Hyundai Bayon review

As we said at the start, the Bayon doesn’t levitate you as far from the road as a Citroën C3 Aircross or even a Ford Puma, something many potential buyers will consider a bad thing. After all, if you like a low-slung driving position with your bum close to the Tarmac, why would you pay a premium for an SUV?

Indeed, you don’t feel noticeably higher than you would in a Ford Fiesta or VW Polo. But if you aren’t put off by this, the Bayon’s driving position isn’t bad at all; there’s a good amount of seat and steering wheel adjustment and the pedals line up neatly with the steering wheel. Our only gripes are that taller drivers might find that the edge of the seat squab digs into their hamstrings, and that there’s no option to have adjustable lumbar support on any trim level.

Over-the-shoulder visibility is compromised by the Bayon’s chunky rear pillars, but all models come with a reversing camera and rear parking sensors to help mitigate this. Seeing out of the front isn’t a problem, and only entry-level SE Connect models miss out on LED headlights for theoretically better visibility at night – although we haven’t tried the entry-level halogen headlights yet.

The Bayon is little more alluring inside than the i20 hatchback on which it’s based. That means there’s precious little in the way of soft-touch, upmarket materials and the slab of hard plastic across the face of the dashboard feels decidedly low-rent. Admittedly, rivals like the Puma and C3 Aircross are hardly plush inside, but they do edge the Bayon for perceived quality.