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PORTLAND, OR – Finally, an auto maker throws a bone to the hip 20-something men in this country. No one makes cars for them! Just kidding.
Of course, every auto maker is building cars for the young trendy dude in 2011. Hyundai’s current effort to woo this elusive species is the Veloster, now on sale in the U.S., which somewhat serves as a Tiburon replacement.
But unlike that discontinued 2-door model, the newest Hyundai is a 3-door coupe, with a head-turning funky hatchback profile. Some could even call it a 4-door coupe with a liftgate and one extra front-hinged door on the passenger side for easy access to the back seat.
The Veloster is chock-full of all the goodies one expects in a 21st-century car: BlueLink telematics service, Bluetooth wireless phone connection, Pandora Internet radio, light-emitting diodes…the list goes on.
In WardsAuto’s recent drive of a Veloster here, we came away mostly impressed by the car’s many features, Hyundai-typical competition-beating prices and the vehicle’s driving performance.
However, don’t look for the Veloster to smoke your neighbor’s Z in a drag race. As Hyundai freely admits, the Veloster is more about eco-friendly sportiness than going 0-60 (97 km) as quickly as possible. The auto maker pegs the car at a dozy 9.8 seconds.
This shouldn’t be surprising, given it has the same 1.6L direct-injected DOHC 4-cyl. engine, with dual continuously variable valve timing, that appears in both the new Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio subcompacts.
While both of those models offer a lively ride, with 138 hp and 123 lb.-ft. (167 Nm) of torque peaking at 6,300 and 4,850 rpm, respectively, no one could mistake them for rubber-burners.
