Riding shotgun with Hyundai on an outback torture test.September 2 2016
David McCowen
Hyundai conducted hot weather testing for the new i30 hatch in Cobar, NSW. It's January 26 and our surroundings couldn't be more Australian.
We've gone bush, where rich red dirt blurs into a vast sky that stretches higher than usual. The quiet road ahead shimmers as Triple J's annual Hottest 100 countdown unfurls through the speakers, climaxing with The Rubens' "Hoops" not long after we reach the western NSW town of Cobar.
This all feels appropriate, as we're here to witness Hyundai jump through a few hoops of its own in one of the hottest regions in NSW. The town's population has grown a little this week with the addition of a dozen engineers from Seoul, along with a small contingent of Australians tracking their progress.
The mission? To ensure the next-generation Hyundai i30 is capable of handling what owners expect. Australia forms a key element of an international test program which benefits dozens of markets around the world - our rough roads, long distances and harsh climate have a role to play in the development of many new cars. But few are as important to their manufacturer as the Hyundai i30.
The outgoing i30 has hit its stride in Australia, topping the sales charts from time to time when the brand offers strong sales promotions its rivals can't match. Doubtless a strong value proposition, the i30 loses ground to some rivals on the technical front. It's ageing naturally aspirated engine and conventional automatic transmission lack the effortless efficiency of machines such as the Volkswagen Golf or Ford Focus, something Hyundai will address with a new model due to be unveiled in September 2016.
The new machine has a compact turbocharged engine, a dual-clutch automatic transmission and thoroughly reworked interior and exterior styling to bring it into line with key rivals.
But we can't quite see what it looks like, as the car has been wrapped in visually disruptive camouflage as well as black fabric covers at the front and rear with cut-outs for the intake, exhaust, lights and windows. A sign on the car's window warns onlookers that the car is a "trade secret", and that attempts to photograph the car without permission will be "strictly penalized". We also had to wait several months before telling you about it.
Heat aside, a key point in Cobar's favour is that it is not a paparazzi den. Hotter corners of the US are a haven for professional spy photographers who pay the rent by camping in Death Valley with a telephoto lens and selling their handiwork to the world's motoring media. Engineers like to do their work in private – particularly when the car in question won't make its official debut for several months. There's a lot of trust at play here, and Hyundai has let us into their development program on the condition that we don't discuss it until the manufacturer is ready to reveal its new machine to the public.
HeeLoong Wong, Hyundai Australia's general manager of product engineering, says many prototypes come to Australia more than a year before they go on sale.
"Usually when they first come over the cars are at least one and a half years away," Wong says.
"Those cars are hand built – it costs $250,000 to $500,000 - not just for the body but also the engine and transmission.
"A pilot car is then built two or three months later, then pre-production, then full production models.
"If you look at it, every engine produced by Hyundai will find its way somehow, even one and a half years before production, into Australia."
"Wongy" says the growing brand's Australian test regime has expanded in recent years.
"Our local testing goes back to the 1990s, when we started developing our own engines - but it was very small scale, just one or two cars in summer," Wong says.
"Since the Hyundai Motor Company took over the operation in Australia in 2003, the frequency and the number of cars coming increased yearly.
"Now in a year you're talking about 20 vehicles at least, just Hyundai cars, excluding Kia. We get up to four to five batches of engineers, with each batch having up to 17 engineers.
"Sometimes our workshop manager gets very upset because they take up all the space."
The brand's testing takes on a variety of forms. Ride and handling examinations include lengthy road trips that can be downloaded and physically repeated.
"They will wire up a car and drive from here to Alice Springs on all the shitty roads they can find," Wong says.
"Then they will download the data and put it into a four-post machine with six degrees of freedom. You can simulate the drive and run it through that again and again."
That sort of torture test allows carmakers to try a variety of springs and shock absorbers on a sophisticated test bench that replicates what happens in the real world. But there's nothing like hitting the open road, which is why just about every carmaker takes new machines on a world tour of extreme climates before offering them to the public.
Today's assignment is to ignore suspension settings and focus on what's under the bonnet. Hyundai's powertrain gurus are trying to make class-leading power levels reliably, whatever the car's environment. Ambient temperatures approaching 40 degrees put plenty of stress on the engine and its emissions and cooling systems, as well as the transmission, climate control and other key features throughout the car.
The team led by Seungmook You, senior research engineer for Hyundai, has wired up a pair of next-gen i30s with dozens of sensors.
The cars aren't pretty. There are computers, wires, cables, microphones and thermometers throughout the cabin – but they hold an important purpose.
You's team focus on fuel economy and driveability, riding four-up in the car as with one engineer at the wheel and three others studying live readouts from the car's fuel and ignition systems, the turbo system, emissions management, valvetrain and more.
They drive for more than 1000 kilometres to reach remote sites, and then set up camp for a week to drive the car in a variety of conditions.
"The total driving and testing distance may be longer than 20,000 kilometres," You says.
"Then the durability testing may take more than 300,000 kilometres."
The crew carry a few spare parts, and they are supported by Hyundai's Australian operation. Rapid prototyping back at their Namyang research and development centre in Korea allows parts to be air-freighted across the world overnight in extreme circumstances. Wongy reckons that occurs locally at least twice a year.
You's team primarily divide their time between Korea, North America and Europe before heading to Australia for the local summer season.
"When the northern hemisphere is winter season, for the hot testing we usually visit Australia," You says.
"Australia will remain a very important and favourable place for hot testing at winter season of northern hemisphere."
The crew seek out hot, dusty environments to put their machines to the test. We tag along in a regular Genesis sedan and Santa Fe SUV before they invite us to ride along in the priceless prototype.
While customer-made covers obscure the new dashboard, it's clear the model has a new display screen similar to what you'll find in a Mazda3 or Audi A3. The steering wheel has a modern, more compact airbag and the driver's instrument cluster has been updated.
Climbing carefully over delicate sensors positioned throughout the car, we strap into the i30 before You takes to gravel roads between Cobar and Broken Hill. It's a manual model, so we can't assess the new automatic gearbox, but it's clear that the new turbo motor has more punch than the outgoing machine.
It's an effortless machine in comparison to the existing model, using its turbo torque to pull four blokes and a bootload of electronics with ease.
It's quiet, too, which bodes well for the model's ability to challenge the Focus, Golf and Mazda3 as the best in its class.
While Hyundai hasn't told us much about the i30, the next car could represent a significant step forward that could cement its place as a global player. That's good to know, as competition across the car industry helps improve the breed. And it's great to see that cars will still be proven in Australian conditions, even after the local car making industry has gone.
N is for Nurburgring
It's fair to say Cobar isn't a household name within the automotive industry. The most famous place to evaluate cars is the Nurburgring, where many of the world's top marques have research and development hubs at the gates to the green hell. Hyundai is one of them, and every one of its cars goes through a high-speed torture test at a circuit renowned for its ability to replicate the most challenging conditions vehicles are likely to face.
Hyundai's upcoming N Performance brand is named in honour of the Nurburgring, which has played host to the development of its first hot hatch performance car. Expect the N-tuned i30 to blend a turbocharged 2.0-litre engine with track-ready tyres, brakes and suspension worthy of taking on the likes of Volkswagen's Golf R and the Ford Focus RS.
Source: 
Inside Hyundai's testing program for the new i30
