Hyundai Bayon Review & Prices

When it comes to dinky SUVs, you’re pretty spoilt for choice. You’ve got the likes of the Ford Puma, Nissan Juke, VW T-Cross and many others. Now, there’s another to consider — the Hyundai Bayon.

You can imagine the Hyundai Bayon a bit like a pair of Crocs. Beneath the funky styling is a car that’s trying to nail the basics of being a practical, sensible daily runaround.

There’s a lot to unpack with the design of the Bayon. Its thin daytime running light and bulbous headlight combo is eye-catching, and the huge grille almost makes it look as though it’s yawning.

You can have yours with a funky two-tone roof if you’d like, while 16-inch alloys come fitted as standard. That said, if you go for one of the higher-spec models, you’ll get larger 17-inch rims instead. You’ll spot boomerang-ish brake lights at the back, with a gloss black panel back there too, no matter your choice of roof.

Things inside the Hyundai Bayon aren’t quite as abstract, but it looks nice enough.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t feel that great — with a lot of scratchy plastics throughout. Though the build quality is generally fine, a VW T-Cross feels way more solid.

You should find the driving position of the Hyundai Bayon suits you nicely, however. You sit high up, but not so much that you feel like you’re behind the wheel of a bus, and there’s plenty of adjustability for the seats and steering wheel.

An 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system comes as standard. Premium models and upwards get you a fancier 10.25-inch system, which is the one you’ll want if you have a penchant for tech.

The system itself is nothing too special, but it does the basics well and is pretty responsive. If you’d rather plug your phone in, both versions of the infotainment system support Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as standard.

No matter your pick of Hyundai Bayon, you’ll get a crisp digital driver’s display feeding you key driving info. Again, nothing too fancy — but it does its job nicely.

Your passengers in the back will be pretty grateful for your choice of car. The Bayon offers a decent amount of leg and headroom in the back, though there’s quite a hump on the floor so it’ll be tight for three in the back.

With 334 litres of boot space, the Bayon is far from the most practical in its class. A Ford Puma gives you 456 litres for example, and the Skoda Kamiq 400 litres. However, the opening itself is squared off and easy to load stuff into.

You can have a 100hp or 120hp engine with the Bayon, as well as the choice of a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic gearbox. Hyundai claims up to 53.3mpg, but you can expect to get around 45mpg in reality.

The Bayon is most at home around town. Hyundai i20 underpinnings shine through here — offering light steering that manages to not be overly soft, and suspension that’s comfy enough without shaking you like jelly.

It’s reasonable fun on a back road too, though if sheer driving pleasure is high on your list, a Puma is the way to go.

If you’re keen on a well-kitted urban runabout, the Hyundai Bayon is worth considering. It does lack practicality, but if you can sacrifice space there’s a lot to like about it. Take a look at the latest deals available through carwow.

Hyundai has priced the Bayon so it’s very close to others in the class, such as the Skoda Kamiq and Citroen C3 Aircross. It’s cheaper than a Volkswagen T-Roc, so the Bayon represents good value given its decent equipment levels.

To go from the entry-point SE Connect to the Premium adds £2200 when comparing cars with the same engine. To make the jump from Premium trim will stick a further £1300 on the bill for a Bayon.

The only optional extra for the Bayon is metallic paint, which comes in at £550.

The Bayon’s engine range offers pokey performance to make this a fun small SUV to drive, though fuel economy is only average for this type of car

In town

The Hyundai Bayon is a car that’s been built with city driving in mind. It shows this by mixing the compact exterior size with a higher set driving position than you get in a supermini. The result is excellent all-round visibility for switching lanes, pulling out of side streets, and parking in tight spots. To further help out here, every Bayon comes with rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera.

Further assistance for getting about town in the Bayon includes standard Lane Keep Assist to prevent the car from wandering out of the correct piece of road. There’s Driver Attention Alert to tell you when to take a break, and Forward Collision Assist and Autonomous Emergency Braking to deal with unexpected hazards in the road. Every Bayon also comes with cruise control with speed limiter, so there’s no excuse for edging over the posted limit.

On a more everyday level, the Bayon’s driving position is very good and will suit people of all shapes. There’s no adjustable lumbar support, but the steering wheel and seat offer plenty of movement to fine tune the seating position.

In Bayons with the six-speed manual gearbox, the change is light and accompanied by a clutch pedal that doesn’t require much effort. The seven-speed automatic gearbox is smooth and ideal for getting about town with minimal hassle.

Over dimpled roads, the Bayon is sure-footed and more supple than a Ford Puma, so it has no trouble getting from one side of town to the other in a calm manner.

On the motorway

At higher speeds, there’s a bit more wind and road inside the Hyundai Bayon than in other small SUVs, such as the Skoda Kamiq or Volkswagen T-Cross. It’s not rowdy in the Hyundai, but you will notice changes in surface quality from the noise of the tyres passing over the road.

All of the engines in the Bayon come with mild hybrid technology, which gives a decent turn of acceleration for joining the motorway. The more powerful 120hp 1.0-litre petrol engine has a little extra in reserve for high speed cruising, but you won’t feel left behind with the 100hp version.

On a twisty road

Hyundai has come with a curious mix of the very good and decidedly mediocre for how the Bayon goes on country lanes. The good bit is the body doesn’t lean much in corners, so you feel confident about maintaining a reasonable speed. It also deals with rumps and ridges without any unwelcome jolts.

The downside is the Bayon’s steering doesn’t offer much in the way of feel as you drive along. There’s nothing wrong with the way the car turns into corners, but it would just be good if the driver could tell a bit more about what’s going on as it happens through the steering wheel.

The Bayon’s interior is more practical than the whacky exterior might suggest and you get plenty of space for people. A pity the boot is a bit small

Finding a driving position to suit you is not going to be tricky in the Hyundai Bayon. The seat itself has relatively flat cushions on its base and back, but they are sufficiently well padded to be comfy for longer journeys. There’s also height adjustment for the driver’s seat, but no lumbar adjustment in any of the trim levels.

Hyundai allows the driver to move the steering wheel for height and how close it comes towards you. Again, it makes fettling the driving position very simple, and you still feel you have that raised SUV visibility even if the Bayon doesn’t put you any higher up than in an i20 in reality.

The thick rear pillars of the Bayon are not a big issue when driving or reversing, especially as all models have rear parking sensors and a camera.

When it comes to keeping small items safely stowed away, the Bayon is a good bet. The door bins are quite narrow towards the rear of their space, but the forward part can hold a large water bottle. There’s a tray in front of the gear lever, cupholders next to the handbrake, and behind this a cubby with lid that doubles as an armrest. The glovebox isn’t very big, but it keeps the owner’s manual safe.

Space in the back seats

You’ll be pleasantly surprised at just how much space there is in the back of the Bayon for people. Helped by the shape of the front seats, adults can fit in the hind quarters without having to contort their knees, though a bit more room for feet would be welcome.

Rear headroom is generous in the Bayon compared to most others in the class, and it’s also broad enough to carry three adults. When it comes to kids, it’s positively spacious and there are ISOFIX mounts on both outer rear chairs.

Boot space

At 334 litres with the rear seats in place, the Hyundai Bayon’s boot is average for this type of car. It trails the Ford Puma or Skoda Kamiq for outright cargo space, but it does make up for this with an adjustable height boot floor. On its higher setting, it sits flush with the load sill to make heaving big bags in and out much easier.

The rear seats are split 60:40 and fold down to leave a reasonably flat floor with little intrusion at the sides. A couple of tie-down points are handy, but there’s not much else in the Bayon’s boot space.

The Bayon’s cabin is functional, well made and practical, but it’s a shame it’s not quite as stylish as the exterior of the car

Let your hands roam around the interior of the Hyundai Bayon and you don’t encounter much in the way of soft-touch plastics. It does take away from the car’s sense of occasion compared to, say, and Audi Q2, but there’s nothing to quibble about with the quality of Hyundai’s build standards. The Bayon feels solid and more than a match for anything from Skoda or Volkswagen.

There are some design flourishes to give the Bayon’s interior a small lift, such as the strakes across the dash that give the impression of one giant air vent. We also like how the ventilation controls are set out from the dash a little, and they use physical buttons rather than operating through the infotainment screen.

The main dials of the Bayon have a digital display that’s easy to read and you can scroll through different menus with the steering wheel buttons. As for the other major controls, the driver sits perfectly in line with the foot pedals, the gear lever is short movement from the steering wheel, and there’s a simple pull-up handbrake lever.

Move your eyes further up the dash and you come to the infotainment screen set into the dash so it looks like it has an arm over the shoulder of the main instrument pod. In the SE Connect trim, this display uses an 8.0-inch touchscreen that runs with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. It reacts quickly to inputs from your finger and has a clear, bright display.

In the upper two trim levels, the infotainment is swapped for the 10.25-inch touchscreen. This bigger unit is simpler to read while driving, but it doesn’t respond to touch quite so quickly as the smaller version. However, you do get wireless phone charging, and the Ultimate trim also comes with a Bose Premium Sound System for the stereo’s speakers to give your ears a treat.

The two higher trim levels come with Hyundai’s Bluelink phone app so you can check the car’s fuel level remotely. It also lets you plan journeys and send them to the Bayon’s sat nav to save you programming it when you get into the car.

If you choose the Hyundai Bayon with the 100hp version of the three-cylinder 1.0-litre petrol engine and mild hybrid set-up, it gets from rest to 62mph in 10.7 seconds with the six-speed manual gearbox. The automatic transmission adds one second to that time. With the 120hp engine, 0-62mph takes 10.4 seconds with whichever of the two transmissions you pick.

Almost every Bayon model offers the same 53.3mpg combined fuel economy figure. The only exception is if you choose the Ultimate trim with the 120hp engine and manual gearbox, in which case you’ll see an official 52.3mpg average consumption.

Emissions in the Bayon are lower than in most of Hyundai's petrol-only rivals thanks to the mild hybrid help in this car. The best carbon dioxide output in the Bayon is 119g/km in the 100hp SE Connect trim with automatic gearbox, while the manual offers 120g/km.

For the Premium, the 100hp engine delivers 121g/km with either transmission and the 120hp engine emits 120g/km. Move to the Ultimate and you’ll pay tax based on 121g/km whichever engine and gearbox you order.

With the SE Connect trim of the Bayon, Hyundai provides six airbags, lane keep assist, autonomous emergency braking, and an intelligent speed warning. You also get cruise control with speed limiter, forward collision avoidance that recognises pedestrians, cyclists and cars, and a tyre pressure monitor. On top of that, there are rear parking sensors and camera, too, and a driver fatigue alert.

The Ultimate trim of Bayon goes further with a blind spot collision warning system, and Lane Following Assist to keep you a safe distance from the car in front in a queue of traffic.

There have been no recalls for the Hyundai Bayon to date, and the company has an enviable reputation for the reliability of its cars.

That reputation is partly built on the excellent five-year, unlimited mileage warranty that comes as standard with all new cars from Hyundai. It stays with the car up to that age limit when it’s sold on, so subsequent owners also benefit from this coverage.