The Vehicles Earth

In the first weeks since the Hyundai i40 Tourer arrived, it's made an excellent start. If that sounds like something a headteacher would say about a new kid in class, that's because there are similarities in getting to know people and cars. Like, 'first impressions count', for example.

The i40 Tourer is a strikingly handsome car, with a bold, swept crease through the flanks and those angry staring headlights. It's clearly influenced by the Chris Bangle revolution in European car design, with every panel a fluid mix of convex and concave curves, but that's no bad thing. Hyundai's aim is to beat the premium European makes at their own game, and the i40 is a great start. Most people who see it in the metal seem to like it straight away.

First impressions inside are good too. Ours is a mid-range Style model, which means a classy black cloth trim, Bluetooth, touchscreen sat-nav, parking sensors and rear-view camera, cruise control and dual-zone climate control, all as standard equipment. So far I'm loving the Bluetooth connection to the iPhone (you can play music wirelessly through it too); and hating the way the navigation only allows the first five characters in a postcode, which means you have to enter the whole address to find your destination. Surely that's how sat-navs used to work a few years ago, not in 2012?

And on the road – is it a case of 'must try harder'? Our car has the 134bhp 1.7 CDRI diesel engine (there's also a 113bhp diesel) with a six-speed manual gearbox, and I've been really impressed by the body control and the surprisingly alert handling, which makes all the roundabouts on my daily commute rather fun. It's also achieving 40-plus mpg (which for me is pretty impressive!). Good thing too, seeing as it cost me £100 to brim the 70-litre tank the other day. With fuel prices as they are, I might have to slow down and see if I can get closer to the official, claimed 62.8mpg (combined).

My only other gripe is a low bite point on the clutch, which means I keep snagging cogs when I change gear. Either it's the clutch, or I'm losing all my powers of co-ordination as old age creeps up on me. I presume it's the clutch.

So our new long termer costs £21,995 on the road, plus the only extra we added, the Titanium Silver metallic paint (£445). At £22,440 that makes it great value, and thousands cheaper than the equivalent European estate. Like I said, a great start.

By Mark Walton