models’’ to survive.

The news comes in the lead-upto the planned launch of theZafira people-mover this monthand Mokka compact SUV in com-ing months.

Opel also cited the ongoing re-sources needed to promote thebrand in Australia, one of the mostcompetitive markets in the world,with 66 vehicle brands.

In addition to advertising, Opelhas also entered into some high-profile marketing and public re-lations in the past 12 months,including sponsorship of the Syd-ney Roosters rugby league team,announced in June 2012.

The sponsorship was halted lastweek by Opel. The brand alsosponsored Melbourne FootballClub in the AFL.

Opel and Holden will now startworking on analysis of ‘‘the poten-tial for future Holden-badgedniche product, in order to ascer-tain if opportunities for individualcar lines exist’’ the statement said.

Customers were promised thatOpel would meet all obligations interms of warranty.

The statement said Opel was‘‘working closely with employees,dealers and suppliers to conductthis closure process in an orderlyand responsible manner. Asalways, customers are of thehighest priority, and Opel Austra-lia will remain in close contactwith them, to ensure all ongoingobligations to these customersare met.’’

Opel launched here in August2012 with the Astra hatchback,Insignia mid-sized sedan andwagon and the Corsa light car.

The brand believed at the time itcould achieve yearly sales of 15,000by 2015, and have developed anetwork of 20 dealerships aroundthe country.

Any concerned customersshould contact the Opel CustomerAssistance Centre on 1800 993 677.

Beemer’s X-factorPaul Gover

The new BMW X4 under wraps

WHAT is it and why allthe fuss?

It is a sneak look at theBMW X4, another newGerman SUV, that is due tobe released in Australia inlate 2014.

This new compact BMWSUV picks up the curvy cuesof the tough looking X6, isnearly ready for the road.

The X4 is spun from themid-sized X3 and continuesBMW’s drive into new mar-ket sectors with a coupe-style five-door body.

The X4 is expected to gopublic in the final quarter ofthe year and Carparazzisays the showroom modelwill be displayed at theDetroit motor show in Janu-ary, 2014.

In other new looks inmotoring a supercharged V6is the major change for thelong-running Land RoverDiscovery.

The nose gets a tweakwith LED running lightsand a look that’s closer to

the all-new Range Roverand Sport.

The engine from Jaguar’sF-Type sports car replacingthe Disco’s V8 is the bignews for 2014.

There are plenty of R-SJaguars on the road but notlike the XFR-S tweak of theSportsbrake.

It promises the best per-formance of any Jaguarwagon, thanks to the super-charged V8 (450kW) fromthe XFR-S sedan.

There are also body, brake

and suspension upgrades.

The Audi flagship, the A8,to take on the new Mer-cedes-Benz S-Class andtweaked BMW 7 Series, isstill some way in the future,perhaps in 2015.

Carparazzi caught aprototype that revealssubtle tweaks to the lights,grille and bumpers, with im-provements too in the cabinincluding new infotainmenttechnologies.