I have in front of me the 09/12 copy of NZ Autocar. It did a comparison between the above mentioned hatchback diesel motored cars. Now I am not one to refer to magazine articles, but the result was striking. Before I read any 'head to head', I pick the likely winner, then see if it's as I thought. This time I decided on a narrow win to the Ford. However, while I was correct about the result, the margin was what I thought I would expand on.
People say that Hyundai is up with the best now, and indeed maybe some models are. A recent drive in a new i10 left me completely underwhelmed with the quality, and the price - in NZ at least - was extortionate. The i30 diesel was easily beaten by the Ford Focus equivalent in every category they were judged on, usually by some margin. It was a good old fashioned thrashing. It is rare today for any model car to comprehensively outdo another. The Ford was even the lower priced vehicle!

This has me wondering if the gap between Korean and Euro/Japanese offerings has really closed at all. There is a very slick advertising campaign on NZ television promoting not a car model, but how the Hyundai company is putting out quality cars. Frankly to me it smacks of PR spin, and my feeling is that Hyundai has some way to go to be able to claim it up with the competition.

Ford Focus TDCi vs Hyundai i30 CRDi

By Gavin Kalsi Tuesday, 25 July 2017

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I have in front of me the 09/12 copy of NZ Autocar. It did a comparison between the above mentioned hatchback diesel motored cars. Now I am not one to refer to magazine articles, but the result was striking. Before I read any 'head to head', I pick the likely winner, then see if it's as I thought. This time I decided on a narrow win to the Ford. However, while I was correct about the result, the margin was what I thought I would expand on.
People say that Hyundai is up with the best now, and indeed maybe some models are. A recent drive in a new i10 left me completely underwhelmed with the quality, and the price - in NZ at least - was extortionate. The i30 diesel was easily beaten by the Ford Focus equivalent in every category they were judged on, usually by some margin. It was a good old fashioned thrashing. It is rare today for any model car to comprehensively outdo another. The Ford was even the lower priced vehicle!

This has me wondering if the gap between Korean and Euro/Japanese offerings has really closed at all. There is a very slick advertising campaign on NZ television promoting not a car model, but how the Hyundai company is putting out quality cars. Frankly to me it smacks of PR spin, and my feeling is that Hyundai has some way to go to be able to claim it up with the competition.