2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo Autocross Test The Bones of a Hot Hatch.
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00So, this is the new 2019 Hyundai Veloster.
00:12I think we can all agree that it looks very good.
00:15They've kept some of the signature Veloster bits like the three doors and a wide-looking
00:19stance and you have several levels to choose from.
00:21It'll start at $20,999 Canadian with a 2-liter naturally aspirated engine, but the one we're
00:26interested in is the turbo.
00:28The one you're looking at is the Turbo Tech at $28,899 Canadian, but you can get a turbo
00:33Veloster for as little as $25,899.
00:36You can get a six-speed manual, which is the clear option for the enthusiast, but you can
00:39also get a seven-speed DCT, which I'll be trying out in a minute.
00:44The standard equipment list is pretty good.
00:46Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and things like a heated steering wheel, reversing camera,
00:49and blind spot detection are standard.
00:51You can also add things on like a heads-up display, leather seats, and rain-sensing wipers,
00:55but the thing that I'm most interested in is the fact that you can get these wheels
00:59with 225-width Michelin Pilot Sport 4s for only $500.
01:04That's a no-brain option if you ask me.
01:06It's clear then that Hyundai is pushing the sport flavor in the non-N Veloster lineup,
01:10and since I'll be ripping around on an autocross course later in the video, I guess we'll find out.
01:18This is the 2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo.
01:21We are in the DCT version.
01:23Okay, I've driven the manual, and it feels pretty much exactly like the Elantra Sport,
01:26so let's talk about the DCT.
01:27In the DCT, you get something very cool.
01:30You get a smart mode.
01:31So we have eco mode, regular mode, and sport mode like you often get.
01:36Sport mode kicks down the shift points, ups the throttle response, steering, all the typical
01:40things, but smart mode is actually very cool because smart mode will just allow you to
01:45go into one of those modes based on the way that you're driving.
01:48So just leave it in smart.
01:49If you find a couple of curves you want to kick it around, then just leave it there,
01:52and it'll put you in a sport mode for that, which I like.
01:55Now, I'm very interested in this car, okay, because the Veloster N is coming out, and
02:01I want to know how good that car is going to be, and the only way that I can find out
02:05is to understand the underpinnings, the chassis, how the car actually is in the most basic form.
02:11So, also, realistically, in five to ten years, people like you and I are going to buy a used
02:18version of one of these to tune ourselves.
02:19We'll put some coilovers in it.
02:21We will do an ECU tune of some kind, right?
02:25The Veloster N is already very good, but if you want to personalize one, you'll probably
02:28end up buying something like this regular turbo, all right?
02:33So how is the car to drive?
02:34Well, on the road like this, there is a fair amount of kind of vibrations, especially in
02:40sport mode, coming through and some noise, but Hyundai was very clear.
02:45They prioritized fun driving with this car.
02:47They didn't prioritize making it quiet and comfortable, which shows, because if you have
02:53driven the Elantra hatchback, the GT, the sport version with the turbocharged engine,
02:59you would kind of have an idea of what this is like.
03:02Take that and kind of make everything a little bit sharper.
03:05That's how this feels.
03:06Okay, so they've actually taken the time to focus on things that are performance-oriented
03:12to make sure that the N has a good basis.
03:16So first of all, independent suspension on all of them, okay?
03:21And importantly, a lot of the suspension components have been turned into aluminum.
03:25They've been lightened.
03:26So we have a car that has less unsprung mass, which is important, okay?
03:31And you can tell, so accelerating in this car, we have boost available at 1500 RPM,
03:38and there's an overboost function, which you can kind of feel it kick you back just a little
03:41bit more.
03:42This other torque figure is 195 pound-feet, and it goes over 200 in the overboost, okay?
03:48So I can tell you, though, even in the DCT, everything about the drivetrain is actually
03:54fairly responsive.
03:55There is a little kind of like breath of lag before you actually get going.
04:00All right, we're over in sport mode now.
04:02Downshift happens quickly in this car, and there's the torque.
04:07And shift, and shift.
04:10Good.
04:11Right?
04:12The shifts are actually very quick.
04:13Now, the steering in the car, I do like very much.
04:17In sport mode, there is a very, very obvious on-center feel.
04:23Just right off-center, it's stiff.
04:25I really like that in the steering.
04:27Some cars are very dead just off-center, there's like a space like this much.
04:31BMWs actually nowadays have a very dead space off-center.
04:34This car does not have that.
04:36It feels very tight.
04:38This car, I would say, is actually probably a better match for the Civic Si than the Elantra
04:42Sport even is, because it feels quicker, and it feels a little bit more responsive.
04:48We still are lacking a limited slip differential in the front of this car.
04:52But the LSD is going to come on the Veloster N, okay?
04:56So they obviously didn't want to put it on the regular Veloster.
05:01Living with the car is totally fine.
05:03Ergonomically, things are making sense in here.
05:07In the manual, there is room for you to shift.
05:10The dashboard itself actually looks very cool.
05:12There's some kind of like red piping going through.
05:16And it's acceptable in terms of materials quality, I would say.
05:20There are quite a lot of hard plastics.
05:22My least favorite part is this door card right here, which is rock solid.
05:25There's absolutely no soft touch to that whatsoever.
05:29And it kind of looks a little bit cheap right here.
05:32This doesn't look very good, but they obviously had to save some money somewhere.
05:36The infotainment is good.
05:37Apple CarPlay, Android Auto is completely standard, all right?
05:41We have physical buttons that you can push that will get you to the different screens.
05:47That's important.
05:48Also, there's a volume knob.
05:50It is literally a knob that you turn on the power, and you turn the volume.
05:53I can reach it.
05:54It's there.
05:55It should be there.
05:56It should be there in every single car.
05:57I don't know why it isn't.
05:59Controls in the steering wheel are good.
06:01I find them a little bit confusing, but you can make your way through it pretty effectively.
06:07No issues there.
06:08Dial's super easy to read, like everything Hyundai does.
06:12We have a real handbrake, by the way.
06:14The Civic Si does not have a real handbrake, which means handbrake turns in the wintertime.
06:19All right, the interior of the car is actually very comfortable.
06:22The seats, they have some bolsters that don't dig into my leg.
06:26I would say that for full-on track driving and autocross driving, they could be probably
06:31a little bit more aggressive, but for just regular cruising around, they're quite comfortable.
06:36You can get ... This is like a half-leather, half-cloth option in this trim level, and
06:40you can get a full-leather option in the Sport-Tech.
06:43Okay, typical Veloster three-door situation in the back.
06:48Easy to get in and out.
06:49There's actually a surprisingly large amount of leg room behind me.
06:55I'm just under six feet, and I could easily sit behind myself in this car.
07:03The trunk space is pretty impressive.
07:05If you compare it to other cars in the segment, it's right near the top.
07:08They moved some of the components a little bit to the outside of the car.
07:12The whole car is wider by about 10 millimeters, so there is more space in the trunk, and that
07:16actually kind of changes the stance on the road a little bit.
07:19The Veloster was already a pretty wide car, and they've widened it by 10 millimeters and
07:23lengthened it by about 20 millimeters.
07:25The new Veloster comes with a torque vectoring.
07:27It's a brake-based torque vectoring, which I'm sure would be nice if you're just kind
07:31of like ripping around in an on-ramp, but it's nice that we can turn everything off
07:34when we want to actually explore the real limits of the car, like we are about to do
07:38on an autocross course.
07:39All right, let's see how the Veloster autocrosses.
07:43Here we go.
07:55All right, it does respond well to the brakes.
07:59A little bit of rotation and entry there.
08:02That felt good.
08:03I'm having a hard time seeing through my own camera.
08:17You're from the straight pipes, I have something to say.
08:20Did I not do well?
08:21Yo, Jacob from the straight pipes is probably faster.
08:24We're not timing, so no one can know.
08:26All right, let's try again.
08:36Yeah, tap the brakes on entry, and you will get a little bit of rotation.
08:42A little bit of stability kicked in, though.
08:46Even though, understeer, understeer, understeer power.
08:54Not bad.
08:56I do like it.
08:57Okay, I do like it.
08:59There's a little bit of understeer under power, obviously.
09:01You can tell there's no LSD in the front, getting some torque steer.
09:05And when you really hammer it in the tight corner, you do get that open wheel spin.
09:09There's nothing you can do about that.
09:11All right, but let's have another go.
09:13I'm going to try and get a little more rotation out of it.
09:15I'm going to lift going into the corners.
09:17Nice launch.
09:33Come on, front tires, dig.
09:35Dig.
09:48Not bad.
09:50I do like it.
09:52This is a good car.
09:53This is a good platform, is what this is.
09:55When you get aggressive with the throttle, it does start to understeer, right?
09:59But there is obvious bounce in the chassis.
10:01You get on those brakes, get some weight over the front, and the front does dig in, right?
10:05With a stickier front tire and an LSD, this would be a really amazing car for autocross.
10:10So, there you go.
10:11As you saw me going on the autocross course there, it took me a couple laps, but I got the feel for the chassis.
10:16It obviously does understeer at the limit, and you really can tell that there is no LSD up front.
10:22The LSD in the Veloster N was a very good choice for them to put in their sporty version
10:26because it will completely change the way this car feels under throttle.
10:29However, I did find if you get into the corner off throttle or you get on the brakes in the corner,
10:35you can get quite some obvious rotation out of the car, which is nice.
10:39It will kind of tuck itself around the tight corners if you do it properly.
10:43It took me a couple laps to kind of get the hang of where the balance is in the car,
10:46but it does go around pretty obviously.
10:49I felt that for the sport version, I know that there is going to be a more sporty version,
10:54but for just the sport version, I would have liked to have had it feel a little bit flatter,
10:59a little bit tighter suspension-wise.
11:02It was in the sport mode, obviously, and everything was turned off,
11:05and there was a fair amount of body motion that I found.
11:10Usually body motion isn't that big of a deal.
11:13Like, for example, in a Miata, there's a ton of body roll,
11:16but it does not take away from how the car handles.
11:19In this, it kind of felt like that lean was detrimental to you being able to find the grip
11:26in the front and the back of the car.
11:28I found a way around it, right, obviously.
11:30I found that just going into the corner incredibly hot, lifting, it would start to rotate around,
11:35and you could obviously, it's front-wheel drive, so you fix it with the throttle.
11:38You put your foot on it, and it will pull you out through the corner.
11:41That said, overall, the car was surprisingly accurate on the autocross course.
11:46All right, so there you go.
11:48So all things considered, this is a fun little car,
11:51and based on what I've seen it do so far, I have high hopes for the upcoming Veloster N.
11:59My name is Thomas Holland. You've been watching Throttle House.
12:08Transcription by ESO. Translation by —