Hyundai has a sound reputation for affordable small cars but the marque's new burning ambition means the i10 must do better than what went before. Steve Walker reports...

The big names in the automotive manufacturing once had the luxury of being able to dismiss Hyundai pretty much out of hand. The Korean marque's workmanlike products would mop up a respectable number of sales on a value for money ticket but challenge for a place at the European car market's top table? Pull the other one. Eyes were taken off the ball, laurels were casually reclined upon and now Hyundai is the sixth largest car manufacturer in the world. What's more, it has set its sights firmly on the lucrative European big time. The i30 gave us initial confirmation that this was no joke and the i10 aims to underline Hyundai's ambition.

Hyundai's i10 looks like being as strong a contender in the city car segment as its i30 big brother has been amongst the family hatchbacks. Improvements in quality and design are backed-up by the generous specification you expect from Hyundai and let's not forget that five-year warranty.

The i10 is the replacement for the Amica, a car that was retired from the UK market in 2003 before being brought back from the grave for a 2006 swansong. It wasn't particularly appetising during its first stint and rather like last night's mackerel carbonara, it hadn't improved much the next time we saw it. The i10, however, is a thoroughly different proposition. Hyundai was at pains to remind us that its i30 family hatchback was designed and is built in Europe around European tastes. The i10 city car is targeting the top performers in its sector in a similar way, except it's screwed together in India.

A choice of 1.1 or 1.2-litre petrol engines is available. The 1.1 is available in the Classic and Comfort trim levels and gives the driver 66bhp on tap. It's a four-cylinder unit that produces its peak power at 5,500rpm and develops maximum torque of 99Nm at 2,800rpm. These figures make similar reading to those of the 1.0-litre three-cylinder powerplant that's used by the i10's Toyota Aygo, Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107 rivals but where that engine has fractionally more power, the i10's has fractionally more torque. The 1.2-litre petrol-unit offers an 18% power increase on the 1.1-litre engine and increases the i10's torque by 20% helping the car reach 60mph in 12.8 seconds, almost three seconds faster than the 1.1. Top speed for the 1.2 is 102mph compared to 94mph for the smaller engine size.

The i10 has one of the longest wheelbases in its class. At 2,380mm, it's 65mm longer than the Aygo/C1/107 trio, which are largely identical bar the badges, and over 80mm longer than the Fiat's Panda. This should aid ride comfort and handling in the i10, while also maximising interior space.

The i10's long wheelbase has been achieved by pushing the wheels right into the corners of the car so as not to increase overall length by too much. At 3,565mm long and 1,595mm wide, the i10 remains usefully compact. It's actually 166mm shorter than the Toyota Aygo and around 25mm longer than a Fiat Panda so parking shouldn't be too problematic. The exterior design is appealing in an unadventurous kind of way. The city car market was once riddled with non-descript wheeled boxes whereas modern offerings tend to lay on the cheeky style as thick as possible and the i10 falls somewhere between these two stools. The gentle curves around the front end work well and the rear is a little sharper with its angles but the overall shape is neatly integrated.

The interior is the area of the i30 hatchback that most impressed observers. Not because it achieved anything particularly new or groundbreaking but because it managed to ape its leading European rivals so effectively. The i10's cabin looks to do the same and again, the design is simple but appealing. The vibrancy and ingenuity that characterises the best small car interiors doesn't appear to be in evidence but Hyundai looks to have concentrated on getting the fundamentals right. The safety-first approach should help maintain the brand's steady forward momentum.

The designers have employed a dash-mounted gear-lever but it's mounted on a bit of the dash that extends down so low that cross-cabin access isn't really on the agenda. The rear bench is set-up to take three passengers unlike the pair of moulded seats you find in the rear of some of its rivals and the i10 is a five-door only model. Practicality should be a strongpoint.

Before they lurched up-market, Hyundai products always came with a lot of equipment for the price. However, rather than relying on subtle improvements in quality to break the ice with buyers, the i10 adheres to its roots with an equipment list that's suitably Korean in length. All models get air-conditioning as standard and not many city cars can say that. There are also four electric windows plus central locking, power steering and a CD stereo with MP3 compatibility. There are four airbags, the bumpers are body coloured and the glass is tinted, not bad for an affordable city runabout.

Affordability will be crucial to the i10's success. Although it has the healthy specification you always got with Hyundai models of old, it will need to be priced at the level of less luxurious rivals to get the benefit. European buyers still aren't quite ready to see Hyundai products on a level-playing field with those of more established brands. To get itself picked ahead of the funky small cars like the Aygo, C1 and 107, the Panda, the Ford Ka and the Smart ForTwo, the i10 will need a compelling value proposition.

The wisdom of offering diesel engines in city cars is always open to question. They bump the price up by quite a margin and this extra outlay isn't easily recouped through an oil-burner's superior fuel economy because of the short distances that city cars typically travel. To buy a diesel city car, you've got to really like the extra torque and way it drives. Fortunately, the i10 doesn't even give us the option and the 1.1-litre petrol engine should be well up to taking care of business single-handed. It is capable of average fuel economy in the region of 60mpg with emissions that dip under the 120g/km barrier at 119g/km. These figures are mirrored exactly by the more powerful 1.2-litre unit.

Hyundai has another major trick up its sleeve in its bid to break into the European market mainstream - a five-year unlimited mileage warranty. This is a major USP in a market where keeping costs down is of paramount importance for the majority of buyers. Only Hyundai's sister company Kia can match this package and if you're after peace-of-mind motoring, it will prove a tough one to pass up on.

City car buyers aren't going short of choice at the moment. Small, economical vehicles that can help motorists sidestep the worst of the environmental taxation burden are very much in vogue and if they can do so with some design flair and a little bit of cheekiness thrown in, well, so much the better. Hyundai's i10 rides into this arena on the wave of optimism that's building around Hyundai products. The car might be lacking the sparkle to seduce the nation's urban trendies but it looks like putting a definite tick in the boxes marked quality, practicality and value.

Hyundai's designers have worked to maximise the interior space on the i10 city car while retaining the micro exterior dimensions that are all important in the urban jungle. It also looks like displaying the step up in build quality that won so much acclaim for the i30 family hatch. Things are looking up for Hyundai but the work of breaking into the mainstream can't be done by a couple of new models. It's a long term effort and while buyers get used to the idea, the i10's hefty equipment quota and five-year warranty won't go amiss.