2020 Hyundai I30 Pricing and Specs

Your numbers are correct, including the maximum tow-ball weight of 75kg. With that in mind, provided you don’t load the camper-trailer beyond the 1300kg mark, and you distribute that load properly to keep the two-ball weight under 75kg, you should be safe and legal to proceed.

Beyond keeping the mass within legal limits, the other hurdle you might face is the way the i30’s two-litre petrol engine produces its performance. There’s nothing wrong with the 120kW of peak power, but the engine’s peak torque is an unexceptional 203Nm and is produced at a high 4700rpm. That means you might find yourself working the engine pretty hard to maintain highway speeds.

The sister car to yours, the i30 with the 1.6-litre turbo-diesel might be a better choice for towing with less peak power but much more torque (300Nm, from as low as 1750rpm) making it a more relaxed performer and tower.

This sounds like a problem that should be easily solvable by having your Hyundai dealership electronically scan the car and interpreting the fault codes that result. This can’t be done by the side of the road or in your driveway, so I doesn’t surprise me that your road-service provider hasn’t had much success.

Fundamentally, though, it’s simply not good enough for the dealership to continue to tell you it can’t find a problem. This is a brand-new car and it’s expected to perform faultlessly or, at the very least, to a standard that does not give your partner cause to refuse to drive it. The car is under warranty, so Hyundai is obliged to fix it. If you’re not happy with your dealership’s approach, I’d suggest calling Hyundai’s customer service department. Hyundai guards its reputation very closely in Australia, and isn’t likely to let a case like yours damage that.

If she’s been happy with her Accent, then perhaps a Hyundai i30 Active would be a good bet. It has Bluetooth, a rear view camera and GPS standard, so ticks all the boxes.