Monday, September 19, 2011

My driving experience with the Veloster! a continuation of my last review.

A little birdie the night before had told me to purposely wait and that holding out would pay dividends. It did big time! We crossed over in Washington State on "The Bridge of The Gods" we again found ourselves along the Columbia river heading east. Our route then turned north into the mountains. While throwing the car around the corners, I was able to find the limiting factor on this car. Being a tuner myself, I found that the Kuhmos while sufficient for the normal driver these roads really begged for something a little more stickier. You can go hot into the corner lift off the throttle and fell the rear rotate then power out of the corner nicely. Balance seems to be pretty good and the stiffer suspension and integrated rear sway bar worked well and kept the car very flat through all kinds of corners. Transitioning through S-curves quickly did not seem to upset the car at all nor the driver. The seats in the car are very well bolstered and comfortable. With it being Hyundai's car and not mine, I decided to not push to hard on the public road. We really need to get it out onto the track for a full test. Throttle response is decent, but perhaps I'm just not used to an electronic throttles but there was a hint of reservation with the pedal all the way down. The motor does a good job of pulling the light car around especially after 4k when you feel a slight rush of power. My guess is this is around the time that the intake runners switch from the longer runners to the shorter ones. You do however have to keep the car in the higher revs to move. We found passing another vehicle took patience and timing. Hyundai used the catch phrase "Eco-Sport". The sport shows up in this car as having a stiff chassis and its taught suspension. The steering seemed to be spot on as well. Response from the wheel elicits rapid response from the front wheels. The manual feels very nice and tight. Throws are short and precise. The DCT performed very well as well. Better then I had anticipated. I have no love for automatics but his DCT not being a full automatic peaked my interest. It was quick and comfortable. Upshifts and downshifts all respond via the steering wheel mounted paddles. Although not my cup of tea, those auto fans should love it. The Eco portion of the phrase comes from the motor. While not lightning fast it seemed sufficient even if others thought it was underpowered. I guess it just depends on your point of view. I'll take the 40mpg over being able to go a little quicker. Besides, who knows what the future may hold. Perhaps a bit more power? I know I'll be on the look out for it. Over all Hyundai has built a great car that is just right for its target audience. I cant wait to get my hands on one of my own.

I really do like the car...the turbo version will definitely help move the car along quite nicely. Although there were rumors of switching up the rear suspension...i'm not sure if its really needs to. The rear was sufficient and i'm sure if i pushed it through corners the rear tire would have been coming up off the ground. I would like to see the alignment specs...hopefully they zero'd out the rear toe and it should have about -1.5 of camber in the rear. You can easily use camber bolts or if you decide to get coils make sure they come with camber plates (this makes life REAL EASY!!).

any more questions feel free to ask away!! sorry for the delay...but i had an interview! haha

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