Citroen C4 Hatchback test drive since 2010 hatchback
Compulsive test: Hyundai i30, Citroen C4
Five years ago, we would be told: to compare Citroen with Hyundai - is it possible? But today, looking at the Citroen C4, we can try to understand how new to the Russian Hyundai i30 market European genes of its creators were transferred Koreans are seriously concerned about the insufficient penetration of their products into Europe. And not just with penetration. Hyundai and Kia are filled with ambitions in the desire to bite a pretty piece of European market cake. And in order to get to it, they have to build factories in the Old World and develop here, often with the help of the hands and goals of the same Europeans, new models. In many countries, the Hyundai i30 is almost two years, and only this spring the car reached Russia. What would it be compared with? Maybe with Kia Cee'D? This is the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, for some time, when concerns began to work, as they say, in one pocket, to try on each other Hyundai and Kia, it was like comparing two of the same-type apartments on different floors immediately after the housewarming. The kitchen is the same, the living area is the same. And the loggia is exactly the same. The difference is only as finishing work, although it, too,, in principle, is comparable. It is no secret that the Hyundai i30 and Kia Cee'D are not just nozzles, but almost twin brothers with a similar power structure, suspension architecture, engines line, etc. And so we had to look for another check-partner for the i30.
Not being original, we followed the simplest path, namely, we looked into the press releases of Hyundai. The thoughtfulness and quality of the design developed by Europeans and for Europeans was created in order to level stress, which is a mandatory consequence of life in a big city and the solution came by itself: we need a one hundred percent European car, the same wrestler with stress, solid and invented in Europe. Moreover, in other markets, dubious chances of success. And so
there is a car! This is the recently updated Citroen C4. What could be more beautiful and at the same time hopeless (in the sense of market prospects, say, in the same South Korea) than the representative of the glorious Citroen tribe - galaxy of cars created by the French to a large extent in the name and for the sake of enjoying the very process of their creation? However, here it is lying, since globalization launched its tentacles even into the holy of holy - in Citroen, this citadel of creativity and autoclam. I mean the fact that under the hood of C4, a 1.6-liter 120-horsepower VTI 120-horsepower gasoline engine developed together with BMW. However, this does not change the essence of the matter: the Hyundai i30 claims the European Green Card, and Citroen C4 should help to figure out how much the i30 is full of European ideology and is it ready to profess the values \u200b\u200bof the Old World By eye
The Hyundai i30 hatchback has first introduced at the Geneva Motor Show of 2007 it is impossible to please everyone, but this is our main task - then something similar was pronounced at the Hyundai stand. The car went on sale in the European market six months later and was accepted quite positively. To save the reader from a tedious description of what can be seen in the photographs, speaking of appearance, we will try to formulate the essence. Visually, I30 is almost a European machine. Behind - largely thanks to vertical lamps -paruses, completely devoid of traditional Korean caution. In profile - a typical golf class. And there can be no two opinions: the angle of inclination of the edge of the rear wing, you know, the dimensions and generally mood ...
the front line, because in the photo in the passport, the i30 still appears family features (something Elantro-intelist). This is an elusive Korean headlight cut and, as a result, a lack of a call in the look. There is not enough, or something, some self -confidence, even if you want, arrogance. Although, in principle, it is as subjective as the aesthetics of the Citroen C4 hatchback, although all possible design rewards for the design at one time. To analyze the appearance of Citroen is completely utopia, since two chevrons for the French mean one simple thing: if you do not like it, then you still sleep and have not opened your eyes. It’s just that it will not turn out to be glancing here: the puzzle from the corners and illogical crooked lines is out of the incredible geometry of the streamlined contours of the hatchback. However, comparing cars in external parameters, it should be recognized: although the indigenous Frenchman Citroen C4 is extremely organic and very good (even in the version of the hatchback), the Hyundai i30 in the traditional sense looks much more in European. Unless, of course, to build on the idiology that the concept of traditionally European means thoughtful, effective, but at the same time quite restrained and unwilling.
The points
A similar situation is observed when looking from the inside. The i30 is far from the concept of conservative, here it does not at all draw in a dream from the faceless lines of monotonous buttons. Everything looks quite fresh and even intricately. Just in comparison with C4, this salon with organic leather seats with good lateral support still evokes thoughts about rationalism, compliance with traffic rules, filed within the time of tax returns and timely paid alimony. Ergonomics I30 can be called, if not exemplary, then the classic for sure. Large scales of the devices are highlighted with pale blue light, buttons are marked with pretty violet eyes, the optimal three-spitting steering wheel is covered, albeit not the most tender, but skin, and two of its adjustments and abundance of buttons on the knitting needles are quite capable of satisfying a person who crossed the Hyundai i30 from the car from a class higher.
On cars in the framework of our test, everything converged almost one to one: in its capabilities, equipping the I30 salon was in no way inferior to C4. Bluetooth, USB and AUX connectors, two-speed heating of the seats, a radio with MP3 support, cruise control, not to mention such obvious things as heating mirrors, cooled glovey box and a driver's lift. Citroen sagged only due to the lack of a leather salon, which is offered only for versions in the EXCLUSIVE configuration, while we had Confort with a rich set of additional options (worth a little more than 720 thousand rubles). Hyundai i30 at a price (if at a discount) in the region of 710 thousand rubles (Comfort equipment) decisively refused to yield to the eminent competitor. Its only miss is the absence of a two -zone climate control, which in fact for the driver makes the controls more compact and easily readable. Even in the number of displays, complete parity - three for brother. Although competing in the level of innovation and intricate with translucent, changing color depending on the lighting of the C4 LCD display, located deep on the front panel, perhaps, even recognized briefs of the genre will not be possible. To measure with Citroen by the number of vents packed in one car is the same as bending the Bugatti Veyron on the asphalt. Undoubtedly, these ventures (such as, for example, a legendary two -spitting steering wheel with a fixed hub, a special container for a flavor or a folding hook for a bag of a front passenger’s left knee) form a typical image for Citroen not like everyone else. And it would be amazing if the usual salon lever of unlocking the hood went to the S4 along, like everyone else, and not across the movement of the car! It should be noted that the disciplinary charter of the i30 is formed in slightly different means, for the most part associated with the functional component. The mood here is set by the suspension enhanced compared to the European version, the energy intensity and density of which makes the ride on the i30 exciting. And 122 hp And 154 Nm of the moment of engine 1.6 DOHC CWT using a 4-band automaton is simultaneously instilled and hope is taken away. Instill it in the one who is driving, completely satisfying his ambitions, and
they take from the neighbors in stream that do not expect such modest sizes of a sharp jerk from the car, for example, at a speed of 100 km/h to 160. Perhaps overtaking at high speed - horseback I30. From the place he is not so excitement, even though his machine gun is difficult to blame for thoughtfulness. It starts willingly, but, as they say, within the rational. Up to hundreds of 12 s with a little - the result, whatever one may say, is quite moderate. In terms of salon noise, the i30 withstands a completely European standard: quietly, only at high speed under the rear wheeled arches, they who did not manage to fly out from under the bottom of the decibel. In the case of C4, the picture is slightly different. Even the doors of the Frenchman are closing with an iron ringing, and on the go to the salon is not always torn of the harmonious song of the muffler. Nevertheless, you are trying to listen to it again and again, since the 4-band C4 automatic machine will advance more than the i30: there is not only Sport mode, but also a manual gear shift, which forces the engine over and over again. I must say that the Frenchman does not add the variability of the gear to the Frenchman, the machine gun is not bad and in its usual mode, but the owner’s pride entertains. If you look closely
If we abstract from the idea that the trip to Citroen is equivalent to the publication in a shirt with colored butterflies, if you force yourself not to pay attention to the unauthorized front wipers (while the team was given only to the rear) if you stop ruining the electronic brain of the radio, without it, without The reason now and then changing your favorite radio station for some other, you can even enjoy the trip. The process of braking is especially good in Citroen. If you have already studied the instructions on how to connect your phone to a speakerphone (to do this the first time - utopia), then probably evaluate - and here without irony - branded brake (not to be confused with inhibited!) Electronics. With a sufficiently sharp press on the brake pedal, the car slows down adequately, and after a second, already without your intervention, strength
slow down in an incomprehensible way doubles. So the brake force distributor (Ref) acts, which equalizes the pressure in the brake system, and the AFU system (anuxiliary system for emergency braking). There are modern security systems in Hyundai (this is a four -channel ABS and ESP), but they are triggered in a more familiar and traditional way. On the steering wheel, and it is not not sluggish, there is enough information about the position of the wheels and the adhesion of them with the road, which thanks to the already mentioned very tenacious suspension allows you to sometimes give the heat ... So, we can once again state that Citroen C4 is a kind of but very serious car with a lot of advantages. Although he cannot boast of the proprietary Citroen pneumatic suspension, he is already quite comfortable on the go, dynamic, extremely convenient inside, unusual and simply beautiful. It may have seemed to someone that against his background the Hyundai i30 did not look too convincing. Not by no means. Surely people with a more rational character warehouse, who also did not read French novels in the youth, will more like I30. This is a truly assembled and thought -out machine, which absorbed a lot of what the European auto industry managed to achieve in this segment. In Russia, without a doubt, I30 will be successful, even despite the famous, but, we hope, temporary difficulties in the market
Ilya Rybakov
Photo by Yana Segal
Source: Avtopanorama magazine
