HYUNDAI’S latest i30 – the third in a series that stretches just 10 years – is without doubt the best.

Packaged as an amalgam of everything the company has learnt about building cars since 1967, it hardly puts a foot wrong.

At times over 90 per cent of buyers have chosen the base version, so here it is – the bread-and-butter Active in both manual and auto guises.

Never mind Toyota’s Corolla should Volkswagen be worried about this German-influenced hatchback?