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Veloster turbo - A welcome design deviation from the norm

Published:Thursday | July 19, 2018 | 12:00 AMKareem Latouche
Side view
Interior shot
Rear shot
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Magna Motors, dealers of Hyundai, believe that the Veloster turbo is a car that can be a big hit in Jamaica. Its unique design merges the two worlds of a hatch back and a race car in a discreet manner.

The car comes with an unconventional rear door, located behind the front passenger door. Due to its surreptitious design, it does not take away from the aesthetics of the car.

From a design perspective, the exterior is similar to the regular version, with a pronounced hexagonal front grille. There are also fog lights in the bottom fender and a bold headlight housing that consists of the daytime LED run lights and indicator lights.

In keeping with the sports theme, the car has 18" chrome rims that have low-profile tyres wrapped around them. The roofline is slanted towards the trunk, which has a spoiler at the top. There is also a side skirting to make the vehicle appear lower than it is and which gives it an overall ground clearance of 143mm.

 

Interior

 

To drive home the Turbo concept, there are burgundy accents throughout the vehicle one of which is incorporated into the driver's door panel and doubles as a handlebar. The centre console has a 'V'-type design, where, at the vertex is the start button, which is reminiscent of a race car.

Above this are the climate controls, which have a designated knob to change the temperature as well as to put the A/C in auto mode. Flanking this knob on the left and right are buttons for wind speed, A/C, different climate modes, and heating the windows.

This leaves the biggest space for the infotainment system, which has a 7" touchscreen. It comes with all the expected features like bluetooth pairing and USB input for multimedia files. Bordering this are two huge diagonal air vents on either side, which do a good job of cooling down the car.

The bucket seats have adequate bolsters, which keeps the driver in place, and the base can be controlled electronically while the back is done manually.

Due to the sloping roofline, there is very little head room for anyone over 5'6". However, this is customary with most sports car. There is also the panoramic sunroof, which when retracted, gives the car a more spacious feel.

It comes with very good noise isolation, which can be a bad thing if you like to hear how fast you are going. Consequently, it is easy to go at a high speed and not realise it. To get the best performance out of the 4-cylinder engine, the rpm needs to be over 5,000. So if you are using the steering-mounted paddle shifters, you will have to gear down twice to get that rapid power. Keep in mind that there are no driving modes such as sport or normal, so Hyundai expects the driver to utilise the tiptronic or paddle shifters to create an engaging experience.

There is also an option to change the firmness of the steering, which should be done when driving at a fast speed, especially if you are trying to utilise the 184 brake horse power from the 1.6 litre engine.

The car's low centre of gravity also comes into play as it stays firmly planted on the road when taking corners.

There is no debating the uniqueness of the Veloster, and for many, this is a welcome design deviation from the norm.

Vehicle provided courtesy of Magna Motors Dealership Ltd, 876630-1511; 876-577-3607

2018 Hyundai Veloster Turbo list price - $4,870,000.