Quirky Veloster needs more grunt

Hyundai’s designers got a little carried away with Veloster

F THERE’S one thing Hyundai’s Veloster isn’t, it’s ordinary. It’s kind of like an ordinary hatch, but with a funny fastback rear end and an even funnier side aperture setup. Yep, one door on one side, and two on the other.

Now, the first thing you might ask yourself is why this hasn’t been done before, and, well, there’s a pretty good reason for that. I hate to break it to you but this strange door thing solves a problem that never existed. Seriously, I challenge you to paint a scenario where this body style would be necessary.

Okay, fair enough. The Veloster’s funkiness levels are through the roof and it’ll be a long while before explaining that rear occupants can board through the passenger side only, gets old. If said passengers are younger than twelve, they’ll think this arrangement is quite fun too, but older (read taller) people might not appreciate the serious lack of headroom at the back. Really, I’m shorter than average height and my head was in precarious proximity to the hatch’s rear glass.

So then, it’s better to look at the

IVeloster from its right side and consider it more a sporty coupé with emergency seating, than its left side as a practical four-door with playful ulterior motives. In fact, if you fold the rear seats flat, the boot’s loading capacity becomes quite useful and almost shooting brake-like. Hmm, awkward to use shooting brake terminology in a Hyundai road test, but in a weird way it’s an accurate cross reference to this most peculiar car.

But is there any substance beyond the Veloster’s asymmetry? Yes, but only as much as any of the Korean brand’s more conventional hatchbacks. Of course I’m mostly re- ferring to Hyundai’s awesome fiveyear/150 000km warranty, but also a level of quality that no longer needs questioning. The interior in particular, is built to a standard that might make certain Japanese cars blush – although our test unit did have an irritating knock coming from the left rear. I suspect it was the parcel shelf bouncing over bumps.

Another current Hyundai trait that carries across is ease of use. Just like the i30 hatch it’s based on, the Veloster is a very easy car to drive. Inputs require little effort, whether it’s clutch actuation, gear changes or steering. All controls need only light touches and this can be a valuable attribute in a segment like this. And like this, I mean the opposite of a Chevy Lumina SS or double-cab bakkie, where buyers might not be perturbed with the manly forces required to get around. The Veloster is very soft.

I like the steering because it’s assisted to a level that makes one-fingered traffic negotiation possible, but on the other hand it suffers from that dreaded Korean numbness that plagues so many Hyundais today. From the 11 to 1 o’clock position feedback is lifeless and it doesn’t self centre well. I hope there’s a dedicated team of engineers assigned to rectifying this problem, especially in cars like this that portray at least some level of sportiness.

It gets worse. This naturally-aspirated 1.6-litre petrol engine is sufficient from one robot to the next, but it’ll wheeze its way up to redline if you ask it to perform as sportily as the car looks. Sad considering that this is the new and “upgraded” direct-injection version of this motor with 103kW and 167Nm (older spec i30 gets 95kW/157Nm). Contrary to what Hyundai’s website says, this is not a fast car. Not at all. There’s a more powerful turbocharged engine planned for the Veloster next year, so if you’re the kind of enthusiastic driver who likes arriving at each robot first, it’s better to wait until then.

Back to the interior though, which makes up for some of the Veloster’s performance shortcomings. The full colour 7” touchscreen front and centre is a nice extra that you won’t find in other hatches at this price (R266 000 or R283 000 for the auto), and I like that you can select its background to more or less match your car’s colour.

It also has a neat reversing camera that’s useful considering that the view through the rear window is hampered by the split tailgate.

I also noticed that the leather seats were very comfortable, and combined with those easy-going driving controls, this is a very nice cabin to spend lots of time in. Same goes for most Hyundais. Pity about the dead steering. Same goes for most Hyundais. VERDICT An extreme level of quirkiness in an otherwise bland hatch segment. But performance-oriented customers will struggle to get past a major lack of gusto. Check in next year when the Veloster turbo comes out.

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