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Hyundai i10 PA, quite a good car actually for older folk and bargain lovers, but that's about it. Hyundai i10 PA – the BMW E36s of cheap city cars.

I say this mainly because the Hyundai i10 PA bridges the gap between the Hyundai Getz and the Hyundai i10 BA, just as the BMW E36 bridged between the famous BMW E30 and the bombastic BMW E46, and with that I wish you a good night.

The Hyundai Getz was one of the first cars of the Korean manufacturer to be abandoned in European ports. And it was an automotive curiosity, being during its illustrious career one of the cheapest cars on the market. An excellent car in 2024 for those who want something cheap, with which to transport their bottoms around town. I mean, so cheap that it's more expensive to use public transport than with a Hyundai Getz, that level of cheap. The kind of car for the kind of man who has caught communism and is used to washing his toilet paper and drying it so he can reuse it. The kind of man who has a notebook in which he meticulously records all his expenses, from parts to fuel costs. Wears a wool beanie. Causes trouble wherever he goes and shouts at the supermarket cashiers. Can't be arsed to follow traffic rules anymore. 

And the Hyundai i10 PA continues approximately on the same path. A car that is still cheap, and in the basic version you get airbags, air conditioning, cd player and front electric windows. Add to that the fact that it has the shifter on top of the dashboard like a Transporter or any other van and you have the perfect car for the pensioner looking for a car. It's tall, has the shifter up high on the dashboard, has all the necessary equipment even at the basic trim, so it doesn't make sense to spend money on another trim level, and you don't get kicked in your financial nads and you can afford it new. It's even shorter than my career at Sephora, so anyone can actually afford running it. And now that I have come to write about cars for old people, I can say that my career at Autodrivel is almost over.

Hyundai i10 PA Engines

Petrol

• 1.0 G3LA Kappa II of 65 horsepower – Arriving quite late for the Hyundai i10 party, this engine came in 2011 and would go on to become famous on the next generation Hyundai i10 and Kia Picanto as one of the best engines in the food delivery industry. Reliable, simple, with an official fuel economy of 36 mpg city, here we have the genesis of one of the best modern engines. We just have to wait for the second generation of the i10, because it also came with the LPG option from the factory.


• 1.1 G4HD Epsilon of 69 horsepower – You'd think a 69 horsepower engine would be fun, as by default anything with the number 69 in it is fun. But unfortunately this antiquity was retired by emissions regulations, but it still did its duty honorably on Getz. What about the Hyundai i10 PA? I would go with one of the other 2 petrol engines.


• 1.25 G4LA Kappa of 84 horsepower – Essentially the 4-cylinder version of the 1.0, this 1.2 Kappa was rather the standard engine on the i20 and it's not necessarily a good thing was because this engine is notorious for its appetite for clutches just like I have an appetite for Carole Samaha, Gordon Ramsay for sandwhiches and Diddy for...

Diesel

1.1 CRDi D3FA of 74 horsepower – Sure, it's a reliable engine, essentially being the 3-cylinder version of the 1.5 diesel from the Hyundai Accident, but are you sure you want a diesel Hyundai i10? Besides, if you only drive it around the city, you will clog its particle filter faster THAN GIRLS CLOGGING THE TOILETS BECAUSE THEY THROW THE TAMPONS IN THE TOILET AND NOT IN THE TRASH BIN.

Hyundai i10 PA Reliability Issues

• Issues with the rear brakes wearing out fast, and that's because i10 eats brakes just like Gorlock the Destroyer feeds himself with all the online hate he got. And if you felt like MackleMore and decided to put disc brakes instead of regular drums, then you will have to be very careful with the calipers, which have a tendency to get stuck.


• The radios on the Hyundais of this period are constantly trying to connect to who knows which satellite network. Which means you will always have to deal with the radio that turns off, loses the frequency, or loses the saved channels.


• Parts are somehow more expensive than for the i30 because the accounting department at Hyundai probably switched the pricing lists by mistake. But at least the i10 is a reliable car, so you will change the parts less often than the typical Hyundai i10 owner changes the gears.

Hyundai i10 PA Verdict

It's not the food delivery car that the second generation i10 turned into, and it's not even the bargain that the Hyundai Getz represented. But sometimes you need a middle child of the family, and the Hyundai i10 PA is exactly that. The middle child. A social outcast, in a dirty country. But prices are still pretty good, the car is pretty reliable so it's definatelly on the city car shortlist. 

What engines do I recommend? For the city warrior, any petrol engine is fine really and you should stick to a petrol engine. Yes, you could also go for the 1.1 diesel, but an diesel i10? Really?