What’s Gone Wrong So Far On My Hyundai i30N?

I’ve owned my i30N for a few months now, so thought I’d give a quick run down on (what) if anything has gone wrong.

For disclosure’s sake, my i30N wasn’t a brand new car. I bought it as an ‘ex demonstrator’ with approximately 7000 kms on the clock and it was about 18 months old at the time of purchase.

In terms of issues, I’ve only had a couple:

• Firstly, the sunroof surround (or something close by) creaks when driving the car over bumps or on a heavily uneven cambered road and ONLY when the car is cold. For example, when I get up in the morning and back out of the driveway I’ll hear a fairly noticeable creaking noise for the first 5-10 minutes of my drive, and then it disappears once the car has warmed up a bit. Presumably there is some “differential” expansion/contraction going on in something around the sunroof. I’ve seen a few posts online from other i30N and even ‘normal’ Hyundai car owners complaining of similar issues and although it’s annoying I don’t want to risk taking the roof lining off and so on in order to fix it. I’ll just crank up the stereo and the exhaust and wait. My main annoyance here is that I didn’t actually pick up on it when I test drove the car, as it was on a warm day and the car had been sat on the dealer’s forecourt.
• Secondly, in normal/eco modes and when the engine/exhaust is cold there can be a fairly distinct metallic buzzing sound on gearchanges which will disappear immediately if you switch to sport/N or N-Custom modes. This actually bothers me enough that I’m going to take the car back to the dealer once the Christmas/New Year holidays are over in order to get them to take a look. By the sounds of things, some cars just need a bit of adjustment to the exhaust but others require an entirely new exhaust box under warranty. I’m guessing what is happening is that there is some “play” in the exhaust valves when they are meant to be closed (and a gear change occurs) and this results in a bit of metallic rattling that reduces in prominence once the metal is warmed up.

Apart from this, the car has been reliable so far and I haven’t encountered a single other issue (touch wood). I’ll keep you update on this blog, YouTube and social channels if/when I encounter any other issues.