Take the sporty, curvaceous styling of a sports coupé. Now cross it with the practicality of a two-door hatchback. What do you get? The end result is the new Hyundai Veloster, which has just been launched into the Australian market for 2012.

So do you call the Hyundai Veloster a coupé or a hatchback? Well the Hyundai Veloster has the body style of a coupé, all perched on stylish 18-inch alloy wheels and set off by a classy roof spoiler. But unlike proper coupés, the Hyundai Veloster has a third door at the rear, making this car more practical than a sports coupé and making it suitable for a wider market segment.

The Hyundai Veloster has been designed to be versatile as well as small, which is part of the Veloster’s appeal. Because you can get into it through the back and the rear seats fold flat, you can get a surprising amount of luggage into the back of the Hyundai Veloster, especially if it’s just going to be you and a passenger riding in it. If you want to get specific, with the rear seats up, the Hyundai Veloster can carry 320 litres of luggage and with the rear seats folded flat, the luggage space expands to 1015 litres. And although the Hyundai Veloster has on-road styling that’s reminiscent of a chilli pepper (small and sizzling), it’s surprisingly roomy, with a little bit more space for heads, knees and shoulders compared to some of Hyundai’s other small cars.

The push towards designing smaller cars is part of the cultural shift towards vehicles that are smaller and more fuel economic. Bigger isn’t always better, and hatchbacks like the Hyundai Veloster often make their fuel economy one of their key selling points. Fuel economy in the base model of Hyundai Veloster (the 1.6 GDI) is pretty respectable, giving 5.3 L/100 km on the open road and 8.4 L/100 km around town for a combined fuel consumption of 6.4 L/100 km. Even so, the Hyundai Veloster manages to wring plenty of oomph out of such a small engine. The inline-four petrol engine manages to deliver a maximum 103 kW of power (at 6300 rpm) and a maximum 166 Nm of torque (at 4850 rpm), all available for the driver to play with via the six-speed manual transmission.

And the Hyundai Veloster manages to fit a fair few bells and whistles into its interior – it’s got nearly everything you’d expect from a modern car: an MP3-compatible CD player with auxiliary input and USB/iPod connectivity, all wired up to seven strategically placed speakers; air con with climate control; cruise control; tilt adjustment and telescopic adjustment for the steering wheel; an electrically adjustable driver’s seat, including lumbar adjustment; fast glass front and back; and Bluetooth connectivity.

And that’s just on the base model of Hyundai Veloster – the top-of-the range Hyundai Veloster 1.6 GDI Plus DCT adds in leather seats, a double overhead cam under the bonnet, dual clutch man sequential auto mode transmission and an electric sunroof.

With a small car like the Hyundai Veloster, safety is very important, so the designers at Hyundai have made sure that the little Veloster has the works. On the passive safety front, the Hyundai Veloster features driver and passenger airbags, front side airbags and side curtain airbags, plus pretensioned seatbelts. On the active safety side of things, the Hyundai Veloster has got ABS brakes, Brake Assist and EBD, which helps keep this little hatch/coupé (whichever you want to call it) under proper control. And it’s got rear distance sensors to help you park, although the Veloster can squeeze into some quite small spaces as it is… but there’s always someone who tries to park in a space that’s smaller than the car.

So who is the Hyundai Veloster likely to appeal to? It’s likely to appeal to several sectors of the market. First of all, the sporty styling of the Hyundai Veloster is likely to be a winner with those for whom looks are important and who just have to take themselves about – the young professional type. Secondly, the economy of the Veloster will make it appealing for those who have to do a fair bit of running about but don’t always have to take it all with them – the Hyundai Veloster would make a reasonable “shopping basket” runabout and could even be used to drop the kids off to school at a pinch, as long as you don’t have massive teenagers or more than two kids. The Hyundai Veloster is also likely to appeal to the older driver whose children have left home.

The current model series includes the:

• Hyundai Veloster 1.6 GDI 3-door coupé
• Hyundai Veloster 1.6 GDI DCT 3-door coupé
• Hyundai Veloster 1.6 GDI Plus 3-door coupé
• Hyundai Veloster 1.6 GDI Plus DCT 3-door coupé

For any more information on the Hyundai Veloster, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quote requests out to our national network of Hyundai dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!

Back to Hyundai Car Reviews