[Behind the Wheel] Hyundai’s Veloster hatchback offers smart drive

Hyundai’s three-door with yellow flames and purple wrapping Veloster hatchback roaming the streets of San Francisco is the ride characters in the Marvel movie titled “Ant-Man and the Wasp” use to save Ant-Man.

Setting out to cement its image as a fun and exciting brand, Hyundai has launched the Veloster hatchback this February.

The vehicle, with its red, asymmetrical exterior design, is unique and eye catching on first impression.

The three-door hatchback has one oversize door on the driver’s side, and two doors on the right.

The cowl and front pillar have been pushed to the back, and the roof has been lowered, completing a coupe-like sporty look.

Never mind its compact size, the Veloster stably powered to over 100 kilometers per hour on the expressway during a test drive.

According to Hyundai, the vehicle has a maximum 24.7 kilogram-meters of torque at relatively low rpm levels due to the newly applied multi-link rear suspension and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
 

Veloster comes in two models, the 1.6 liter gasoline turbo engine for drivers that prefer dynamic powerful driver and the 1.4 liter.

A manual transmission and Hyundai’s first overboost feature has been installed in the 1.6 turbo model, producing up to 28 kilogram-meters of torque.

The Veloster is the first of Hyundai’s small cars to come with three different driving modes -- sports, normal, and eco-- that automatically change depending on road conditions to offer an optimized drive.

Due to the smart function, the 1.4 turbo vehicle had a 13.7 kilometers per liter fuel economy on sports mode after a two hour drive on the expressway, higher than its official fuel efficiency of 13.1 kilometers per liter.
 

Two advanced safety systems, the forward collision-avoidance assist and forward collision warning, have been installed in all Veloster models in a first for a Hyundai vehicle. A bind-spot collision warning, rear cross-traffic collision warning and other safety features are offered in the smart-sense package.

The Veloster’s artificial intelligence-powered voice recognition service, created by local mobile messaging giant Kakao, with aims to improve convenience and accuracy of the navigation.

The modern trim of the 1.4 turbo model is priced at 21.3 million won ($18,868), and modern core trim 23.3 million won. 


The Korea Herald rating (out of 5 stars):
Design: 5 stars
Safety: 5 stars
Gas Mileage: 5 stars
Price: 4 stars
Overall: 19/20


By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)