OUT OF THE ORDINARY

Hyundai’s eye-candy three-door plots an unorthodox course

The Hyundai Veloster makes little sense at face value. It has one door on the driver’s side and two on the other. It’s not particularly innovative, fast or clever, and Hyundai expects fewer people to buy the new generation model than its predecessor.

Yet Hyundai Australia called in favours to get the new Veloster into local showrooms.

Off-limits to Europe and Japan, the funky hatch will be made in right-hand drive only for Australia and New Zealand.

Most marques could not find a business case for a niche vehicle sold in a relatively small market but the brand’s local arm has friends in high places and a burning desire to extinguish its old reputation as a cheap’n’cheerful discount brand.

The original Veloster helped Hyundai on that journey by finding almost 20,000 customers willing to spend a little more to get hold of something out of the ordinary.

Many were women and young drivers attracted to the car’s looks.

With a long, coupe-like starboard door opening, twin doors on the kerbside and a practical hatch at the rear, the original Veloster blended concept car styling with reasonable practicality and a cheeky disdain for convention.

Eye-catching and affordable, the original car was let down by an anaemic 1.6-litre engine with outputs of just 103kW and 166Nm that couldn’t match its sporty looks.

A later turbo version brought reasonable pace to help chase down the likes of Toyota’s 86.

Completely revised for 2019, the new Hyundai Veloster follows the same theme.

Asymmetric doors feature on an eye-catching body which, as with the original, looks much sharper than regular hatchbacks.

Priced from $29,490 plus on-roads, the standard Veloster is powered by a larger 2.0-litre petrol engine that sends 110kW and 180Nm to the front wheels via a six-speed manual transmission.

A conventional six-speed auto adds $2300 and replaces the optional dual-clutch in the previous entry grade.

The regular car wears 18-inch wheels with Michelin tyres, while inside there are a seven-inch touchscreen with six speakers, satnav, a reversing camera and smartphone mirroring.

Customers who want more power can spend a further $6000 to step up to the Veloster Turbo, with 150kW/265Nm 1.6-litre. Among other features, it adds LED lights, eight-inch screen, eight- speaker audio, smart keys, black wheels and better dashboard display.

Turbo versions with auto transmission also get paddle-shifters, active cruise control and pedestrian detection.

The range-topping Turbo Premium gets heated and cooled seats, wireless smartphone charging, head-up display, sunroof and eight-speaker audio for $38,990 with a six-speed manual or $41,990 with a dual-clutch auto.

All versions have six airbags with autonomous emergency braking, forward collision warning, lane departure warning and driver attention warning.

Auto Turbo models add active cruise control and pedestrian detection, as well as paddle-shifters on the steering wheel.

The interior has plenty of gear but feels built to a budget with hard plastics, flimsy-feeling details and flat seats.

There’s more space than the previous model, particular when rear headroom is taken into account.

And Hyundai should be praised for spending millions to move the rear passenger door to the left, allowing kids to step straight on to the footpath instead of ejecting them into harm’s way.

Mini failed to make the switch for its 2007 Clubman and was rightly roasted for putting passengers into the path of traffic.

The driver’s seat feels a little high and overthe-shoulder vision is compromised by turret-like rear glass.

Hyundai reckons about half its customers will choose the Turbo. And buyers should give it serious consideration.

As with the original, the standard car feels less than brisk under way and is certainly not as sporty as its looks suggest.

The 2.0-litre is stronger than its predecessor but lacks the sort of turbo torque often found in modern cars.

Even if it’s not particularly quick, the new engine has a better partner in the conventional automatic, which makes for smoother progress than the old model.

It’s a shame the Turbo is priced at a $10,000 premium, as it’s the better bet. Effortless and smooth on the road, it delivers on Hyundai’s “warm hatch” promise without treading on the toes of genuine performance cars such as the i30 N or Subaru WRX.

Owners of the outgoing Veloster Turbo should be disappointed Hyundai couldn’t eke a single extra kilowatt from that car’s engine — engineers clearly focused on the breakthrough i30 N and its Veloster N cousin, though the latter is not available in Australia.

Then again, the fuss-free nature of the Turbo’s performance gels sweetly with suspension that’s tuned to suit a wide variety of customers. Fixed-rate dampers miss out on the multi-mode flexibility of the i30 N, settling on a balance that delivers a reasonable degree of poise without the taut composure of Hyundai’s proper performance car.

Grip from premium Michelin tyres is impressive and the brakes kept up plenty of stopping power during a full day at the wheel.

Quick steering lends fast, accurate responses to driver inputs, though feel is somewhat lacking.

In the manual versions, the same goes for the springy clutch and long-throw gear lever, which feels less than satisfying.

The dual-clutch auto option wouldn’t pass a blindfold test — slow changes and dozy shift logic are well off the pace compared to something like a Golf GTI.

The original Veloster was the sharpest arrow in a dull quiver, one that invited unfortunate comparison with more focused machines.

But the recent addition of a truly rapid i30 N takes the pressure off the model that previously was tasked with being the brand’s halo car.

More than before, the Veloster makes sense as a counterpoint to current trends.

N MEANS NO

Hyundai’s new coupe is available in Veloster N form in the US. Powered by the same 202kW/ 353Nm 2.0-litre turbo engine as the i30 N, the hot Veloster is pitched as an enthusiast’s performance car in the States.

However, the car is not available in right-hand drive, so Hyundai’s local arm focused its attention on the five-door i30 N as a rival to the likes of Volkswagen’s Golf GTI. Describing a go-fast Veloster as “a niche within a niche”, Hyundai product planner Andrew Tuitahi says the N is “extremely unlikely” to come to Australia.