• last year
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 00:50
Interior: 02:10
Infotainment: 03:19
Features: 05:16
Practicality: 6:42
On the Road: 10:04
Verdict: 15:50

Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/review/2020-hyundai-veloster-manual-review/

Paul reviews the 2020 Hyundai Veloster 2.0. Sure, it looks incredibly fast, but without a turbocharged engine, this could be the slowest fast car going around. Australia also misses out on the cracking Veloster N, which picks up the awesome engine from the Hyundai i30 N. So, does it still cut the mustard? Watch and find out!

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@HyundaiWorldwide @hyundaiaustralia
Transcript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul and that's the new Hyundai Veloster.
00:03 How good does it look?
00:04 Well, I think it looks good, cameraman doesn't,
00:06 but it looks fast, which is the main thing,
00:08 but it's not fast.
00:09 Come here, let me explain why.
00:10 So it starts at just under 30,000 Aussie bucks.
00:14 This is available with turbocharged engines,
00:17 including the engine out of the epic i30 N.
00:20 So bangs, cracks, pops, it does all that stuff.
00:22 But this one here is neither of those things.
00:24 It is naturally aspirated.
00:26 That means it has no turbo,
00:28 and that means it's probably going to be pretty slow,
00:30 which is a little bit disappointing,
00:31 but some people want a car that looks fast,
00:33 but isn't fast.
00:35 I know, it's kind of weird.
00:36 Now, if you are watching this on YouTube,
00:37 you can go down there to have a look at sections
00:40 you can skip ahead to,
00:40 or alternatively use the time codes above.
00:43 And I'd love for you guys to subscribe
00:45 and also hit that bell icon
00:46 so you can see our future videos as they come up.
00:49 So let's talk about exterior styling.
00:51 It comes in five exterior colors.
00:54 So not a massive palette to choose from,
00:56 but five nevertheless.
00:57 This is pretty cool.
00:58 So Michelin Pilot Sport 3 tires.
01:00 That is a super grippy tire
01:01 and something that previously hasn't been seen
01:04 on the Veloster.
01:05 18 inch alloy wheels with a scuff on them already.
01:08 Wasn't my fault.
01:09 LED daytime running lights,
01:12 but curiously, not LED headlights.
01:14 So halogen projector lamps.
01:16 These date back to the 1900s
01:18 and they provide about as much light
01:20 as you would expect in the 1900s.
01:22 If you've ever driven in the country in Australia,
01:24 you need good headlights.
01:26 LED headlights are so advanced
01:27 now that this kind of stuff
01:28 just doesn't cut it on a modern car anymore.
01:31 Let's have a look at the rest of this design.
01:32 So I've never met a designer that I understand.
01:35 So when I see stuff like this,
01:37 look at this line,
01:38 it sort of comes here
01:39 and instead of continuing down the car,
01:40 it just sort of slices through that door.
01:43 I heard a suggestion as well
01:44 that this is kind of like a design cue off a center.
01:47 You know, it's got that sort of edgy bit
01:49 on the front of it.
01:50 Kind of interesting.
01:51 But my favorite part about this car is actually the back.
01:54 The back is cool because it's hatchy,
01:55 but it actually looks edgy at the same time.
01:58 And instead of having buttons here to open the boot,
02:01 it's all literally just under there.
02:02 So that just sort of cracks open fairly easily
02:05 and it's got a big old rump on it there.
02:07 But unfortunately 2.0,
02:08 you want to see a turbo badge there.
02:10 Let's talk about interior styling.
02:12 I'm going to be honest,
02:13 I'm a little bit underwhelmed here
02:15 and it's because it kind of feels like
02:17 a Toyota Hilux in here.
02:18 I know we keep banging on about hard surfaces,
02:22 but seriously,
02:23 this stuff just looks like it's out of a plastic factory.
02:26 Really is a little bit nasty.
02:28 And then on top of that,
02:29 look at this.
02:30 You haven't seen one of those for a while.
02:32 It is a key with an actual key.
02:34 So no proximity sensor here at all,
02:36 which means you need to put it into the keyhole
02:38 to start the car.
02:39 And then instead of them actually developing
02:41 a new plate here to cover up this button,
02:43 which is a starter button in all the other models,
02:46 it just says Veloster.
02:47 So you kind of get teased with a starter button,
02:49 but it doesn't actually do anything.
02:50 So, okay, negative stuff aside,
02:53 and you've actually got an interior
02:54 that doesn't look too bad
02:56 in terms of the visual presentation.
02:57 Nice looking screen there.
02:59 Everything's nicely laid out in front of the driver.
03:01 Over here, I've got like checkered things on the speedometer.
03:04 So it looks nice and sporty.
03:05 Sporty gear shifter, nice to hold as well.
03:08 Have a look at these seats.
03:09 So no leather here,
03:10 but they actually look quite nice.
03:12 So instead of just being a plain seat,
03:14 they've got all this stitching here
03:16 that kind of makes it looks like
03:17 kind of a race seat or something like that.
03:19 Now let's talk infotainment.
03:20 You know, you've got the low rent poverty pack
03:22 when your phone is actually bigger
03:25 or almost bigger than the infotainment screen itself.
03:28 But nevertheless, this is the base
03:30 of Hyundai's current infotainment systems in their cars.
03:33 So let's start with the thing
03:35 that surprised me the most, which is radio.
03:37 There's no DAB digital radio.
03:39 Most cars these days have FM, AM and DAB.
03:42 So it means that you're kind of limited
03:43 to just those two bands of audio.
03:46 Mind you, you can stream Bluetooth audio.
03:48 So that means you're connecting your phone
03:49 or some other device.
03:50 And if you connect your phone,
03:51 you can play Spotify and all the other apps.
03:53 Alternatively, there is an auxiliary port
03:55 and a USB port as well for streaming audio.
03:59 Phone.
04:00 This is all again, pretty straightforward.
04:02 But again, Hyundai, seriously,
04:04 I press the voice recognition button to call someone
04:07 and it does nothing.
04:09 It only works if you connect using smartphone mirroring,
04:12 which is Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, which it also has.
04:15 Not wireless, it is a hardwired system,
04:17 but it is disappointing that button
04:18 still doesn't do anything.
04:19 Most modern cars these days,
04:21 you can hit voice recognition
04:22 and it will use an inbuilt system in the car
04:24 to make all of that work.
04:26 Here you can see recent calls,
04:28 your favorites and your telephone book,
04:30 plus manual dialing as well, if there's anyone
04:33 you wanna dial straight up,
04:34 but you don't have their contact details.
04:36 Let's have a look at the rest of this.
04:37 Now, the feature I love here,
04:39 and it's kind of a weird one,
04:40 but I find it often useful
04:42 because if you're driving along
04:43 and you get this great idea,
04:44 it kind of disappears by the time
04:46 you get to your destination,
04:47 but there is a voice memo function.
04:49 Hit that and you can store up to 128 megabytes
04:52 of voice memos that you can recall later.
04:55 There's no satellite navigation built into here,
04:57 so you're gonna have to use your smartphone mirroring
04:59 to make that happen.
05:00 Aside from that, there really isn't much going on.
05:02 There is a quick guide built into this system,
05:04 which allows you to access reference points,
05:07 such as how to use the screen.
05:09 It takes you through those steps,
05:10 but it's not interactive or not all that smart in general,
05:13 but it is a basic infotainment system
05:15 that does everything it needs.
05:16 So enough about the infotainment.
05:18 Let's talk about some of the other tech features
05:20 you're getting inside the cabin here.
05:21 Starting right here,
05:22 single zone automatic climate control.
05:24 So you just set the temperature,
05:25 hit auto, and it takes care of everything for you.
05:28 Ahead of the driver, a three and a half inch display.
05:30 That's your trip computer.
05:31 You can then toggle all the different displays on there
05:34 using the steering wheel.
05:36 So that'll take you through
05:37 all the different options there as well.
05:38 There's not a great deal to see there,
05:40 but that is where you're gonna configure
05:42 all the settings related to the way the car drives
05:44 and the way that it interacts with its tech.
05:46 AEB, autonomous emergency braking.
05:47 It's the tech that stops the car if you don't.
05:50 This is fitted with a low speed system.
05:52 So it only works around urban speeds, so around the city.
05:55 Once you get a little bit higher,
05:56 it's not going to mitigate a crash.
05:59 It's a camera-based system,
06:00 but it doesn't detect pedestrians or cyclists,
06:03 which is pretty disappointing.
06:04 In terms of the rest of the technology you're getting here,
06:06 reverse view camera with rear parking sensors.
06:08 It's not a bad screen.
06:10 It's fairly high resolution.
06:11 You get steering lines there as well.
06:13 Normal cruise control.
06:14 There's no radar cruise control
06:16 or any other sort of advanced functions here.
06:18 There's a lane keeping assistant.
06:19 It is absolutely terrible,
06:20 and I'll explain why when we go for our drive.
06:23 You've also got a hill start assist,
06:25 which is especially handy for the manual transmission.
06:27 You have a driver attention monitor
06:29 that keeps an eye on you
06:30 to make sure you're awake behind the wheel.
06:31 And finally, you also get tire pressure monitoring,
06:34 which is a handy thing
06:35 if you're going for a blast through the hills.
06:37 It's a wireless system,
06:38 and it's able to tell you when you are losing pressure
06:41 in any of your four tires.
06:42 Let's talk about comfort and practicality.
06:46 I am pretty comfortable.
06:47 I like this seat.
06:48 I like the driving position as well.
06:50 This steering wheel is really cool.
06:51 It sits nicely in the hand.
06:53 It's beautifully designed.
06:54 And then if you go around corners,
06:55 there's plenty of room to move around there.
06:58 What about storage?
06:59 I mean, stuff like phone storage is so important these days.
07:02 I have a bigger iPhone
07:03 because I like battery life and videos and stuff.
07:06 It kind of doesn't really fit anywhere in the cup holders.
07:09 There's two of them there, plus in the doors as well.
07:12 But it does fit down here.
07:13 There's stacks of room there.
07:14 So this car doesn't have wireless phone charging,
07:16 which means you can just slide it in there.
07:18 It won't charge your phone,
07:19 but it's got a grippy base on it,
07:20 so the phone's not gonna move around.
07:22 You also have storage in here.
07:24 Put a wonky lid on that.
07:26 Also that glove box storage as well.
07:29 And again, that nasty surface.
07:31 Now in the back seat,
07:33 there is a surprising amount of room back here.
07:35 This is where I normally have my seat when I'm driving.
07:38 It's quite far back.
07:39 I actually have a reasonable amount of knee room,
07:42 so room's pretty limited.
07:43 But aside from that, being a front-wheel drive,
07:45 there's no massive driveline tunnel through here.
07:47 No rear air vents, no USB charging back here,
07:50 but you do need a dime light.
07:51 How cool is this sort of vibrant blue map pocket?
07:54 You've got ISOFIX points for the kids
07:56 if you wanna cram them in here.
07:57 No center armrest, but you do get these cup holders
08:00 and like a little storage nook.
08:01 Headroom is, yeah, it's okay.
08:04 It's not amazing.
08:05 If you're a little taller than me, you're gonna struggle,
08:06 but it is fine for the occasional trip.
08:09 And it does feel like it's gonna be comfortable enough
08:11 if you do need to cram your friends in here.
08:13 So the Veloster's not a people mover,
08:15 but you do have a pretty decent boot here.
08:18 So 303 liters of cargo capacity in there.
08:21 And then it expands to a little over a thousand liters
08:24 if you drop the rear seats.
08:25 What does that mean?
08:26 Well, I'm gonna load the luggage in in a second,
08:27 but beneath the floor, you have a space saver spare tire.
08:30 So having that means it doesn't need to intrude
08:33 into your cargo capacity.
08:34 Gives you a little bit more room.
08:35 So let's get our luggage.
08:37 Now this is already heavy
08:38 'cause I've got three bags in here.
08:40 It's gonna be double the weight
08:41 if you go holidaying with my wife
08:43 and she buys lots of things.
08:45 Now you'll see there that it was a bit of a struggle
08:47 getting that in,
08:48 and that's because that boot lip is quite high,
08:50 but you do get enough storage there
08:51 to stick a laptop bag in as well.
08:53 And then Bob is your uncle.
08:55 Did you know this car only has three doors?
08:58 I'll explain why in a second,
08:59 but this is also interesting.
09:00 Instead of the door handle being here,
09:02 it's kind of integrated into the top of the door there.
09:04 It makes it easy to open and close.
09:07 It only has three doors
09:08 because Hyundai puts the rear passenger door
09:11 on the curb side.
09:12 And Australia is the only right-hand drive market
09:15 in the world where this car is sold
09:16 with a door on this side.
09:18 So in the US, this door is actually on that side.
09:21 Now that presents an inherent problem
09:23 because that means the front passenger door
09:26 has to be shorter than the driver's door
09:28 to fit this door in.
09:29 And that presents an issue with the weight balance
09:31 because it means one side of the car
09:33 is going to be heavier or lighter than the other side.
09:36 So Hyundai had to take that into account
09:38 during the development process
09:39 to make sure that this car handles and drives
09:41 just like it would if it actually had
09:43 the same amount of doors on both sides.
09:45 The other curious thing as well is the paintwork.
09:48 Have a look at this.
09:49 It's kind of like a wavy finish.
09:50 And we noticed this with the recent IONIQ review we did.
09:53 It had a similar paint job.
09:54 In fact, on the driver's doorframe,
09:56 it looks like the paint was sort of not even finished,
09:59 which is really not impressive.
10:00 You could be doing much, much better, Hyundai.
10:02 So we're in the car driving now
10:05 and all that stuff about the paint
10:06 kind of disappears when you're behind the wheel
10:09 because surprisingly,
10:10 despite the fact it doesn't have a turbo,
10:12 it's actually a really fun and engaging car to drive.
10:15 Steering is good, but not amazing.
10:18 You can switch it into sport mode,
10:19 which makes the steering a lot heavier
10:22 and also sharpens throttle response as well.
10:25 So you're getting a little bit more urgency
10:26 from that two liter engine.
10:28 Now, before we get onto the rest of how this drives,
10:30 let me talk about that lane departure assistant,
10:33 lane keeping assistant, whatever they call it,
10:35 because it is nasty stuff.
10:37 It's meant to kind of guide you around corners
10:40 while you're driving,
10:41 but what it ends up doing
10:42 is sometimes not noticing you're at a corner,
10:44 you turn in and then it suddenly realizes
10:46 you're at a corner
10:47 and then it just jerks you into the corner.
10:48 It is really just not well thought out.
10:51 So we switched that off virtually straight away.
10:53 Let's talk engine.
10:54 Two liter naturally aspirated four cylinder petrol engine.
10:57 This engine is new to the Hyundai range
10:59 because it uses Atkinson cycle.
11:02 You don't know what that means to you.
11:04 Let me explain.
11:04 So James Atkinson,
11:06 he's the bloke that created the Atkinson cycle.
11:09 This is the Veloster's engine.
11:10 It's a standard four stroke engine.
11:11 And I want to briefly explain the difference
11:13 between an Otto cycle and this Atkinson cycle.
11:16 So the standard way a car generates power
11:19 is you fill a chamber.
11:21 This is the cylinder, that's the piston,
11:23 with air and fuel.
11:24 Gets mixed together.
11:25 It then gets compressed.
11:27 Once it's compressed,
11:28 there's a spark that causes an explosion,
11:30 pushes the piston back down,
11:32 and that is your power stroke.
11:33 The difference with an Atkinson cycle
11:35 is that when this chamber is filled
11:37 and it goes in for the compression stroke,
11:39 around 20 or 30% of that mixture goes back out the intake
11:43 and is eliminated from the mix.
11:45 Your power stroke is then the same length.
11:47 So what ends up happening is there's less work involved,
11:49 which makes it more efficient,
11:51 but it comes at the cost of power and torque,
11:53 which is why normally an Atkinson engine
11:55 is used in a hybrid,
11:56 'cause you can fill that torque gap at the bottom end
11:58 simply by using a hybrid drivetrain.
12:00 So that all means that it produces 110 kilowatts of power
12:03 and 180 newton-metres of torque.
12:06 Not exactly a groundbreaking amount of power or torque,
12:09 but it is enough to keep this thing fun and happy
12:12 as that variable valve timing kicks in.
12:15 Really where it is lacking is the engine response.
12:19 So even in sport mode,
12:20 you just really have to get it bloody going to do anything.
12:25 And then if you find yourself on a hill,
12:27 all the fun's killed
12:29 'cause it just doesn't have enough torque to get up there.
12:31 What about performance figures?
12:33 Here, I'm gonna just step on the throttle.
12:35 Not the best sounding engine in the world.
12:37 Obviously, if you go down the path of the turbo,
12:40 it's going to be quicker than this,
12:42 the naturally aspirated car,
12:43 but this will do zero to 100 kilometres an hour
12:46 in around 10 seconds.
12:48 I reckon it's a bit of an eternity
12:49 for something that looks as sporty as this.
12:51 Seven litres per 100 kilometres is the fuel economy,
12:54 and that's thanks to the efficiency
12:55 of the Atkinson cycle engine.
12:57 We've been pretty much hitting that.
12:58 I've been doing a lot of highway driving,
13:00 a few corners here as well,
13:01 and it is around that figure, so it is quite realistic.
13:04 The thing I find really strange behind the wheel here,
13:08 I think this is also another thing to save cost.
13:10 As you push the throttle down
13:11 and get to the end of the travel,
13:13 there's a kickdown switch.
13:14 Normally, the kickdown switch is reserved
13:16 for an automatic transmission.
13:17 It tells the car's computers to go down
13:19 as hard as it can through the gears
13:21 to find a low gear to get that peak torque band.
13:24 We're in a manual car here,
13:25 so there is literally zero reason
13:27 you would have a kickdown switch.
13:29 So it is a really weird thing to have fitted to the car.
13:31 The ride is so good thanks to the independent
13:35 multi-link rear suspension setup.
13:37 Now, that's very different for a car of this size and shape,
13:40 especially in this economy
13:41 where manufacturers are trying to save money.
13:43 Normally, they go with a torsion beam,
13:45 which is a single bar that connects the rear axle.
13:48 And as a result of that, as you're driving around,
13:50 if you hit a bump mid-corner,
13:52 you get this slight acceleration moment
13:54 on the other side of the car,
13:55 which unsettles the car.
13:57 And that's why a lot of people will tell you
13:59 that you really want a car with independent rear suspension
14:01 for this type of mountain hunting, as I like to call it,
14:06 because it gets the car nice and settled,
14:08 and it means you can find yourself a couple of corners
14:11 and be more confident with it when you tip it in.
14:15 Now, speaking of corners, this thing is not a power monster,
14:17 but it is good fun to drive.
14:20 So when you do find yourself a set,
14:22 keep it high in that rev band,
14:24 and those sticky Michelin Pilot Sport tyres
14:26 mean you can throw it around
14:27 and have a little bit of fun with it.
14:29 It is surprising how much traction
14:31 it actually has through the corners,
14:33 but then you find yourself on a hill,
14:35 and then it bogs down.
14:36 One of the few downsides of the Michelin Pilot Sport tyres
14:39 is that you get a bit more intrusion into the cabin,
14:41 especially on a coarse chip surface.
14:43 So while Hyundai has done a good job padding this car out,
14:46 it can be a little bit noisy,
14:48 but you've got to have a compromise here
14:50 to get the decent tyres
14:51 that give this thing a lively feel behind the wheel.
14:54 Veloster's available with either a six-speed manual
14:56 or six-speed automatic in this entry-level two-litre trim.
15:00 Driving the manual here, and look, it's okay.
15:03 The problem with this gearbox really is the clutch.
15:05 At low speeds, it just has a mind of its own,
15:08 especially if you're on a hill
15:09 or trying to get out of somewhere.
15:11 It feels like you're still learning to drive,
15:13 you're bunny hopping out of things.
15:14 It is truly a bizarre experience,
15:17 and you have to be on your best behaviour all the time,
15:19 which is seriously the last thing you want
15:21 when you're trying to have some fun behind the wheel.
15:24 Looking at the car from the outside,
15:25 you may think to yourself, visibility must be terrible.
15:28 Looking out the rear vision mirror,
15:29 it's actually pretty reasonable.
15:31 It's not a massively narrow envelope.
15:34 Wing mirrors are fantastic.
15:35 I'm able to see all around the car.
15:36 They're actually quite big for a car of this size.
15:39 The only thing you'll notice is the blind spots.
15:41 When you do look backwards there,
15:43 you kind of have a blind spot about the C pillar,
15:45 but it's really not inhibiting too much.
15:48 You can see quite clearly around the car.
15:49 So the Hyundai Veloster, I don't know,
15:52 I've come away with this not knowing
15:54 whether I like it or don't like it.
15:56 It is a really awesome looking car,
15:58 but it's let down by really average manual gearbox
16:01 and a fairly asthmatic engine.
16:02 I mean, if that said turbo instead of 2.0,
16:05 or actually if that said N,
16:07 we got the N version, that would be sensational
16:09 because it looks fast and it kind of has all the bits
16:11 that it needs to go fast.
16:12 It's just missing the heart of it, but it is well-priced.
16:16 And if you do want a car that looks quick,
16:17 but isn't so fast, it could be the one for you.
16:20 Bit iffy on the paint job, but aside from that,
16:22 it is good in every other respect.
16:24 So if you enjoyed the video, please make sure you like it.
16:26 Also, don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell icon.
16:29 It just basically tells you when our next video goes up
16:32 so that you can consume it all in one hit.
16:34 And let me know, did you buy one of these?
16:36 Are you enjoying it?
16:37 What am I missing on this car?
16:39 And let me know if we've mucked anything up.
16:41 Everything in the comments below, we will try and get to.
16:43 Until next time, see you later.

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