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The Hyundai Getz represents a change in marketing direction for the Korean company - or perhaps that's better expressed as a return to an older and more successful formula. Hyundai built their presence in Australia on the back of the Excel - cheap, cheerful and a huge hit. The rounded Excel was replaced by the angular Accent, and with the driveaway bargain pricing gone, the Accent didn't have the same impact as its older brother. Enter the Getz - Euro styling, lots of features and a low price.
Available as a 3-door or 5-door GL, or the more sporty FX, all Getz models come with a 1.5-litre DOHC four cylinder developing 74kW at 5800 rpm and 133Nm at 3200 rpm. The long-stroke engine has a 10:1 compression and in specs and the reality is a modern and effective mill. Pricing, including air, starts from $13,990 for the 3-door GL - the 5-door GL is listed at $14,990, not including ORCs.
On the road the Getz impresses. Its aerodynamic noise is low and the engine note well suppressed for this class. Its ride in most conditions is very good - in impact harshness it is particularly impressive - and its engine willing. The gearbox is a beautifully slick device, and the cabin - although very plasticy - comfortable and spacious. Those are the initial impressions and even after a week of intensive driving they largely remained. Not so good was the persistent (but consistent!) spread of 'orange peel' in the paint, the way that the driver's window winder knob came off twice, the seatbelt sign that occasionally flashed even with the belt done up, and the weak air conditioning. But hey, you pay bottom dollar for a car and you can't expect everything to be perfect. And after all, there's that amazing 130,000km/5 year warranty....
Packaging is a strong point of the Getz. In the five-door there was no getting away from it - it's an impressive use of space. In the front seats you'll find plenty of head room, although from a driver's perspective we thought that the steering wheel (height adjustable) was a fraction too far away. (Move the seat forward a little and a tall driver's knee will bump the gear knob when the trans is in fifth.) But from the door pockets to the dual cupholders, decent sized glovebox and storage tray under the steering column, there's good room for oddments. The front seats are supportive and comfortable (although one of our female drivers complained of the cloth trim being prickly on bare shoulders) and with touches like height-adjustable B-pillar mounts for the seatbelts and a spring-out shopping bag carrier hook on the back of one front seat, there're a lot more detailed features than you'd expect for the price.
In the back seat the good news story continues - headroom is excellent, as is footroom. Kneeroom is also quite adequate, and with three lap-sash belts and three head restraints across the back, again the equipment level surprises. Both front and rear doors open wide, helping access greatly. Under the separately locked rear hatch there's a flat floor and two side-mounted storage trays, while the rear seat back folds forward on a 70/30 split, giving a stepped load area. However, the whole rear seat can then be tumbled forward, giving a huge flat space. The practicality of this can't be overestimated - there's almost small wagon load room available.
Many buyers of the car will be first-time owners - and there are few nasty surprises for them. The engine will only start with the clutch pressed home, and as mentioned, the gearbox is superbly light and precise. The engine management is extraordinarily well mapped - the engine will pull from absurdly low revs without any sign of unhappiness; its flexibility is exemplary. However the engine - although sweet and progressive - feels a little lifeless at times; certainly frequent gear changes will need to be made when climbing hills or overtaking. On hot days the performance also noticeably declines - with three people in the car, the air-con on and a hill to climb, things will be happening only slowly. While the government fuel economy test figures show 5.0 and 7.0 litres/100 km (highway and city, respectively), we averaged 8.0 litres/100 km - perhaps a reflection of the car being driven fairly hard in hilly areas.
Visibility is a mixed bag. The large windscreen is great, but the A-pillars are surprisingly wide. A small person sitting close to the wheel (and so nearer to the pillars) can lose whole cars behind the blockage - it's certainly a car where you want to move your head (rather than just the eyes) when checking for approaching traffic. The rear three-quarter vision is also poor, with the rear pillars very thick.
In general the ride is very good. The car feels to have a long-travel suspension (front struts and a rear torsion beam axle - typical in the class) and the relatively high profile and narrow tyres (175/65 Hankooks) help in impact absorption. All isn't perfect, however; meet just the right (ie wrong!) spacing of bumps and the car develops a bobbing vertical movement. We noticed it in two different situations - on a freeway where the spacing of the concrete joiners upset the car, and on a wavy bitumen open-road corner.
The Getz's handling is characterised by understeer - if you reef on some lock and turn in under power, the front of the car can slide a long way. However, it's pretty easy characteristic to drive around - if you take a slow-in, fast-out approach, the Getz can be quite quick from point to point. Certainly we found nothing that would bite someone making a mistake - the tail stays resolutely put even when backing off sharply and everything is progressive and well-telegraphed.
The switch-gear and instruments are clear and of good quality - controls like the radio and indicators have an excellent feel... again rather unusual in this class. The single CD radio is built by Hyundai (a reminder of just how large the company is) and has a sound quality that's let down a little by the four door-mounted speakers. The test car had the optional passenger airbag and ABS (still with rear drums, but rear discs are coming soon) and apart from the lack of remote locking, didn't feel at all lacking in equipment. With a rear foglight and wiper, good headlights, sweet free-revving engine and tricky design ingredients like a double pivot windscreen wiper, good aerodynamics and a centre roof-mount aerial, the Getz often feels like it should cost thousands more. (But then you look at the horrible 'rain-drop' pattern over the acres of interior plastic and come back to earth with a thump!)
But overall the Getz is a good thing - stylish, practical, roomy, cheap and effective.
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Why you would:
- Excellent use of interior space
- Well featured for the price
- Driveline works well
- Long warranty
- Stylish
Why you wouldn't:
- Question mark on quality
- Hot weather performance noticeably down
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The Getz was supplied for this test by Hyundai.
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