Hyundai i30 3-Door looks good: Paris 2012

The public debut of the slightly racy looking Hyundai i30 3-Door at the Paris 2012 shows it to be a convincing looking car.

Martin Winterkorn’s least favourite car – the Hyundai i30 – has spawned a new 3-door version in its latest iteration, and it looks an appealing prospect on the floor at the Paris Motor Show.

Sleeker and more sporty looking than its five door sibling, the 3-door i30 (we’ve said it before, it should be i30 Coupe) offers all the well-built, well thought out and decent looks of the 5-door version, but with a bit more panache.

What it’s crying out for, though, is something a bit more interesting under the bonnet and the option of some nice alloys and a few subtle body modifications; perhaps a small spoiler at the back, some subtly bigger sills, more butch bumpers and a small ride height drop?

The obvious route under the bonnet would be the turbo lump from the Veloster to create a Hyundai i30 Coupe GT, but perhaps a more practical route would be a Hyundai GT with the bigger 2.0 litre diesel lump Hyundai bolts under the bonnet of the 4WD ix35?

That would create an appealing i30 GTD with as many horses as the Veloster Turbo – 181bhp – but throw in a nice chunk of torque – around 290lb/ft, 100lb/ft more than the Veloster Turbo – yet still offer headline economy of around 50mpg.

Just a thought.