Fire up the... Hyundai Veloster

LIKE a silly hat on Ladies Day at the Grand National, coupes are all about style. Even if it's useless at just about everything else, if they've got the looks then we'll buy them.

Hyundai knows this all too well, having had a string of hits with various models called simply the Coupe, which took ordinary enough ingredients and then garnished them with gorgeous sports car styling. It was a Ferrari 456GT for a fraction of the price. So how does the Veloster, the company's new coupe contender, stack up?

Very well indeed if what you're looking for are extra doors, because the new arrival uses the same trick the MINI Clubman pulled off a couple of years ago by offering you an extra opening on the left-hand side, making it usefully easier to get into than most of its rivals.

It's also, considering it's a coupe and therefore something you'd forgive for being a tad cramped, roomier in the rear and bigger of boot than you'd rightfully expect it to be.

Yet as a coupe connoisseur, you'll be buying the Veloster for the looks, and while I know style's a very subjective thing it's where I reckon the Veloster starts to fall apart. It's striking enough at the front and its proportions hide that third door beautifully but at the back it's got all the flow and grace of a crumpled piece of paper.

It might be practical but it just doesn't quite gel, and nor does the way it drive. It's an easy and refined experience not a million miles from its i30 hatchback sibling, but for something setting its stall out as being sporty the feel and handling are nothing special. There's nothing wrong with it, but nor is it anything to thrill or excite you.

The Veloster's the one to go for if you need your coupe to come with a pinch of practicality but if you don't I'd go for either Volkswagen's Scirocco, which is much more fun to drive, Honda's CR-Z, which is cramped but an eco-friendly hoot to drive, or Peugeot's RCZ, which wins in the style stakes.

Hyundai's latest coupe contender is by no means a bad car, but it isn't an exceptional one either.

Help with removing Blue Link pop up from my audio-visual screen every time I turn on my Veloster

to consumeraffairs@hmausa.com

No one at any dealership, online forum, Hyundai think tank, Customer service, etc etc etc has any clue how to get the pop up out of my car, off my AV screen, and I'm fed up.

I don't want it, didn't ask for it, refuse to ever get Blue Link, and want to see the radio I paid for, the XM I pay for, the information my AV screen is designed to display.

Am I the one who is without a clue? Do I not understand something? Did I upset the gods and am forced to be irritated by a pop up in my CAR? 

Anyone at Consumer Affairs give a iota of interest that a car that Hyundai makes has a feature that Hyundai doesn't, and irritates the customer that is paying for a Hyundai? 

I'm escalating my screams for attention, I haven't gotten anywhere by asking politely. 

Do you respond to polite? Do you respond to the press giving you bad publicity? Let me know, or don't. One way or another, every time I turn on my car I get reminded that I need to do more than my previous efforts to have a focused effort to remove Blue Link from my car... MY CAR, not your web site, not your car, not your web page. MY CAR.

Jesse

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/ 


Hyundai Dealerships in southern California closest to me
Frank Motors in Chula Vista
Drew in El Cajon
Kearney Mesa
Poway
Heller of Escondido
North County of Carlsbad
Temecula
Gosch in Hemet
Allen in Laguna Nigel
Hyundai Design and Engineering American Tech Center in Irvine
Tustin 
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=fountain+valley+ca&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x80dd27151a7ed69f:0x68a49ee5bbe1e8c9,Fountain+Valley,+CA&gl=us&ei=M4_0T9P2BoHoqAGsnuHbAw&sqi=2&ved=0CI4BELYD

if nothing else works, I'll see if stopping by to do a story on this issue has any effect

Hyundai Motor America 

18335 Mount Langley Street, Fountain Valley, CA

(714) 378-5135 ‎ · hyundaiusa.com

Hyundai Motor America 

10550 Talbert Avenue, Fountain Valley, CA

(714) 965-3000 ‎ · hyundaiusa.com

Fire up the... Hyundai i30

FORGET the five star rating in the Euro NCAP crash tests, or the generous warrantage package. Thanks to an ingenious publicity stunt at Knowsley Safari Park, all anybody knows about the Hyundai i30 is that it'll stand up well if it's attacked by monkeys.

So we all know that if you give Hyundai's new big hitter to a troupe of baboons it'll pass with flying colours, but what about if you give it to a rather different and more discerning pack of primates - people looking to buy a mid-size family hatch? These people are traditionally some of the choosiest in the car market, and with so much on offer they've every right to be.

Luckily the Korean contender's got plenty going for it - not only do you get a five year warranty, but they'll chuck in five years of roadside assistance too, and it's got plenty of gadgets and gizmos thrown in as standard. I drove the 1.6 diesel version because it's the one Hyundai are banking on being their biggest seller here, and while it's unlikely to scare you with its performance it's very silky and smooth on the move. In fact, that's the flavour you'll get should you chuck it into a corner - if you're looking for excitement you're probably better looking elsewhere, but if you just want to act like a grown up and arrive everywhere quietly and unruffled then the i30's more than up for the task.

While the styling's smooth - if a little generic - it's clear that a lot of effort's gone into the interior. We already know that it's tough enough to survive being attacked by monkeys, so it's unlikely there'll be any woes over build quality, but what's more impressive is the quality of the materials and the attention to colours and shades. It really is a nice place to be.

At a whisker under £18,000 its price is pitched straight at the likes of the Focus, the Megane and the Astra, but I reckon that's fair game because in terms of quality and packaging it's more than a match for some of Britain's best sellers.

Hyundai i30 passes The Monkey Test at Knowsley Safari Park

HYUNDAI has headed to the north west to put one of its models through the toughest test Merseyside can throw at it - a trip to Knowsley Safari Park!

A troupe of baboons based at the wildlife attraction were let loose on the new i30 to test the toughness of the hatchback's interior and exterior fittings - and unlike many a motor that's had the odd mirror or two knocked off by the animals - it was still fighting fit at the end of the visit.

David Ross, General Manager at Knowsley Safari Park, said: “For a baboon, to have a car to play with for a whole day is manna from heaven! If you put them on any car they will scour it for the weak points and find any faults. At one point there were 40 monkeys in the car, pushing it to its limits – that’s ten times the size of the average human family.

"I’ve seen thousands of cars pass through this enclosure, get mobbed by monkeys, and none have lasted the distance as well as this Hyundai. These baboons are incredibly inquisitive."

 

Hyundai said the car's paintwork had been smeared and scratched after being attacked by the monkeys, but otherwise the i30 had emerged unscathed from the experience.

 

Felicity Wood, i30 Product Manager at Hyundai, said: "At Hyundai we believe in new thinking, which is why we decided to take a new approach with this durability test. You have to be pretty brave to subject a car to the most rigorous quality testers in the world, and the monkeys certainly gave our i30 a thorough examination!

"The fact that it survived with only a few scrapes is testament to the way a modern Hyundai is designed and engineered. We really do give a monkey’s about building tough cars!"

 For more information about Knowsley Safari Park visit www.knowsleysafariexperience.co.uk or call 0151 430 9009.

Veloster, made by Hyundai... the drivers side looks good, the back looks good... so half the car looks fine... why didn't they do a good front design? Why not just a 2 door? Are any parents going to buy this anyway? Why a backseat door?

 See what I mean... nothing wrong here, drivers side and back look fine.

 And then you see that someone caved into the concept that Hyundai couldn't sell a 2 seater, 2 door. What? Why not? Just a commuter, with great gas mileage, great interior (a gallery sometime in the near future) for single people, college kids, high schoolers, and people who want a nice car to get to work with while getting better han 35 miles per gallon. Too much to ask? No one is competing in that small necessity market.

 See the small black areas on the bottom sides? Useless. They have lights if you waste the money. Above them and below the headlights? Aerodynamic parachutes. Stupid. Should have been smooth

Drivers side shows that a 2 door would have been a good idea, a good looking idea.

I bought it because of the 35 mpg (I have gotten 35mpg, you might get better if you drive softer) the great seats, best factory stereo sound in a 19thou price range car, 17 inch rims (most cars around 19 thou have steel rims with plastic covers (SUCK!)) with Nexen 215-45's, center console with huge storage, cupholders where the driver can reach them comfortably, and most importantly... a 6 speed standard. No automatic.  

Blue Link from Hyundai has a annoying irritating message that shows up on my radio everytime I turn on my Veloster... anyone know how to get rid of it? Hyundai Customer Service doesn't

I hate this stupid damn message.. and I don't want the damn Blue Link. I'm not going to buy, subscribe, or want it. When you press OK the message will go away. I think it's not right to impose on your car buyer to push damn buttons to make the radio information appear instead of the damn Blue Link message

If you do like the message says and press the blue link button, hey, guess what? The car uses your cell phone to call Blue Link, and you hear a recording that you need to go to a computer and register. Eff you Blue Link. My car manufacturer insists that I use a computer to satisfy them? Fuck that. I paid them for a car, and that completes our transactions. They want my time to go to a computer to get rid of a message they put in my car radio display? Thay can pay me for the time, or enjoy the bad publicity until their customer "Service" tells me what they can do to make this damn message go away

Velosters were at SEMA in good numbers, and big variety due to giving them to customizers before production cars were sold to the public

No idea what made them think that a full tool box would be a good thing to have in the back seat. I do like the racing seatbelts though

bitchin' hood

I doubt that the car ever spends much time at speeds high enough to make the wing of any use. I believe that the info I heard was speeds above 80mph would only begin to create a downforce of any significance

Does anyone at all actually have a dj setup in their car that they use with any reasonable frequency enough to give customizers this notion that making the prototypes and show cars with all this turntable and audio gear is a viable selling point? Am I the only one that has never seen or heard of a mobile DJ just backing up a vehicle into an event and making money with that?

there it is, different rims, different looks, and different uses for a reasonably good looking econo box. Automobile magazine just compared it to the VW beetle, and the Mini Cooper, and found the Veloster the best buy and best suspension. I found it to be the best in gas mileage and factory installed stereo and touch screen AV center

Quick look at the upcoming awesome cars I'm going to post galleries about in the next couple weeks