I was not planning on making this update yet, since I am still waiting for things to settle in place but here we go.
So far you have seen pictures of the car and generally my good experience with it. What I have not talked about it the absolute hell I've had to endure when it comes to Quality Control and the type of Service received at the dealership I got it from. Without boring anyone to death, I will try and summarise my experience below:
Upon Collection of Vehicle: 20 miles on dash
- Rear seat bench has manufacturing defect where the weather is creasing up. They replaced it with another seat from a demo car they had just taken delivery of.
- Rear bumper misalignment with rear quarter (passenger side). TI was told this is "normal" and a result of mass production? lol
3 Weeks into ownership: 800 miles on dash
- Steering rack creaking/knocking after a drive, mainly at low speeds/stationary This was fixed by taking the steering rack out of the vehicle and re-greasing parts of it with the correct spec grease
- Steering wheel vibration at 80-85mph (goes away under or over that). Car had 4 wheel alignment, balance and since it has been cured.
- 1st to 2nd gear change can be difficult at times Apparently normal since car is too "new" and gearbox hasn't beaded in...
- 6th gear is difficult to engage quite often. The 5th to 6th movement gets stuck and requires returning the gear shifter back to 5th and re-engaging the clutch before repeating the gear change again. After that, it is successful, this is a widely reported issue on earlier models. Apparently normal since car is too "new" and gearbox hasn't beaded in...
- Gear shifter linkage creaks when moving left (towards 1st/2nd gear) from the neutral position. Fixed by greasing it up with correct spec grease.
- Weird pitting/overspray on some of the alloys This was not looked at
- Floor makes odd creaking noises, on both drivers and passenger side. It's as if something is not attached properly. This is another normal thing apparently and caused by the "layers of insulation" underneath. Not had a car that has done this before and all my cars had some sort of sound deadening? lol
- When in Normal mode and in Neutral the car vibrates my seat quite a bit and sometimes feels like stalling (Revs sit at 800 ish), when put in Sport mode this is gone since revs go up to 950 on idle. Normal...
2 months into ownership: 2800 miles on dash
- Still have difficulty engaging 6th gear. It is mostly notchy but sometimes completely refuses to engage unless I re-select it. Same issue as the one reported in my first 3 weeks of owning it, now they finally accept that it's a fault and have been advised by Hyundai Technical to change 5th and 6th gear synchros
- A lot of resistance when trying to engage 2nd, 4th and 6th gears. Faulty shifter cables, they replaced both
- Squeaky gear shifter when moving left to right, previously marked as fixed by the dealership. I presume they re-greased this again? Not sure, but it's not doing it now.
- Alloy wheel overspray/pitting damage This was now looked at and identified as being undercoat overspray, it was cleaned off the alloys that were affected. Not sure what they used?
After being in the dealership for 3 weeks to resolve the above, it comes back with misaligned shifter cables, so can’t hold gear properly in R, 1, 2, 3 and 5. So it wen't back for further 5 days of work (more like 40 mins). It was collected yesterday and just like I thought, they had not adjusted the cables properly. Shifting is now smooth as ever.
That said, it is not trouble free again. My current problems are as follows: 3501 miles on dash
- Loud knock/bang coming from the front passenger side, feels like a suspension component or an arm is not bolted correctly. This occurs when the vehicle accelerates hard or brakes hard on uneven surface. I presume this is a result of their work since it did not have this before the gearbox had to be rebuilt with new 5/6 synchros?
- I have also noticed quite significant whistling noise, almost like a whine from the engine compartment. It happens in Neutral as well as while driving and mainly noticeable between 1400 and 2200 revs.
Bare in mind this is my 2nd i30N performance! The first was MY18, this was MY19.
So yeah with the above mentioned, I have done the following:
- Told the dealer my intention on rejecting the vehicle as it is not fit for purpose and constantly suffering faults, some caused by the vehicle itself and some by the sloppy service I have received.
- Logged a claim with Hyundai UK on 17.12
- Logged a claim with Hyundai Finance on 19.12
So I guess now the wait begins, I am hoping to push for rejection and full refund/reversal of sale. Based on what I read about consumer law, I should be covered but we'll see what they come back with.
On a positive note, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year!