Overall rating:

Hyundai has started making noises that sound like 'premium' recently, but the i10 is proof the company hasn't forgotten how to make honest little motors. And as little motors go, the i10 is about as honest as it gets, which is to say it's proper cheap and proper good. This Blue version, though, is for Cockneys only: unless you must avoid the Congestion Charge, save yourself a grand and buy the more powerful, marginally less economical 1.2.

Key Facts

Model tested: Hyundai i10 1.0 Blue
Pricing: £9,345 (details correct as of 10 Oct, 2011)
Engine: 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol
Transmission: five-speed manual
Body style: five-door hatchback
Rivals: Kia Picanto, Citroen C1, Volkswagen up!
CO₂ emissions: 99g/km
Combined economy: 67.3mpg
Top speed: 93mph
0-62mph: 14.8 seconds
Power: 68bhp at 6,200rpm
Torque: 70lb.ft at 3,500rpm

Inside & Out:

The single most impressive thing about the i10 isn't its CO₂ emissions, but its space. They don't make them like this any more. Well, obviously they do - they make this one - but most new cars lose masses of interior space to padding, insulation and electronics. Not this. In the positive sense it's a box on wheels, with great visibility and more interior height and length (subjectively) than many a supermini. Five doors, too.

The only things that stop it being a decent, cheap family car are the tiny boot and a cabin so swathed in the same shade of grey that eventually you start believing the world has turned black and white. The Blue model is based on bottom-rung specification, so dashing silver trim is out. Ah well, at least the controls are big, so you can feel your way around the dashboard. Good driving position, too.

Ride & Handling:

In the same way that the cabin is a modern take on automotive austerity from the 1970s, so too is the driving experience. With tyres as thin as the line that separates modern political parties, steering that's more honest and direct than anyone in Westminster, and less power than the BNP, this car can be thrashed with abandon. Because it barely moves (look at the power stats) and the steering feel shames some expensive sports cars, you can have it dancing on its low rolling resistance tyres in no time.

And when you're not doing that, the softly softly spring set-up means that, while it's probably no good on the Nürburgring, it is good at making your gravely back lane bearable. It's even half decent on the motorway, because it's quiet.

Engine & Transmission:

Again, look at the stats. This is not about speed. At all. It's also somehow missing that tuneful burble that makes lawnmower-spec three-cylinder engines more justifiable. However, the i10 Blue does feel quicker than it should, probably because, going back to the driving experience, the car thrives on being driven for all it's worth.

But we still prefer the 1.2-litre version, only because it gives that little bit more at higher speed, making the i10 a slightly more suitable motorway car. And we say that having driven the i10 from London to Newcastle, and having been as frustrated by its lack of overtaking power as we were impressed by its lovely fuel economy.

Equipment, Economy & Value for Money:

At face value there's not much to complain about with a car that costs little over £9,000 and has as much space and economy as this. However - and this is the crux - it's £1,000 more than the basic 1.2-litre car, which loses only a few mpg (it does 61.4mpg) and has the same specification level.

So why not spend a couple of hundred more and get a top-of-the-range Style version? It has electric windows, an electric sunroof, electric mirrors, alloy wheels and a silver coloured dash - all stuff the Blue doesn't have (though it does get standard air conditioning thankfully). That's probably what we'd do, unless we worked in central London.