It has been an interesting couple of
years in terms of performance cars here in Malaysia. Car
manufacturers have been busy launching performance biased cars. We've
had a whole slew of junior hot hatches, hybrid sports cars, warm
hatches and other interesting cars. Even Hyundai has joined in after
a hiatus of sorts with a lack of a sports car in its local lineup
after it stopped bringing in the Hyundai Scoupe years ago. They came
back with the Veloster sometime in 2013. I drove that car back inAugust 2013 and found it tasteful in terms of looks and styling but
sorely lacking in grunt.
That Hyundai Veloster was a poser car.
It was all flash and no dash. But if I wanted a second car for the
wife to run around it would make pretty good sense as it was very
practical with a single rear door on one side. You could still bring
your family out and they wouldn't have to squeeze into the rear seats
via tilting the front seatbacks forward. I actually like the one door
setup coupled with the nice fastback styling. Its design cues are in
the same field as the Volkswagen Scirocco and the Renault Megane. Of
course, without the power. Now, power was and still is an issue with
that basic 1.6 MPI version. Everything else is pretty good
nonetheless. However earlier this year Hyundai launched the Veloster
Turbo.
The Veloster Turbo looks the same but
with a more aggressive front and rear end (some larger driving lights
up front and larger reflectors at the rear). No change in outright
design. It even comes with the same size alloys and wheels – 18inch
225/40 series tyres like the non-turbo model. What really differs
from the non-turbo Veloster is the engine, transmission and the
suspension setup.
The engine is a big change from the
non-turbocharged version. It is a 1.6liter turbocharged 4 cylinder
engine with the whole package of variable valve timing and direct
injection (which the non-turbo does not have). It makes a healthy
186ps and 265Nm via a 7 speed dual clutch transmission powering the
front wheels. The non-turbo version makes 132ps and a piffling 158Nm
which puts this tiny amount through a six speed torque convertor
transmission. According to specs it does 0-100kmh in about 8.4
seconds with a top speed of 214kmh. So on paper, the Veloster Turbo
is something like a warm hatch. Not a hot hatch in outright
performance terms. Of course, it isn't only outright power that
counts whenever I review a car. It is also how the car makes me feel.
We'll get to that shortly.
So when you get into one what vibes
does it give you? It does feels like an Elantra in some ways. I
suppose it is the family architecture in play here. Slightly
different dashboard and somewhat lower slung design but underneath
you can still tell that it is cut from the same cloth. The seating
position with its bucket seats is good but you could expect it to be
slightly lower to get that 'one with the car' feel. But don't take my
word on this. I got used to being in it after a while and visibility
from the driver's seat was good. I do like the panoramic sunroof
which gives the cabin a nice airy feeling. The materials used in the
cabin are good. The steering wheel, gearknob, turn signals, lights
and other major contact points feel good to the touch and while I
think that it looks similar to the Elantra, the overall feel of the
interior is sportier. It also has a lot more equipment. However the infotainment system has a large screen but has no built in
navigation. Not that I actually use navigation on my drives. Just
saying, folks.
The drive experience
Start it up and you will notice a nice sports car-like exhaust note. Quite aggressive and one of the better exhaust notes
I've heard from 1.6liter 4 cylinder turbocharged engines (think Ford
Fiesta ST, Peugeot 208GTI, Renault Clio – of course, all of these
are smaller B segment hot hatches compared to this C segment
cruiser). The ride is firm. Different from the non-turbo Veloster and a little bit too firm in my opinion. It
is hard and you can feel every ripple on the road you're driving on.
Add the bucket seats, exhaust note and the hard ride, you'd think you
were sitting in a properly fast performance car here. It still in in the livable zone though. But it could be softer.
The 265Nm and 186ps also makes itself
felt when accelerating. I did 0-100kmh in about 8seconds. This isn't
the sub 7 seconds of the junior hot hatches mentioned earlier. But
this car isn't a junior hot hatch. It is larger. It is actually
something that is the size and weight of the Volkswagen Scirocco,
Volkswagen Golf or even a Renault Megane. But it has the smaller
engines and the horsepower of the junior hatchbacks. It weighs about
1310kg and hasa 1.6liter with 186ps to play with. This is why it has
a 0-100 time of around 8 seconds and not a lower time. But the
turbocharged engine does make driving less of a chore with its big
fat turbocharged torque available early down the rev range.
But that being said, all is not well
here. There is a certain hesitancy in terms of power delivery right
smack in the mid-range. Somewhere between 3,000rpm to 4,000rpm there
is a step up in performance. Like a camshaft switchover point. It
says 265Nm is available from 1,400rpm to 4,500rpm but I doubt this is
true. There is a switchover point somewhere between 3,000-4,000rpm
and some hesitancy here before it comes back after 4,000rpm straight
to the redline. It isn't so apparent if you're on full throttle or
driving in normal traffic but it flares up if you are trying to make
progress but you're not attacking some mountainside road somewhere. I
also thought the gearbox was a little schizophrenic in its delivery,
but I think that the slightly hesitancy in the gear changes if you're
not going all out for it is due to this switch-over point. The dual
clutch gearbox was a little bit confused by the engine tuning. You
could overcome some of these characteristics if you use the pedal
shifters and choose your own shift points. So the car has ample
performance, but I think Hyundai's engineers should have spent more
time getting the engine and transmission to work properly. I suppose
this is because the Veloster Turbo is one their the first Hyundai
cars with the dual clutch gearbox. But I cannot fathom why the direct
injection turbocharged 1.6 isn't as smooth as the 2.0liter direct
injected normally aspirated version that I drove in the Hyundai i40
sometime ago. Now that, was a fantastic engine and gearbox setup in a
Hyundai.
So if you went flat out in the Veloster
Turbo, the drivetrain would work perfectly fine. And you used the
pedal shifters too. But the firm ride adds to slightly fidgety
handling. The steering whilst nicely accurate lacks in feel. The
Veloster Turbo can feel a bit twitchy on high speed corners and not
having much feedback from the tyres can be unnerving at times.
Overcook this car and it may punish you with a bit of lift-off
oversteer that you would not expect it to come because you can't feel
it coming. It may have 225 series tyres on a mid-sized hatchback but
I somehow needed more assurance to really go for it. I had the car
from a few days and I believe that I would need more than a few days
to actually feel at home if I were to really take this car to the
limit. I think the softer suspension settings in the non-turbo
Veloster was better so that there is more roll and pliancy to tell
you what's coming next.
My dream Veloster could be the 204ps
version that Hyundai sells in America. Maybe that car has the tuning
sorted out and the hesitancy found in this 186ps version is because
the engineers held back a bit in this model. The 204ps version does
0-100in around 7 seconds. Another option which would be unique would
be a 2.0liter GDI n.a version with a traditional 6 speed gearbox.
That would be a long legged cruiser with its 177ps/213Nm engine. It
would give a sub 9 second 0-100kmh time but a drivetrain that is
smooth as silk.
Hyundai have recently come up with a few winners like the Elantra, Sonata and i40. I suppose coming up with K-Pop hit after hit is quite hard actually. And since this is one of their first efforts in combining their new direct injection (GDI) engine with their new dual clutch gearbox. I'm going to excuse this hiccup and actually state that I am glad that Hyundai decided to bring in this turbocharged version for us to have a chance to buy. A flawed performance car is better than having no performance cars on the market.
Conclusion:
Does this mean that I think that the Hyundai Veloster is a disappointment? I suppose it is if you want an all out fire breathing hot hatch it is. It may not suit you, O driver from hell, who would only bat an eyelid if it did 0-100kmh in under 6 seconds. But that being said, it isn't slow. It still has enough performance to satisfy most people out there. Although it does have flaws in its power delivery which could be irritating to some.
BUT if you want something that looks stylish, packed full of user friendly equipment with ample performance to take you and a few friends from Kuala Lumpur on that highway trip to JPO to do some shopping then it is fine as that turbocharged 1.6liter engine would be able to do it quite effortlessly (compared to any bread and butter C segment sedan out there).
As it is still very practical, it would even be very suitable for the wife, or mistress, or girlfriend. Buy this for them as they would like it more than you would. Unless you just like it for the looks of course. Then forget what I just said as for RM154,000++, nothing much on sale would look this sporty and practical at the same time.
SPECIFICATION
Hyundai Veloster Turbo (Gamma 1.6 Turbo GDI)
Pros: more power than the non-turbo Veloster, high equipment specs, nice sports car styling, practical single rear door, sporty exhaust note
Cons: engine and transmission a little hesitant, tricky on the limit handling, vague steering, some may find one rear door a bit weird
Price: from MYR 154,437.49
Engine 1591 cc turbocharged direct injection petrol
Power 186ps
Torque 265nm
Top Speed 214kmh
0-100kmh 8.4 s
Kerb Weight 1313 kg
Warranty 5 years / 300,000km
Equipment
Power Steering
Electronic Stability Programme
Alloy Wheels
Climate Control
Electric Mirrors
Front Electric Windows
Rear Electric Windows
Electric Sunroof
Cruise Control
Rear Parking Sensor
Leather Seats
Passenger Airbag
Front Side Airbag
Alarm
Split/fold Rear Seats
MP3 Connectivity
Bluetooth
Remote central locking
Rear door only on this side. Unique.
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