Overall rating:

Is it a premium car? No. But the Hyundai i40 estate does have the best cabin the Korean company has ever made, lots of space, low CO₂ emissions and agreeable styling. It's a groundbreaker for the company, if not for the D-segment as a whole.

Key Facts

Pricing: From £17,000 (estimated)
Engine: 1.7-litre turbodiesel
Transmission: six-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Body style: five-door estate (saloon due later in the year)
Rivals: Toyota Avensis Tourer, Ford Mondeo Estate, Vauxhall Insignia Sport Tourer
CO₂ emissions: 124g/km
Combined economy: 62.8mpg
Top speed: 123mph
0-62mph: 10.6 seconds
Power: 134bhp at 4,000rpm
Torque: 240lb.ft at 2,000rpm

In the Metal:

Hyundai makes big claims about the impact the i40 will have on the company mojo, citing its premium cabin quality and sporty visuals.

It's a Korean estate, remember, but it's a job well done. It's surprisingly rakish and its upper level interior surfaces pleasantly touchy-feely, although in parts the scratchy plastic legacy of budget Hyundai still exists. It's accommodating, too, with a feeling that there's more passenger and boot space than average. Driving position could be better, though - the wheel's too low and the seat's a bit high.

Driving it:

Tricky one, this, because we've driven two pre-production i40s with separate suspension setups, one of which Hyundai will choose to bring to the UK. The other might follow later.

One car, powered by 134bhp 1.7-litre diesel, had 17-inch wheels and a firmer setup (Sporty Spice), while the other, with a new 2.0-litre 175bhp petrol, was on softer springs (erm, Comfort Spice), but 18-inch wheels.

Sporty Spice is better, because while staying supple it controlled the body nicely; its ride has a similar quality to the Ford Mondeo's. The softly sprung car, on the other hand, has a roly-poly quality not dissimilar to the Hyundai ix35. Potholes might force the engineers to plump for the latter, however.

Either way, though, this isn't half bad to drive. Neither engine is particularly quick, and both are loud if you push them, but they're very quiet at idle and perfectly up to the job. The manual gearbox and steering both have a solidity and heft that befit the i40's premium pretention.

What you get for your Money:

With the i40, Hyundai is feeling its way into that dichotomous wilderness that tries to harmonise the cheap and the premium. There are no prices yet - they'll be announced around June time - but all signs point to a car cheaper to buy than an equivalent Mondeo or Insignia.

On top of that, the low powered version of the diesel we've been driving, with 114bhp, will have 'best-in-class' CO₂ emissions of 113g/km. Equipment levels will be pretty generous too, as you'd expect.

Worth Noting

The saloon version of this car will be unveiled at the Barcelona Motor Show in May, mostly because if it goes to Frankfurt later in the year it'll be overshadowed by lots of other stuff. Hyundai reckons it'll be one of the most rakish D-segment models on sale, rather than a "three-box" car, as one Hyundai person told us.

Summary

It would be disingenuous to pass proper judgement on the Hyundai i40 now, because in some ways we've just driven a car balanced on a knife edge. If Hyundai makes the right suspension choice for the UK, ups the cabin quality slightly and prices it attractively, it could breathe life into a staid segment.