The Hyundai Getz was first launched in 2002 and since then it has proven to be a very popular high fuel mileage car. The mixture of budget motoring, reliability and good looks has been a winning combination for Hyundai who are now only outsold by Toyota's Yaris in this category of car.
The fuel-efficient Getz has recently had a facelift but apart from some minor cosmetics very little has changed. Hyundai must be followers of the saying 'if it ain't broken, don't fix it'. Its competitors in the small car market are coming up with increasingly futuristic designs but Hyundai has chosen to stick with the conservative but neat styling of its Getz. It is a good looking little car.
Sales of this high fuel mileage car have undoubtedly been helped by a rise in quality of Hyundai over the last five years. The company is slowly but surely reversing its image of cheap, unreliable and bad quality cars to one of reliability, good build quality, but still inexpensive. The Yaris is the only competitor in the small high fuel mileage car market that sells in greater numbers but Hyundai's Getz is slowly gaining ground on Toyota.
Lets take a closer look at this car. Its just about the ultimate in budget motoring. If you want the most bang for your buck nothing beats it. Its economical, practical, quite spacious for a car of its type and drives well. The negative is this car really is no-frills motoring. Features are very basic especially on the base model.
There are two models of the Hyundai Getz available. Both come in 3 and 5 door variants. The base model is the 'S' which is powered by a 1.4 litre petrol engine delivering 70kW of power. The premium model of this high fuel mileage car is the 'SX' which has a 1.6 litre 78 kW engine. Both models are available with either a 5 speed manual or 4 speed auto box. The 1.4 litre engine is pretty good around town but starts to struggle on freeways especially if you're carrying any kind of load. The manual gearbox gets the best out of this engine. The 1.6 litre engine is a lot more eager even though it only has 8kW more power.
The Hyundai Getz S with manual gearbox returns a fuel mileage of 6.1 litres/100km and the auto has a fuel economy of 6.9 litres/100km. The larger engine in the SX is hardly any less efficient, returning 6.2 litres/100km for the manual and 7.0 litres/100km for the automatic. This high fuel mileage car will cost you very little in gas and the above figures are very achievable in normal driving.
The Getz falls down a bit on safety. The 'S' model only has two airbags (fronts) and extra airbags aren't available as an option. You also only get rear drum brakes (I did say this was no-frills motoring!) and no anti-lock brakes as standard. The 'SX' is better equipped with rear disc brakes and anti-lock brakes as standard, but side airbags are still only an option. Hyundai really should address this because many of its competitors are offering 6 airbags on similar cars. With the side airbags fitted the SX gets a 4 star safety rating but some of its competitors have a 5 star rating.
The list of features on this fuel efficient car is a bit sparse - you get a CD player, air conditioning, an alarm and remote central locking. There also aren't many extras you can add on. Inside the cabin theres pretty good rear legroom for a car of this size and the trunk is also quite roomy. The front seats felt a little small though. The car drives quite well and the steering is good but the suspension can sometimes feel a bit rough.
Overall the Hyundai Getz is still a major force as a small high fuel mileage car. Its amazing value for money and has proved itself to be reliable. I would recommend the 'SX' model over the 'S' - it has a better engine with hardly any drop in efficiency, and is a safer car.