2012 Hyundai Veloster

PORTLAND, Ore. — Veloster as a word means absolutely nothing. Think of it as a vehicular Seinfeld show. But get behind the wheel and you’ll be asking yourself, “Is there anything these Koreans can’t do?” A recent get-together with Hyundai’s all-new 2012 Veloster three-door coupe shed more light on this question and the answer is a qualified “no.”

Hyundai has basically been missing an everyman coupe for a long time. It’s had success with its Tiburon and Genesis coupes but was lacking an across-the-board model. It’s now here in Veloster. As mentioned, it’s a three-door coupe and unlike previous three-door offerings by other car companies, Hyundai has done that third door differently.

There is no interlock where one door has to be opened before another; and there is no rear hinged “suicide” door. What you have is two conventional doors on the right side and only the driver’s door on the left. What makes the Veloster able to keep a nice slick coupe look is the creatively hidden door handle.

Veloster has a sweeping design that loudly proclaims how gleeful it likes to cut through wind resistance. We test drove the new coupes on some of the most beautiful scenery America has to offer — the highways of Oregon. It’s difficult to realize how quiet this vehicle is when driving on the state’s freeways because of their porous makeup. This creates a lot of tire noise, which is no fault of the car itself. Drive it on standard concrete and the noise all but disappears.

Hyundai claims Veloster’s unique design was inspired from a high-performance sport bike. It has distinctive black A-pillars and an aggressive form of Hyundai’s signature hexagonal front grille, hood scoop detailing and unique Hyundai signature LED position lights. There are optional packages that let you design a different appearance, like a chrome grille surround, piano black highlights, fog lights and a massive panoramic sunroof. 

Pardon the pun but it really has a nice rear-end, featuring dual centered chrome exhaust tips and black lower fascia. It comes standard with 17-inch alloy wheels and offers two types of 18-inch wheels. The high-end 18-inch wheel comes with painted inserts — a segment first.

Driving Veloster is a hoot (maybe Veloster means “owl” in Swahili). It boldly takes curves with no discernible head toss and the front seating is extremely comfortable and unlike some vehicles in its class there actually is some modicum of rear-seat leg room. For short dashes it wouldn’t leave two adults with much crippling but on a several-hundred-mile sprint it might require some therapy.

Visibility is excellent and its McPherson strut front suspension, coil springs, gas shock absorbers, 24 mm diameter front stabilizer, along with monotube shock absorbers in the rear and sport-tuned electric power steering that adjusts instantly to changing driving conditions provide for a great ride.

The instrument gauge cluster is stylized and legible. The center stack is a credit to the external styling of the vehicle. One item that instantly attracted us was Veloster’s navigation system that projects through a 7-inch high-resolution touchscreen. They may be out there but we can’t recall ever seeing a map display that crisply shows overhead interstate/major highway signs as depicted on the roads themselves. And when they say “turn by turn navigation” they’re not kidding. The instructions give plenty of warning, which many do not. Also, the “Nav Babe” doesn’t yell at you if you blow an instruction. She will soothingly suggest an alternative way of getting back to the prescribed route.

Being macho we would have liked to have had more horsepower to play with. Veloster sports Hyundai’s all-new Gamma 1.6L DOHC Dual Continuously Variable Valve Timing four-cylinder engine — the smallest engine to use Gasoline Direct Injection.  It puts out 138 horsepower and 123 pound-feet of torque. There is talk about a supercharged version and we hope it appears soon. Outside of the missing horsepower it’s a really nice, smooth engine.

It’s mated to either an all-new six-speed EcoShift dual-clutch transmission that also incorporates Hyundai’s Hillstart Assist Control, designed to minimize rolling backwards on steep ascents. The other transmission (standard in Veloster) is a six-speed manual. With the manual transmission, Veloster gets 40 mpg on the highway (28 mpg city). The EcoShift versions gets 29mpg city/38 mpg highway. Combined, both models get 32 mpg.

Veloster has to be a tough competitor because Hyundai has pitted it against schoolyard bullies like Volkswagen Beetle, Mini Cooper and Scion tC. Veloster seems to be priced right with a base MSRP of $17,300 - $22,500. (Freight is an additional $760) 

— Al Vinikour