Hyundai i10 review
The Hyundai i10 is a stylish, practical, and impressively spacious city car that’s packed with tech and great value for money.
Author: Charlie Harvey
18th Dec 2025 – 8 mins read
The Hyundai i10 has come a long way since it first appeared and helped make Hyundai a household name. The third-generation model, launched in 2020, is a brilliant small car that feels much more grown-up than its city car label suggests. It’s now longer and wider than before, blurring the lines between a city car and a larger supermini, and it's packed with an impressive amount of technology and safety kit. It’s a car that’s stylish on the outside and surprisingly spacious on the inside. It’s not the most exciting car to drive, but it’s comfortable, easy to live with, and very cheap to run. With Hyundai's excellent five-year warranty providing extra peace of mind, the i10 is a very smart and sensible choice for anyone looking for a high-quality, practical, and well-equipped small car.
Pros
- Stylish and modern design
- Impressive amount of standard technology
- Very practical and spacious for a city car
Cons
- Top-of-the-range versions can get expensive
- The interior materials feel a bit cheap in places
- The automatic gearbox is slow and best avoided
Interior
Dashboard & tech
The inside of the i10 is neat, tidy, and very user-friendly. Hyundai has focused on creating a dashboard that is logically laid out, so all the controls are easy to find and use while you're driving. It might not be as exciting to look at as some rivals, but its simplicity is a real strength.
A real highlight on most models is the eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system. It's a great piece of kit that includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, allowing you to seamlessly connect your smartphone for music, maps, and more. While the overall quality has improved, there are still some scratchy plastics on show, but it’s a big step up from the previous model.
Comfort
The i10 is a comfortable car for daily driving. It handles bumps and poor road surfaces well, feeling settled and composed for a small car. The seats are supportive, and there’s a good range of adjustment to help you find a comfortable driving position.
It’s an easy and relaxing car to drive around town, with light controls and great visibility. The cabin is also reasonably quiet for a city car, making it a perfectly capable companion for the occasional longer motorway journey.
Quality
The quality of the latest i10 is much improved over its predecessors, but it still lags a little behind the best in class. The cabin feels solid and well put together, giving you the sense that it's built to last. However, the dashboard and doors are home to quite a few hard, scratchy plastics.
It doesn’t have the same premium feel as a Volkswagen Up!, but it feels robust and durable. For a car designed to be an affordable and practical runaround, the quality is perfectly acceptable.
Practicality & boot space
Interior space
This is a huge plus point for the i10. Its increased length and width mean it's one of the most spacious cars in the city car class. There's plenty of room for those in the front, but the real surprise is the space in the back. Thanks to a longer wheelbase, there's enough legroom for adults to sit comfortably, although headroom might be a bit tight for anyone over six feet tall due to the lower roofline.
It’s only available as a five-door, which makes getting in and out of the back seats very easy. The wide-opening doors are also a real help when you’re trying to fit a child seat.
Boot space
The i10 has one of the biggest boots in its class. With 252 litres of space, it’s large enough for a weekly shop or a couple of weekend bags. It’s a very practical space that’s bigger than what you’ll find in many rivals.
When you need to carry larger items, the rear seats fold down in a 60/40 split to open up a 1,046-litre load area. It’s a really practical and versatile boot for such a small car, boosting its credentials as a genuinely usable family runabout.
Driving
Driving experience
The i10 is designed to be an easy and comfortable car to drive, rather than a sporty one. The light steering makes it incredibly easy to manoeuvre and park in tight city streets, and it feels nimble when nipping through traffic.
It’s not a car that will thrill you on a twisty country road, as it lacks the engaging feel of some rivals. It’s a safe and predictable car to drive, but if you’re looking for fun, the Kia Picanto or Ford Fiesta would be a better bet. For everyday driving, however, the i10’s comfortable and easy-going nature is a real asset.
Performance
There’s a simple choice of three small petrol engines. The entry-level engine is a 66bhp 1.0-litre petrol. It’s perfectly fine for city driving but can feel a bit sluggish on faster roads, taking over 14 seconds to get from 0-60mph.
A better all-round choice is the 83bhp 1.2-litre petrol engine. It has a bit more pulling power, which makes it feel more comfortable on A-roads and motorways. If you want a bit more punch, the sporty N-Line model comes with a 99bhp 1.0-litre turbocharged engine, which feels much livelier. The five-speed manual gearbox is nice to use, but the optional automatic is very slow and best avoided unless you absolutely need it.
Running costs
Fuel economy & CO2 emissions
The Hyundai i10 is a very cheap car to run. The most economical engine is the 1.0-litre petrol, which can officially achieve up to 56.5mpg. The 1.2-litre version isn't far behind, with a figure of around 52.3mpg.
These excellent fuel economy figures, combined with low insurance groups, make the i10 a very affordable car to keep on the road. It’s an ideal choice for new drivers or anyone looking to keep their motoring costs down.
Value for money
The i10 is very competitively priced and offers great value. While top-spec models can seem expensive for a city car, you do get a huge amount of standard equipment for your money. Hyundai also has one of the best warranties in the business – a five-year, unlimited-mileage package from new. This is transferable to subsequent owners, so buying a two- or three-year-old i10 means you still get plenty of manufacturer cover, which is a huge bonus.
Reliability & Warranty
Hyundai has a superb reputation for building reliable cars, and owners consistently rate them highly in satisfaction surveys. The i10 feels solid and dependable, and that fantastic five-year warranty shows the confidence Hyundai has in its products, providing excellent peace of mind.
Safety
Safety features
The latest i10 comes with a very impressive amount of standard safety equipment, which is great to see on a small, affordable car. All models come with autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist, high-beam assist, and a driver attention alert system.
When it was tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP, it was awarded a three-star rating under the latest, more stringent test procedures, with the SE Connect model and its optional safety pack scoring four stars.
Trims & Engines
Trim levels
The i10 is available in four trim levels, all of which are very well-equipped.
SE: The entry-level model is far from basic. It comes with air conditioning, all-round electric windows, DAB radio, and a host of advanced safety features.
SE Connect: This is the sweet spot in the range. It adds stylish 15-inch alloy wheels, the excellent eight-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a reversing camera.
Premium: This trim adds more creature comforts, including larger 16-inch alloy wheels, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, and front fog lights.
N-Line: The top-of-the-range model gets a sporty makeover with unique 16-inch alloys, an aggressive N-Line grille, upgraded brakes, and a sports steering wheel.
Engines
There’s a choice of three efficient petrol engines.
1.0-litre MPi: A 66bhp three-cylinder engine that’s ideal for city driving.1.2-litre MPi: A more powerful 83bhp four-cylinder engine that’s a better all-rounder.1.0-litre T-GDi: A punchy 99bhp turbocharged engine that’s exclusive to the sporty N-Line trim.
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