Melbourne show: Hyundai goes iLoad

IN ITS own words, Hyundai has moved to “shake up the Australian light commercial market” with the launch of its iLoad van range now on sale. The South Korean manufacturer claims to have benchmarked the iLoad against its European and Japanese competition – the big sellers in Australia being the Toyota HiAce, Mitsubishi Express and Ford Transit – and to have raised the bar in terms of design, specification and value. Starting from $29,990, the iLoad is available as a three-seat van or six-seat crew van and with either petrol or diesel power. Diesel models start from $34,490, with the crew-cab adding $2000 over the RRP. Standard equipment across the rear-wheel drive range includes dual front airbags, ABS brakes (with electronic brake-force distribution), remote central locking, electric windows/mirrors, an alarm, four-speaker CD/MP3 stereo, sliding doors on both sides of the vehicle and a single-piece tailgate. A five-year/160,000km warranty plus one-year roadside assist is also part of the package.

Electronic stability and traction control is a $700 option on diesel variants, and unavailable at this stage on petrol versions. Other options include twin-swing barn doors ($550), differential lock ($700) and metallic paint ($350). A wide range of accessories is also available, including two and three bar roof rack systems, and a technician kit comprising a ladder slider, conduit holder, work light mount, key locking security cables and ratchet straps.

The headline act on the powertrain front is the 2.5-litre 16-valve four-cylinder common-rail turbo-diesel engine, producing 125kW of power at 3800rpm and 392Nm of torque from 2000-2500rpm. Combined with the standard five-speed manual gearbox, the iLoad diesel’s fuel consumption rating is 8.5L/100km (rising to 9.6L/100km with the optional $2500 five-speed automatic transmission).

The entry engine is a 2.4-litre 16-valve four-cylinder petrol unit developing 129kW at 6000rpm and 228Nm at 4200rpm. Paired with a five-speed manual gearbox –no auto is available – the petrol iLoad returns 10.1L/100km on the official ADR 81/01 mileage rating.

The suspension comprises MacPherson struts up front and a solid rear axle with leaf springs. The brakes are ventilated disc brakes all-round, with 300mm diameter rotors (with twin piston callipers and pad wear warning indicators) at the front and 320mm solid rotors (with single piston callipers) at the rear. Both single and crew-cab versions uses 16-inch steel wheels with 215/70-section tyres. Steering is a power-assisted rack-and-pinion system requiring 3.57 turns lock to lock. The turning circle is 11.2 metres, despite large dimensions. These include a 3200mm wheelbase, along with a 5125mm overall length, 1920mm width and 1935mm height. Maximum load length is 2375mm in the standard van, dropping to 1585mm in the crew, while cargo width and height are 1620mm and 1350mm respectively on both models. Depending on the variant, kerb weight ranges from 1943kg to 2171kg and GVM 2950kg to 3230kg. Payload ranges from 1055kg to 1132kg, while braked towing capacity is 1500kg for the petrol and automatic diesel versions and 2000kg for the diesel manual.

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Hyundai vans out now