By: Jesse Adams
Johannesburg - Hello. My name is Jesse, and I’m a space addict. No, not the final frontier Star Trek kind. I’m addicted to cargo room. The kind you get in a four-wheeled warehouse.
It all started when Volkswagen loaned us a Caravelle for a long-term test a couple of years ago. Prolonged exposure to all of its roominess triggered an insatiable chemical craving in my cortex. Oh, how I loved its flexible seating system. Its cubic dimensions. Its side sliding doors. Its gigantic boot. Once you’ve lived with the convenience of a proper bus, and without fear of running out of space for people and things, it can be hard to live without it.
And I know I’m not the only one at this office with the disease. Ever since editor Droppa took up cycling, it seems as if some test cars are rated by their mountain-bike carrying abilities. Deliver a two-seat supercar and a kombi on a Friday afternoon, and I know which keys will disappear first. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration: the supercar might be inspected for a remote chance of MTB fitment before the decision is made. Are we full-on space junkies? Probably.
Which is why I was so relieved that the boss and his bicycle were away when Hyundai dropped off its new H1 Multicab for a recent road test. I had it all to myself, and planned a weekend full of people shuttling, goods moving and general stuff carrying. A spatial overdose was on the cards, and I was keen to indulge.
The Multicab is one of three H1 body configurations, and where the H1 Wagon is a pure people-mover with seats for nine, and the H1 Panel Van is a steel-sided box van designed for maximum load capacity, the Multicab is a mixture of both. Up front is a passenger compartment with seating for six, and at the back is a 2500-litre cargo bay accessed by two side-hinged barn doors. In the middle is a steel bulkhead (with a window), dividing the two cab sections in much the same way as a ship’s segmented hull.
Multiple roles
Driving it for a week, I couldn’t help but imagine the Multicab in a number of roles. A garden service could deliver all the hoes, rakes, shovels, and mowers six dudes could ever need on site. A motocross team could move two bikes, their riders and four mechanics. A rock sextet and its band equipment? A family of flying trapeze and all its circus gear? Whatever. A double-cab bakkie couldn’t dream of this much space.
So what did my weekend with the H1 entail? Paving bricks. Tons of them. Literally. My sister had just torn up thousands of high-quality clay bricks (the kind they don’t make anymore) from her garden, and I wanted them. So I hired some help, and packed the back of the bus with a few hundred at a time.
The load bay’s floor is covered in a thick rubber material that looks like it’ll take years of abuse, and the sides below the glass are lined with a hard plastic, though the painted steel wheel arches are exposed. Don’t worry, I laid down plenty of drop cloth to protect the shiny new surfaces.
Hyundai rates this vehicle’s load capacity at an 1100kg maximum, and I probably pushed that limit, judging by the way its rear leaf springs sagged under the weight.
The springs may have slumped in agony, but I suspect the rest of the drivetrain could handle much more. The Multicab is sold only with a 2.5 CRDi (the nine-seater gets a 2.4 petrol option) driving the rear wheels through a five-speed automatic gearbox, and its 125kW/441Nm power rating is perfectly suited to this H1’s workaholic nature. Even loaded with a ton of bricks the turbodiesel showed no signs of stress, and the autobox makes driving the 5.1 metre-long barge a doddle. It even comes standard with cruise control, Bluetooth and aircon so long trips will be a breeze.
Durable materials
I would like to see an average fuel consumption function, though. A trip computer with basic distance to empty and average speed displays is included, so it seems fuel economy would be a fairly simple addition. For our test I recorded average diesel use the old-fashioned way, revealing around 12 litres per 100km over a full week. Not bad considering all the brick lugging.
The cabin’s clearly designed for a life of hard work, with seats covered in a durable cloth material and more scratchy plastic than I’ve ever seen in one car. It’s all very grey and dreary, but a recent range-wide facelift does at least see radio and instrument cluster displays, now with classier blue backlighting.
Assuming that most journeys won’t require all six seats, the middle seat-back of the front bench flips down into a large centre console storage tray with two cupholders. Both front doors also get two-tiered pockets, so finding places for all your knick-knacks won’t be an issue.
The rear seat, accessible through two side-sliding doors, is fixed in place with no adjustment but its permanent backrest is set at a reasonably comfortable angle.
Because the un-sound deadened rear cargo area is completely sealed off, the passenger cabin’s relatively quiet too. Plushness levels aren’t exactly Merc V-Class challenging, but still I’d say it’s acceptable as family transport.
VERDICT
A simple to drive, decently powerful six seater with a humungous boot rated to carry more than a ton. What more could you want? Sure, a McLaren’s quicker... but where will you put your mountain bike?
H1 VS ITS RIVALS:
Hyundai H1 Multicab -2.5 turbodiesel auto (125kW/441Nm)
2500 litre cargo, 1100kg load, 6 seats - R509 900
Ford Transit Trend Kombi -2.2 turbodiesel manual (92kW/350Nm)
3470 litre cargo, 1305kg load, 6 seats - R435 900
Mercedes 116 Vito Mixto -2.1 turbodiesel auto (120kW/380Nm)