Say hello to Practical Motoring’s Hyundai i30 SR, our new long-term review car.

WE BOUGHT OUR brand new Hyundai i30 SR in Phantom Black a week ago with 35km on the clock and we’ve already travelled almost 700km.

We’ll be keeping this car for years so you can come along for the ride and find out just how reliable it is, what it’s like to live with on a day-to-day basis, how economical it is, and what it really costs to run.

Our Hyundai i30 SR was bought anonymously to ensure we didn’t alert the selling dealer and to make sure there is no pressure on us to write glowing reports. Our trademark no-nonsense in-depth reporting will be applied to the SR over every single kilometre of its life.

During its time with us – during which we expect to rack up at least 30,000km a year – we’ll not only be writing on and videoing the Hyundai’s day-to-day driving and reliability, we’ll also be reporting from the front line on dealer service. And the SR will suffer all the indignities a family with two young children can throw at it, and we’ll be taking it with us on holiday too.

The Hyundai i30 SR is a five-door hatchback and sits at the top of the i30 range alongside the Premium (the latter featuring slightly different wheels, full-length sunroof, heated front seats, and an electronic handbrake).

Our car is completely standard, so features a 2.0-litre petrol engine driving through a six-speed manual gearbox to the front wheels. Power is 129kW, with 209Nm of torque.

The SR has leather and leatherette upholstery, the driver’s seat is electrically powered, there’s dual climate control, a raft of in-built safety features including ABS brakes, alloy wheels (and the spare is a full-size alloy too) xenon headlights, and split-fold rear seats. Unlike some less expensive i30s, the SR has a standard navigation system and seven-inch multi-media screen, and also features a reversing camera. It also has what Hyundai calls Flex Steer, giving a choice of three different power steering weights and ratios.

Join us on our journey (sign up for our regular newsletter so you don’t miss any updates) to find out what happens when one of Australia’s best-selling brands is placed under the long-term Practical Motoring microscope.

NEXT WEEK: We’ll run you through the process of buying the Hyundai i30 SR and reveal exactly what we thought of the whole dealer experience … Good? Bad? Stay tuned.