By Frank S. Washington
DETROIT, MI – Street cred, as in credibility, that’s what the Hyundai Veloster pocket rocket was all about.
As the Korean automaker moves the brand upstream it is becoming obvious that there are no plans to skirt competitors.
Having been on the market only a year, you may not know what it is when you see one but you’ll remember a Veloster when it comes into view. The design is unique and takes it cues from high performance motorcycles. The car has a severely sloped roof line that makes the windshield look like the wind visor on a motorcycle.
It looks like a coupe but it does have three doors. The third being on the passenger side and the door latch was hidden in the corner of the side glass that abuts the C pillar.
The Veloster was a good looking vehicle that got second glances from just about everybody that I came across.
I had the turbocharged model. It was powered by a 1.6-liter direct gasoline injection four cylinder engine that had a dual scroll turbocharger. This combination produced 201 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque.
The engine could be mated to a six speed manual transmission or a six-speed automatic. I had the automatic and it was equipped with paddle shifters or I could manually select gears from the gear shifter housed in the center console.
It had a bigger hexagonal front grille than the normally aspirated Veloster, sculpted side skirts and a new rear bumper with diffuser vents in the lower fascia. The car also had 18-inch wheels with chrome inserts and the head lights featured eight individual LED accent lights.
It was almost impossible not to exceed the speed limit in this car; it seemed meant to glide along at 40 mph or faster no matter where I was. At times it had the feel of a Go-kart. My only quibble with the powertrain was that it seemed a little sluggish in the 60 mph to 80 mph range.
My Veloster Turbo handled with rifle shot accuracy. The slightest twitch I gave the steering wheel and my test car headed in that direction. That was the result of a quickened steering ratio and revised steering calibration.
The sport-tuned suspension was firm and because of the short wheel base I pretty much felt every bump in the pavement. That’s a personality trait of sports cars and their sporty counterparts. By the Veloster Turbo’s reaction to the slightest quirk in the pavement, the driver knows exactly what the car is doing.
Though the Veloster had four seats, it was really meant for two people. I got in the back seat and found the seat itself comfortable. However, head space was crimped, I had to contort to get in and out of the back seat and if somebody else had been back there with me, I think we would have been bumping elbows.
But a five-year-old I ferried around had no trouble getting in the rear seat and she seemed very comfortable back there. So the car did have some utilitarian practicality. Still, the Hyundai Veloster was a driver’s car and I had a lot of fun doing just that.
It was equipped with Hyundai’s Blue Link system; the concierge service that allows navigation directions to be downloaded to the car. Using my smartphone, I could have used the system to create voice text messages to send, the system would also allow me to post my location using social media sites, it offered enhanced road side assistance and it could set driving boundaries and send me an alert when they were crossed.
Turbo was stitched into the seat backs. Information was displayed on two TFT screens that were located between the tachometer and speedometer. My test vehicle had alloy pedals, standard two-stage heated front seats and push button start stop as well as lock and unlock.
My test vehicle also had a panoramic sun roof and the 450-watt audio system had internet radio streaming capability. I could use the Pandora app on my phone. All-in-all, I thought the 2013 Veloster Turbo was a lot of car for a very reasonable $27,520.
Frank S. Washington is editor of AboutThatCar.com.
This was printed in the May 5, 2013 – May 18, 2013 Edition
