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Hyundai’s hatch stokes our inner hipster. |
ASSOCIATE EDITOR GRAHAM KOZAK: What an odd little car. I’ll admit that I’m partial to the Veloster,
or at least the idea of it. I like the bold styling, I like the useful
2-plus-1 door configuration and I like the name. It sounds fast! I’ll
even own up to digging the hipster-bait C3 Roll Top concept Hyundai rolled
out a few years ago. I think with a little bit of refinement, it could
be a really great car -- certainly, it’s got a lot of character to play
with.
As it is, it’s still a decent car that offers a great value. But it’s not exactly a modern incarnation of … a CRX,
maybe? I’m not sure exactly what the Veloster is trying to be, except
funky. Which might partially explain why it’s not quite the
exceptionally awesome overall package it might have been.
The
1.6-liter turbo could be a defining feature here. But while it’s better
than the naturally aspirated base motor, it really didn’t impress me
much. In the era of anonymous 2.0-liter turbos, I don’t mind a bit of
lag and bite -- it's what makes the WRX STI fun,
after all. Power doesn’t come on fully until 6,000 rpm here, and it
runs out of steam soon after. Technically, you could call it a peaky
motor, but the peak itself isn’t so high in the first place. More like a
hill, maybe.
A
somewhat tricky clutch makes stop-and-go traffic a drag. Once you get
going, and get some momentum into the car, it all strings together
fairly well. It’s not particularly stiffly sprung, but it seems happy to
rotate if you keep on the power.
There’s
potential here -- if this thing came out in the heyday of tuning, I
feel like we’d see a lot of really cool builds with the Veloster at
their core. At under $24,000, which includes the faux-center-lock wheels
and matte blue paint, the Rally Edition Veloster Turbo might
still serve as a perfect blank canvas. It’s less than 3,000 pounds,
too! I’d really love to see what a genuine Hyundai geek (note: I don’t mean a SEMA-crazed tuning shop) could do with these oddball bones.
But again, as it is, it’s a surprisingly practical, high-feature hatch.
ROAD TEST EDITOR JAKE LINGEMAN: Hyundai
nailed it with this, aside from the weirdly shaped exterior. And even
that, which isn’t quite my style, is cool because it’s unique. I do like
the matte paint option whenever it’s available. I don’t like the care
that has to go into maintaining it, but that’s a tradeoff.
Power
is punchy from the turbo four and had me smiling with surprise when the
boost kicked in. It does choke for split second when you shift at max
rpm, but it’s plenty quick. It sounds good, too -- nice little grunt
from the engine bay. The six-speed is rock solid and the throws are
short. That makes it extra fun to bang through the gears. AND Hyundai
fixed its clutch pedal. The last Genesis coupe I drove was quick and
fun, but the clutch didn’t have enough spring or weight to it, it sort
of just retracted slowly, on its own. No problems here, though.
The ride was a little rough, stiffer than the VW GTI and Focus
ST, I think. I did make an effort to avoid potholes. But, the buyers of
this Frankencar probably won’t care. They’ll be either Hyundai fans or enthusiasts, and they’ll be fine.
The
interior was a little cheap looking, but that’s what you get for
$22,600. I don’t think there will be any complaints. The seats are
comfortable, and somehow they seem worn in, but I know they’re not. The
radio setup is great.
Will
people opt for this over the slightly more expensive options from Ford
and VW? I’m not sure, but I don’t think they’d be disappointed if they
did.
EDITOR WES RAYNAL: I
must say the price is impressive. I found myself wincing on the way to
work this morning at the thought the sticker might hover closer to 28K
or so.
This
Rally Edition means a paint job, wheels and tires, blue interior
accents … you know the drill. Yeah, it looks goofy but it drives nicely
and I suppose styling is up to the individual. I’m not feelin’ it
personally. Some people might love it. It actually looks kind of cool
from the back. It ain’t cookie cutter, that’s for sure, so at least you
won’t see yourself coming and going much.
The
201 hp figure seems like less on the road until you get the tach
swinging beyond 3,500-4,000 rpm, then things get fun. The turbo also
makes this engine quite a bit more flexible than the normally aspirated
version -- you can basically stick it in third or fourth gear and do
most of your around-town driving.
The
ride/handling mix is good, neutral with a nice ride over all but the
worst potholes, and the steering is nice and quick, if a bit too light
at speed. Feels like Hyundai basically left the suspension alone instead
of being tempted to sport it up. That’s good, in my opinion -- it might
have ruined the ride. The chassis could be stiffer -- I felt some
steering column shimmy. Not much, but some.
The price is fair, plus you get Hyundai’s gazillion-mile warranty. So there’s that.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR WESLEY WREN: I
thoroughly enjoyed most of the Veloster. It’s almost funny when the
worst part about the car is its name -- but that’s for another day.
Like
everyone has mentioned, the power doesn’t really come on until later in
the rev range -- but when it does, it’s immediate. The Veloster won’t
set any landspeed records, but the rev-happy turbocharged 1.6-liter
four-banger was a ton of fun around the city.
I
felt the suspension was set up just right for the audience of this car.
I think that people will look at this little Hyundai at the same time
as its front-wheel-drive competition in the Focus ST or
the VW GTI, but also when looking at FR-S/BR-Z. This car hits an
interesting price point, and isn’t unrealistic for a first
performance-oriented new car for someone looking at the less-expensive
side of things. Though, you will get more refinement with the VW GTI.
The
looks won’t be for everyone. Neither will the matte paint nor the
accent stitching of the Rally Package -- but I think it works well
together. I honestly wasn’t a fan of the Veloster
when it first came out, but the styling has swayed me. It is such an
incredibly odd car, it’ll never get lost in a parking lot. The downside
of the styling is that it is aggressive-looking, so if you don’t like
loud-looking cars, you won’t be a fan of the Veloster.
The
interior felt like what you’d expect from a $22,000 vehicle. It
actually had a little more flair than I expected, but the materials were
on the cheaper side. The seats were well-shaped and comfortable:
probably the best “performance”-style seats in the low-price performance
car battle.
As
Graham mentioned, this would be a perfect canvas to throw some bolt-on
horsepower. A bigger turbocharger or some custom tuning could really
wake this up -- at the price of your warranty of course.
So
if you’re looking for a fun hatch with loud styling, and can deal with
driving around in a car with a name that would have fit in the last
“Jurassic Park,” this might be an eye grabber.
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