Hyundai

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Hyundai i40 – Silly Car Names, What’s Yours Called?

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I’m just setting off to London to interview Tin-Tin Ho. The 16-year-old is a British table tennis protege and she’s going to give me a masterclass in the art of ping-pong.

Her father is obsessed with the game and named her brother Ping – at one point almost naming his daughter Pong too!

Finding the right name for a car is a major task and doesn’t always go right. There was the Dodge Swinger, Honda Life Dunk, Skoda Yeti, Renault Wind, Suzuki Every Joypop Turbo and the Mazda Bongo Friendee.

No wonder Hyundai uses the globally safe i40 – one of the few names beginning with an ‘i’ that isn’t owned by Apple…

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Hyundai i40 Tourer – Cute But No Match For A BMW 3 Series

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Just for a moment I thought the BMW 3 Series Touring was about to be toppled as my favourite, small family estate car. I was seduced by the lines and styling of the i40 – even prettier than the BMW I thought.

Unfortunately, while the Hyundai is an admirable performer, it just can’t compete with the 3 Series for performance and drivability. The BMW handles like a sports car and is exciting to drive – the i40 is lukewarm by comparison.

You might well expect this from a car that costs considerably less than the BMW but I just wish the Koreans could make a slightly quicker version, then I’d be seriously tempted to buy one.

As it is, the classy looks of the Hyundai aren’t matched by the engine under the bonnet. The 136bhp model we are testing reaches 60mph in 12 seconds, sluggish when compared to many of its key rivals…

 

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Hyundai i40 Tourer – Why Losing Your Car Key Is No Longer The Hassle It Used To Be

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September 6 Why is it we still have to mess about with car keys? Pretty much every vehicle Car Couture test these days either has keyless ignition – which means the little fob usually just stays in my pocket, or stashed in the centre console.

The downside is that it’s much easier to lose the bloody thing. Putting a key in the ignition means you know exactly where to find it, every time.

So when I couldn’t find the key to the i40 yesterday, there was the usual moment of headless chicken panic. You only discover a missing key when you actually need it after all.

i40 has keyless recognition, so at least I knew it wasn’t in the vicinity of the car. I’d worn three coats on Friday, so instead of searching through the pockets, all I had to do was bundle them all out to the car and see if the Hyundai ‘recognised’ them hidden in a pocket.

Nope. Thins were getting pretty desperate when I carried he kitchen bin out to the driveway, just in case the key had been accidentally lost in there. The Hyundai didn’t register a thing. Finally, having taken the dog tot he vet earlier, I hauled his basket out to the i40 et voila!

Tucked down inside was the key. Relief. Still, it can’t be long before we have fingerprint sensor pads or voice recognition to make it even easier…

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Hyundai i40 Tourer – More Stylish Than A BMW 3 Series Touring?

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September 5 My favourite estates are built by BMW. I’ve owned a string of 3 and 5 Series, brilliant cars that combine decent load space with great performance. They are sports cars with a large boot.

Yep, if it’s all about luggage capacity, go buy a Volvo. However, if you have children and still want to cut loose when they’re not in the car, there’s very little to rival the Beemer.

The i40 has just arrived at Car Couture and it looks every inch as good as the pictures. Better perhaps, because the interior is seriously cool. Imagine that – a Hyundai with a funky dashboard!

Looking at the spec sheet, it appears to have plenty of standard equipment as well. Even the entry model features alloys, Bluetooth, air con and auto lights and wipers. The Premium adds leather, panoramic sunroof and keyless entry.

The question is, will it drive anywhere near as good as the BMW – or is the i40 just a cheaper, poor imitation?

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Thursday – Fine Tuning

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What is it about the Veloster that’s missing? All week I’ve been trying to put my finger on it. Maybe the lack of power, the okay steering, or the trim materials that are way behind an Audi TT perhaps?

It’s hard to find a major fault with this Hyundai but there are a lot of niggling issues which, when added together, make this feel like a car that falls just short.

And that’s a shame because the edgy styling, both inside and out, suggest the Veloster is going to be a lot better than it actually is. I really wanted it to be a great car but it needs some work to compete with key rivals in the coupe sector.

People just love to stare at the Veloster and you can understand why. However, it’s only when you live with it for a week that the realities of ownership appear.

I wanted to love the Hyundai – it deserves to be loved – but it’s a car that needs some fine tuning to find a place in my heart.

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Wednesday – Power Play

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The big front grille on the Veloster Turbo suggests this is a happy coupe – it’s certainly a cut above the normally aspirated versions further down the range, which only have 138bhp to play with. The Turbo’s 184bhp gives it a decent turn of speed, although in the US the same engine has been tweaked to 204bhp!

What a shame that American model isn’t available here. The Hyundai feels like it could handle a lot more performance. It would help give the Veloster the edge over key rivals like the VW Scirocco and Astra GTC.

Our Turbo pulls well from low revs and is pretty smooth too. You have to work the six-speed gearbox on twisty A-roads but it will reward you with decent handling – if only the flat sounding exhaust pipes added a more exciting soundtrack!

And despite the Star wars looks, the Veloster lacks features many of us are becoming used to, like stop-start technology and an electronic handbrake. Although, that might tempt some people to consider it more seriously…

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Tuesday – Almost A Good Car

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I can’t help feeling that with a little more refinement the Veloster would be a very good car indeed. It’s one of those vehicles that does everything ‘almost’ extremely well.

Having clocked up 400 miles this week, my latest gripe is the driver’s seat. While the interior is deceptively roomy and looks refreshingly different, my back has been complaining since yesterday.

The seat feels hard and combined with the Turbo’s rather harsh suspension, it’s a relief to get out and staighten up.

The four-cycliner petrol engine also needs plenty of coaxing to get it off the mark. There is consequently a tendancy to over rev and cause embarrassing wheelspin.

The Hyundai does feel well balanced on a fast corner, even though the steering lacks some feel for the driver. And that rear, mid screen spoiler means visibility is a disaster when you are reversing, or changing lanes on the motorway.

Almost very good but not quite there yet…

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Monday – Living Up To The Promise?

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The Veloster doesn’t quite live up to it’s promising looks. While the interior is refreshingly different, there’s enough space to carry four adults and it really does turn heads, the 186bhp 1.6 turbo lacks the punch a funky coupe like this needs.

It’s zippy enough around town (0-60mph in 8.4 seconds) but get it on a motorway and the Hyundai feels like it is straining. Not only that but the fuel consumption drops away dramatically to around 33mpg. Not quite what I expected, if I’m honest.

There’s also an issue with the suspension in this Turbo model. It’s been beefed up compared to the standard car, which is great for cornering but firm otherwise – especially if you are carrying a full complement of passengers.

And unlike an Audi TT or an Astra GTC, the Veloster somehow doesn’t sit comfortably on the road at high speed. It’s more susceptible to cross winds and fidgets.

Still, at this price, the Hyundai does represent great value for money. And unlike an Audi TT or Astra GTC, you are driving something just that little bit different…

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Sunday – Weather Warning

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‘Big storm coming…’ The woman in the newsagents wasn’t wrong. The coast of Cornwall has been battered by winds all day. It’s gusting so badly down here that the alarm on the Veloster went off twice this morning.

The drive down last night was a rain-lashed affair. Four up in a coupe is never a pleasant prospect but the Hyundai behaves more like a saloon than a 2+2. And that single rear side door comes in really hand for adults getting into the back. No fighting with front seat mechanisms.

Plenty of head room in the back too – although like the Audi TT, you have to be careful shutting the boot lid with the potential for heads getting in the way. Unlike the TT, the Veloster has plenty of rear leg room, mainly due to the deep seat base.

At night time, the large display screen on the dashboard is exceptionally bright and can be a distraction. It can be turned off easily enough but every time you adjust the heating, it comes back on again!

Fuel consumption was also a disappointment. At motorway speeds, the Hyundai is only averaging 33mpg. Shame because it was returning 42mpg in slow moving traffic on A-roads the day before.

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Saturday – The Right Handbag

cropped-608061_velosterturbo_014.jpgYou might think that testing a different vehicle every week means we always have the right car for every occasion. You might think that but you would be very wrong!

Today we are taking the Veloster down to Cornwall. Four adults in a coupe – one passenger in the back is 6ft 3ins tall. There’s also a whopping storm coming and the last 800 yards are down a heavily rutted, often washed away track.

I like an adventure and still feel the Hyundai will be man enough for the job. It may look like a designer handbag on wheels but so far, it has proved immensely capable.

That single rear door is obviously going to be an asset too. I completely forgot about it when I tried out the back seats yesterday – you just don’t expect an extra door in a coupe.

And our two backseat passengers are both in their early twenties – just the sort of youthful audience Hyundai is hoping to capture with the Veloster. They will be trapped in the back for four hours, so plenty on their views of the car tomorrow…