Hyundai i20 review
The Hyundai i20 is a stylish, practical, and well-equipped supermini that offers fantastic value for money and an unbeatable warranty.
Author: Charlie Harvey
18th Dec 2025 – 8 mins read
If you're looking for a small car that does everything well, the Hyundai i20 is a brilliant and often overlooked choice. The second-generation model, launched in 2014, was a huge leap forward, swapping the slightly plain looks of the original for a sharp, modern design. It’s a car that feels grown-up and sophisticated, offering a surprising amount of space and technology for its size. The i20 is one of those cars that just quietly gets on with being excellent. It might not be the most exciting car to drive, but it's incredibly comfortable, easy to live with, and packed with features that you’d normally have to pay extra for on rivals.
Pros
- Very spacious and practical interior for a small car
- Comes with a lot of standard equipment
- Well built
Cons
- Top-of-the-range models can get quite expensive
- Some of the interior plastics feel a bit cheap
- The steering doesn't offer a lot of feel or excitement
Interior
Dashboard & tech
The inside of the Hyundai i20 is a very pleasant and user-friendly place to be. The dashboard design is clean and logical, with all the controls sensibly laid out and easy to reach. It might not have the flair of a Peugeot 208, but it’s incredibly straightforward to use.
The technology is a real highlight. Even entry-level models from the 2018 facelift onwards came with a seven-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which is a fantastic feature in a car at this price point. It’s a very intuitive and user-friendly system that makes it easy to control your music and navigation. The whole cabin feels well put together and ready for daily life.
Comfort
The i20 is one of the most comfortable superminis you can buy. Hyundai has focused on creating a smooth and relaxing ride, and it does a brilliant job of soaking up bumps and imperfections in the road. It feels like a much bigger car in the way it handles rough surfaces, making it a very calming car to drive, especially around town.
The seats are comfortable and supportive, and it’s easy to find a good driving position. The cabin is also pretty quiet on the move, which makes the i20 a great companion for longer journeys as well as shorter hops.
Quality
The i20 feels like a solid and well-built car, but the quality of the materials is a bit of a mixed bag. While the main touchpoints like the steering wheel and gear lever feel nice, you will find a lot of hard, scratchy plastics on the dashboard and doors.
It doesn’t have the premium, soft-touch feel of a Volkswagen Polo, for example. However, everything feels very durable and built to last, which is perhaps more important in a car that’s likely to lead a hard life as a family runaround. It’s functional and robust, rather than luxurious.
Practicality & boot space
Interior space
This is a real trump card for the i20. It's one of the most spacious cars in the supermini class, particularly for passengers in the back. There’s enough legroom and headroom for two adults to sit comfortably in the rear, which is something you can’t say about many of its rivals.
It's a genuinely practical car for a small family. The five-door body style makes it easy to get in and out, and fitting a child seat is no trouble at all. There are also plenty of useful storage cubbies dotted around the cabin for all your odds and ends.
Boot space
The boot in the i20 is another practical highlight. At 310 litres, it’s a very good size for a supermini and will easily handle a weekly shop or a couple of suitcases for a weekend away. A clever feature is the adjustable boot floor, which you can set at two different levels. You can either have it level with the boot lip for easy loading, or drop it down to create a deeper load bay for carrying taller items.
When you fold the rear seats down, the space expands for those occasional trips to the tip. It’s a thoughtfully designed and very usable boot.
Driving
Driving experience
The i20 is set up for comfort and ease of use, so it’s not the most exciting car in its class to drive. The steering is very light, which is great for parking and manoeuvring in tight city streets, but it doesn’t give you much feedback on a country road.
If you’re looking for a supermini that’s really fun and engaging, a Ford Fiesta is a better bet. The i20 is more of a sensible and sure-footed companion. It handles neatly and safely, but its main strength is its smooth, comfortable ride that makes everyday driving a pleasure. For most buyers, that will be exactly what they’re looking for.
Performance
The engine line-up is focused on small, efficient petrol engines. The entry-level choice is a 1.2-litre petrol engine, available with either 74bhp or 83bhp. It’s a perfectly adequate engine for driving around town, but can feel a bit underpowered on the motorway.
The best engine is the 1.0-litre turbocharged T-GDi unit. It’s available with 98bhp or 118bhp and is a much livelier and more flexible engine. It feels punchy and responsive, and is well-suited to all types of driving. It’s available with a manual gearbox or a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.
Running costs
Fuel economy & CO2 emissions
The i20 is an affordable car to run, with all its engines offering good fuel economy. The 1.0-litre turbocharged engine is the star of the show, officially returning up to 56.5mpg. The 1.2-litre engine is also efficient, with a figure of around 51.4mpg.
These sensible fuel economy figures, combined with reasonable insurance groups, mean that the i20 won’t cost a fortune to keep on the road, making it a great choice for budget-conscious drivers.
Value for money
The i20 represents fantastic value for money. While its list price might seem similar to rivals, you get an incredible amount of standard equipment for your cash. It also holds its value reasonably well for a supermini, which is a big plus.
The biggest selling point, however, is Hyundai’s five-year, unlimited-mileage warranty that comes from new. This is one of the best warranties in the business and is transferable to the next owner. This means you can buy a two or three-year-old i20 and still have a lot of manufacturer warranty left, which is a huge benefit.
Reliability & Warranty
Hyundai has a brilliant reputation for reliability, and its cars consistently perform well in owner satisfaction surveys. The i20 feels like a solid, dependable car that has been built to last. As mentioned, the five-year unlimited-mileage warranty provides fantastic peace of mind and is a major reason to choose the i20 over its rivals.
Safety
Safety features
The i20 is a safe car, but the amount of safety kit you get depends heavily on the trim level. When it was tested by Euro NCAP in 2015, it received a four-star rating.
Post-2018 facelift models in SE trim and above came with Hyundai's 'SmartSense' safety pack as standard. This is well worth looking out for as it includes important features like autonomous emergency braking, lane-keeping assist, and a system that warns the driver if they are showing signs of fatigue.
Trims & Engines
Trim levels
The i20 is available in a range of trim levels, all of which are very well-equipped.
S Connect: The entry-level model from 2018 is very generous. It comes with the seven-inch touchscreen, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, air conditioning, and a leather-wrapped steering wheel.
SE: This popular trim adds alloy wheels, rear parking sensors, cruise control, and the all-important SmartSense safety pack on post-2018 cars.
Premium Nav / Premium SE Nav: These top-spec models add larger alloy wheels, climate control, automatic lights and wipers, and a built-in satellite navigation system. Premium SE Nav models also get a panoramic sunroof.
Engines
The i20 is available with a choice of two efficient petrol engines.
1.2-litre MPI: A non-turbocharged engine available with 74bhp or 83bhp. It’s best suited for town driving.
1.0-litre T-GDi: A brilliant turbocharged three-cylinder engine. It’s available with 98bhp or 118bhp and is the best all-round choice, offering a great mix of performance and fuel economy.