Hyundai ix20 Review (2010-2019)

What is the Hyundai ix20?

Remember the scrappage scheme of the late noughties? Everyone involved with the Korean car brand Hyundai at the time remembers the era, as it was rapidly propelled from a company that made budget cars to a real challenger in the mainstream market (along with its sister company, Kia).

The i10 city car was the model that drove its success, but many of the models that Hyundai launched at the time were well received. The ix20 mini MPV is a case in point, finding favour with plenty of buyers, from young families to, ahem, more mature buyers.

Based on a supermini platform, the ix20 is ostensibly a small car, with the same footprint on the road as the likes of the Ford Fiesta or Volkswagen Polo. However, with a slightly taller body and some clever ‘packaging’ (which is how car companies describe maximising the space inside a car), the ix20 is a surprisingly spacious car.

The ix20 was launched in 2010 and enjoyed a nine-year run in the UK, with only a very subtle facelift in 2015 to keep it fresh. By the time it left Hyundai’s price lists in 2019, buyer appetite for MPVs had largely dried up, with many turning to small SUVs, like the brand’s own Kona.

How practical is it?

With its tall, MPV-inspired exterior, it’s no surprise to find that the ix20 serves-up excellent practicality and versatility. It’s not a glamorous-looking machine, but if you want a small car that thinks big, then the Hyundai has a lot to recommend it.

For starters, the driving position is good, with a wide range of wheel- and seat adjustment helping you to get comfy. You also sit a little higher than you would in a normal small car, which in combination with the large windscreen helps give you a great view of the road ahead.

Your passengers will also be comfortable because this is an airy car that has plenty of headroom, while those in the rear can recline or slide their seats forward and backwards, allowing occupants to choose between enhanced comfort or a little more boot space. In fact, when it was new, Hyundai claimed the ix20 served-up more space in the rear than a first-generation Volvo XC90.

Even with the rear bench pushed all the way back for maximum legroom, the ix20’s boot will swallow an impressive 440 litres, which is 60 litres more than the larger VW Golf. Fold the 60/40 split-folding rear seat, and you’ll free-up a cavernous 1,486 litres. What’s more, there’s a shallow storage tray beneath the boot floor, which is perfect for keeping valuables hidden out of sight.

Slightly less impressive is the amount of storage on offer, with only a couple of cupholders up front, a tray ahead of the gearlever, a cubby between the front seats and a glovebox. There are door bins, but they’re a little on the small side.

What's it like to drive?

On the road, the ix20 offers a good balance of ride quality and handling, with a bias towards a comfortable driving experience. A soft suspension means that it does a good job of soaking up bumps and broken road surfaces, which occupants will appreciate. The downside to this is that the height of the ix20's body does make it more likely to lean more heavily in corners, but at normal speeds, this won’t be too apparent. The steering is also weighty and accurate enough to inspire confidence when driving.

Powered by any of the four diesel or petrol engine options, the ix20 is not the car to buy if you want something with a turn of pace, but that's not something many will require from their mini MPV, anyway. The entry-level 1.4-litre petrol and 1.4-litre CRDi diesel both pack just 89bhp, although the latter feels a bit more responsive thanks to its greater mid-range torque.

The 124bhp 1.6-litre petrol looks more potent on paper, but when fitted to pre-facelift cars, it’s only available with a sluggish four-speed automatic gearbox. The 114bhp 1.6-litre diesel feels far more eager and is paired with a light-and-precise six-speed manual (the same unit as the smaller diesel, while the 1.4-litre petrol makes do with five-speed transmission).

For the 2015 update, Hyundai introduced a slicker and speedier six-speed auto for the 1.6-litre petrol, plus made a six-speed manual available with this engine for the first time.

That said, all iX20s have enough power to deal with the kind of urban environment that the car is likely to spend most of its time in, and even on the motorway, the car cruises comfortably, with levels of wind- and road noise that aren’t loud enough to be intrusive.

Technology, equipment and infotainment

Hyundai launched the ix20 hot on the heels of its burgeoning successes of the late 2000s, when the marque stopped being purely a budget brand and became a real mainstream contender. One of the pillars of this success was generous equipment levels, with even the entry-level ix20 Classic getting air-conditioning, electric windows and remote central locking.

Better still is the Active, which adds must-have features such as Bluetooth, a USB connection, parking sensors and a multi-function steering wheel, as well as desirable add-ons including alloy wheels, powered door mirrors and automatic headlamps. Range-topping Style cars get all this kit, plus privacy glass for the rear windows and a panoramic glass sunroof.

After the facelift, the trim levels were changed to SE, SE Nav and Premium Nav. Effectively, SE gets the same kit as the old Active, while SE Nav adds touchscreen infotainment with satellite navigation, which also features on the SE Premium that replaced the Style model.

Hyundai ix20 running costs

The ix20 was powered by four different engine options: 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre petrol engines, plus 1.4 diesel or 1.6 diesel units.

The 1.4-litre diesel produces 89bhp like its same-sized petrol equivalent. It’s not exactly the most refined diesel around – it clatters quite a bit at start-up and there’s little let-up when the car gets going – but it makes up for that with an official fuel economy of 65.7mpg and CO2 emissions of just 114g/km (thanks, in part, to a start-stop system that cuts the engine when it’s idling in stationary traffic).

The 1.6 CRDi, on the other hand, has a power output of 114bhp, while the important numbers to note are 64.2mpg and 115g/km, both of which almost match the figures of its slightly smaller diesel sibling. The economical nature of the diesel engines made them the biggest sellers in the UK by far: it might be a little noisy, but you can’t argue with low fuel bills and low car tax.

But if you don’t cover the 10-12k miles annually that makes having a diesel cost-effective, the two petrol engines are perfectly good alternatives, as well as being slightly cheaper to buy than the diesel alternatives. The 1.4 petrol engine can return 50.4 mpg, with 130g/km CO2 emissions, while the automatic-only 1.6 returns 43.5 mpg and 150g/km of CO2.

In terms of insurance costs, the ix20 is rated pretty cheaply, with the entire range sitting between groups 7 and 13 (out of 50), so premiums shouldn't be too high, with the larger 1.6 diesel the most expensive variant.

Servicing will be required every 10,000 miles, alternating between major and minor services. Usefully, Hyundai offers fixed-price servicing plans across three- or five years, and for petrol and diesel models.

Hyundai ix20 reliability

Reports of reliability issues appear to be few and far between when it comes to the ix20. What reports there are seem to be isolated issues, with no real common problems being reported by owners.

This would account for Hyundai feeling confident enough in the reliability of its vehicles to offer ix20 buyers a five-year/unlimited-mileage warranty when the car was new, which was longer and more extensive than most of its rivals' warranties, most of which tended to cover three years/60,000 miles.

The ix20 didn’t sell in huge numbers in the UK – the mini MPV market was always something of a niche segment – so it tended not to show up in the various customer satisfaction surveys, as the small sample size tended to be inconclusive. However, the Hyundai brand has shown up well in manufacturer reliability league tables for a number of years.

It’s also worth noting that the ix20 was subject to just one recall over the course of its product life. An October 2012 recall affected just under 6,000 cars, due to the risk of a faulty handbrake. Water getting into the car and corroding the rear brake calipers meant that the parking brake may not hold the vehicle on a hill when normal force has been applied. If you’re buying an early (2012 and earlier) example, you just need to check if the car was taken to a dealer to be checked/fixed.