Hyundai Bayon review

You would imagine the Bayon to be so deeply unremarkable to drive that telling you about it would send you to sleep faster than watching an ASMR compilation with a mouthful of anti-hay fever tablets. And… so it largely proves.

The steering’s fine: not overly light or stupidly quick in a misguided effort to make things feel sporty. All the usual thrummy, eager triple-cylinder clichés apply when it comes to the engine, and while it’s noticeably noisy even when idling it makes light work of the Bayon’s modest circa-1,200kg kerbweight. 

It doesn’t feel top heavy in bends, it grips gamely and the ride’s impressively mature. It’s comfier than the Kona, and not as chuckable. Hyundai, you sense, is targeting a different sort of buyer here – one who grew out of ‘sportiness’ before the kids grew up and left home. 

Not fast either then, presumably?

Hyundai claims 0-62mph in 11.3 seconds for the manual; the seven-speed DCT is a full 1.1 seconds slower. So yeah, it’s not particularly quick, but then it doesn’t need to be. Meanwhile top speed is 111mph in the former, 109mph in the latter.

And where its predecessor was fitted with Hyundai’s ‘iMT’ or intelligent manual transmission – where there's nothing mechanically connecting the left pedal and the clutch itself, just wires and code – probably the car’s biggest talking point, this is now gone, replaced with a regular shifter.

Nothing wrong with that of course, though it’s very light in your hands and offers very little feedback. But it does at least give you the (possibly misplaced) feeling that you’ve got an element of control versus the auto.

Will it cost me much to run?

Hyundai claims up to 51.4mpg – we saw 45.9 real world – and 125g/km CO2 emissions. So, in a word, no.

Anything else to note?

We mentioned the safety upgrades on the previous page: all Bayons now get the compulsory intelligent speed limit assist (which brings with it the usual annoying bonging should you dare go over it, and requires you to go four deep into the touchscreen to turn it off every time you start the car) and lane keep assist, plus forward collision avoidance assist and rear view camera and parking sensors.

Additionally everything but the base spec trim gets front parking sensors, plus blind spot collision warning on top spec models. 

The driver assistance pack, an £800 option available on mid and top spec Bayons, provides smart cruise control, advanced forward collision avoidance assist, plus blind spot collision avoidance assist. Short of safety kit/options it isn’t.