2012 Hyundai i40 Tourer First Drive

While Alan Mulally's "One Ford" mission rolls out models that are essentially the same worldwide, Hyundai is busy tailoring its cars to suit continents and countries. Both manufacturers are making headway with their strategies, but if you include Kia in the Korean company's production totals, the group outsold Ford across the globe in 2009.

It has certainly gained sales with models like the European-designed European-built i30 hatchback, this strategy gradually shifting the brand away from its budget-buy status toward something more sophisticated. Unlike the U.S., Europe does not see models like the Genesis, Genesis Coupe and Equus, which is partly why perceptions of Hyundai lag less positively behind those of American customers.

But Europe does get the Sonata Wagon — better known as the 2012 Hyundai i40 Tourer. This car is essentially a rework of the fourth-generation Sonata, which was the fourth-best-selling sedan in America last month.

Not Just Bumpers and Lights
It's a rework that amounts to a lot more than a new set of bumpers, grilles and lamps, as the i40 gets different sheet metal and a proprietary interior. Hyundai reckons Europe needs a more dynamic-looking car, and the i40's styling certainly has some of that about it, wagon or not. A sedan version — less racy-looking than the wagon — goes on sale at the end of this year.

The i40's styling was performed by Hyundai's European design center in Germany, and takes cues from the fluidic sculpture theme that can be seen in the Tucson and the i-Flow concept. Sculptural surfacing, lightly muscled flanks, a coupelike roof line and a slightly wedged stance provide this car with the lightly athletic look that Hyundai was chasing, and if it looks a little similar to Honda's Accord Tourer and the Opel Insignia, it's in good company and presents a more-than-credible first attempt at a car in this class.

The same applies inside, where a curvaceous, robustly constructed soft-feel fascia lends the 2012 Hyundai i40 Tourer a pleasingly upmarket aura while presenting a generous array of equipment that on most models runs to a touchscreen sat-nav. Brushed aluminium and piano black decor, a colorful driver information center and a steering wheel generously stocked with switchgear complete a look of sophistication. The steering wheel can be optionally heated, as can the rear seats.

These unusual extras, along with a lane-keeping feature (sensors read the lines at the lane's edge and trim the electrically assisted steering to keep a drifting i40 within them) and automated parallel parking strengthen the i40's high-tech claims. Still, it's surprising to find these toys in a budget-priced VW Passat competitor.

Powertrains You Can't Have
While the structural core of this car is shared with the Sonata, its engine lineup is totally different, as a 1.7-liter turbodiesel and direct-injection 1.6- and 2.0-liter gasoline engines substitute for the 2.4 and 2.0 turbo offered in the U.S. The 177-horsepower 2.0-liter is the most powerful of the trio, propelling the i40 to 62 mph in 9.7 seconds and on to a top speed of 132 mph.

The i40 goes about its business with a quiet civility that owners will appreciate as the miles roll by.

That's not startling performance, and in two of the cars we drove acceleration was delivered in slightly faltering style at low-to-middling revs. A third car was noticeably better, and able to easily pull away from the identical example attempting to follow. Once you close on the slightly high 4,700-rpm torque peak, the engine pulls with some verve all the way to the 7,000-rpm limiter with fair smoothness.

Revs that hang long after you've dropped the throttle for an upshift require a pause, but at least the gearshift in the standard six-speed manual transmission is easily manipulated. We tried an automatic, too — it's also a six-speeder — and it swaps ratios with a smoothness that suits this Hyundai's quiet passage, its high-speed refinement being particularly good.

Not Quite a Sport Wagon
If that suggests a car that's more about cruising than cornering you'd be right, although the 2012 Hyundai i40 Tourer comes quite close to being a car that's enjoyable to hustle through a succession of curves. It feels stable, grippy and secure, body sway and understeer being relatively well-contained without having you dare to think that you've stepped into a cunningly disguised sports wagon.

It's mostly the steering that keeps it from enthusiast endorsement. Your sense of the road below is muffled by its assistance, which is electrically powered and feels it both straight ahead and when you're hard-charging a bend.

Its slightly light weighting is acceptable, but the feeling of disconnection from the road is less so for the keen. And the wheel occasionally betrays faint spasms of torque steer when you get a move on in 1st and 2nd gears, too. The suspension occasionally crashes over ruts as well, all of which adds up to a competitively acceptable drive, even if it's eclipsed by the more polished Ford Mondeo.

Still a Wagon
But the i40 has other strengths. It's very spacious front and rear, its cargo area is fairly big, well-shaped and available with a useful luggage retaining system and there's plenty of room to store the small electronic paraphernalia of modern life. There are also sensibly located sockets in which to plug these devices, too, as well as a strong stereo to play them through.

Disappointing, though, is that the split rear bench's backrests merely drop onto their cushions rather than tumbling forward, an arrangement that turns the rear footwell into a void that your goods will cascade into with the first firm stop. The extended floor is not entirely flat either, and it's a shame that the folding seats aren't powered.

Yet despite these small criticisms, it's hard not to be impressed by the 2012 Hyundai i40 Tourer. It's a handsome-looking thing, pleasing to occupy, convenient and well made and it goes about its business with a quiet civility that owners will appreciate with increasing enthusiasm as the miles roll by. As a first serious assault on a segment dominated by European models, this is a more-than-worthy effort, one that not only makes it easy to understand why the Sonata is such a success, but also why Hyundai's expansion looks increasingly unstoppable.

Edmunds attended a manufacturer-sponsored event, to which selected members of the press were invited, to facilitate this report.