Out with the old, in with the new

Taut is the word that best describes the new coupe from an ever-expanding Hyundai stable. Earlier coupes were fun to drive, looked good and did much to give Hyundai a somewhat sporting image.

This Hyundai is almost impossible to fault- Hugh Arnett

This one, a brand new concept for Hyundai, fits the bill to perfection. When Mini came up with the idea of a single door at the back they put it on the wrong side so it became a suicide door.

Hyundai have it on the passenger, near side, so people use it with complete confidence and safety and it allows old codgers the ability to climb in and out fairly easily, even when sitting behind the driver.

The slope of the roof was designed with enough headroom at the back for this driver, wearinghis old ‘flat cap’ to luxuriate,especially as legroom is most remarkably good. OK, this is a four-seat coupe, as we expected and the two-cup holders placed between the rear seats tempted us to have a bit of a picnic in between full-blowndriving moments.

The panoramic sunroof with both tilt and sliding facility almost made for real ‘open top’ motoring and the way the roof melded in with the rest of the car simply added to the sheer masculinity of the design. This is a car that will appeal to all ages and all sexes. It looks good, feels good and drives very well indeed.

Part of the pleasure for me isin seeing the bonnet and with this in mind the driver’s seat was pumped up, the steering adjusted for tilt and telescope. A bent arm driving position was adopted with the seat back allowing less than five centimetres before the head could possibly strike the active driver’s head restraint to avoid whiplash.

Factually, the acceleration from this modern 1.6 GDi petrol engine was good (it has 138 bhp on tap), but not enough to run any danger of whiplash on acceleration. However, the elapsed time to 100 km/h of 9.8 seconds is absolutely up to par for a sports coupe with a normally aspirated engine of this displacement.

Handling was light, positive and very accurate. The electrically assisted power steering helped, but the dynamic suspension geometry made life easy, and the four disc brakes visible between the colour inserts on the arms of the 18” alloys with ABS, ESC and VSM gave an immediate impression of a car designed to do the business.

The ability to drive a car in reverse is absolutely paramount and the Veloster has a good rear parking assist system. Actually the car looks rather good from behind as well, helped, it must be said, by the twin chrome tail pipes and factually useful, as well as attractive, rear spoiler along with a large boot and rear seats that fold down 60:40, allowing a friendly coupe to turn into some sort of glamorous luggage carrier.

Leather has always played an important part in my list of personal preferences and the test car had a leather-covered steering wheel and a leather-covered gear knob along with two-tone colour leather and cloth seats; and so, even before a metre was covered, all was well on board, and inremarkably short order, it felt asif the car had been ‘mine’ for many moons. It’s that easy to driveand enjoy.

And enjoy it we did! James, behind the wheel of his old competition Land Rover, was absolutely full of superlatives as we tackled some of our better surfaced roads with a degree of enthusiasm matched only by the coupe’s ability to pitch itself against any possible competition in class.

Well-surfaced lesser roads were also the order of the day, because a coupe is designed for proper motoring, not just to be a boulevard cruiser. The Veloster most certainly did not disappoint us.

Obviously, all the usual comforts like air-conditioning, have been installed along with controls on the steering wheel and speed-sensing door locks.

These have almost eliminated ‘car jacking’ abroad, because as long as windows are closed before the car stops, it’s far more difficult for villains to drag out the occupants and pinch the car.

The radio CD MP3 with six-way speakers provides sound. There isa USB and AUX port along withBluetooth hands-free with voice recognition so that the driver can communicate with friends on the move without incurring the wrath of the authorities.

Truthfully, this Hyundai has been most carefully designed and is almost impossible to fault. In class nearly perfect.

Verdict

Comfort
Looks as good as it actually is.

Performance
The car handles so well it deserves a tuned engine.

Cool
Words elude me.

Quality
Nothing to choose between Hyundai and the very best from any otherdomain.

At a glance

Top speed
201km/h

0-100km
9.8 seconds

Economy
Combined cycle 6.2 l/100 km covered.

C02
142 g/km.

Engine
Euro V, 1591 cc displacement.

Power
138bhp

Showroom price
€28,500