2021 Hyundai Veloster N _ Review

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe benchmark hot hatch at least here in the states has long been the volkswagen golf gti and the golf r contenders pop up every now and then but typically victory remains in the hands of vw recently though hyundai got serious about competing in this segment and it did so when it reworked the veloster into the new veloster and created the veloster n and then it added more fuel to the fire when it took the manual only car and now offers an optional dual clutch gearbox which is in the car behind us it's more expensive and more approachable but is it still hot first let's talk looks cause hyundai has nailed the styling on this one with one exception the whole two doors on one side one door on the other side thing it's silly it's quirky for the sake of quirk and adds nothing to the car pop on the extra door or ditch a door and make this the proper three or five door machine it needs to be yes hot hatch fans love to count the hatch as a door regardless the rest of this thing looks great especially with this red paint on the black trim and the fun but not over the top rear spoiler add in the 19 inch wheels shod with pirelli summer tires and you have a great looking stance though we'd say the previously offered 18 inch wheels wearing michelin pilot super sports is actually the better performing setup slide inside and you have a well laid out cabin there's an eight inch touchscreen sitting atop the center stack these seats are both comfortable and supportive and this steering wheel feels really great in your hands and start diving into the menus and you'll find a multitude of ways to set up the car viewable via a very cool spider graph you can adjust the chassis exhaust engine response and overall drivetrain attitude to suit your needs or just go with preset eco normal sport and end modes there's also a button on the steering wheel labeled ngs now that stands for n grind shift and despite the dumb name it is a cool button because it boosts torque up to 278 pound-feet for 20 seconds speaking of the engine it's a 2-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder making 275 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque when you're not hammering on that ngs button it also returns nearly 30 miles per gallon on the highway so this dct right here adds 96 pounds of weight to bring the curb weight to 3 186 pounds which is still good by modern car standards but is the car fun to drive no it's fantastic so does the lack of a manual here sap the fun and it's not a lack of a manual it's a choice and the answer is no it does not the dct actually makes this car quicker car and driver said this thing will run from 0 to 60 in 4.8 seconds which is wonderful in a hot hatch and it's a dual clutch so it shifts quickly it's responsive it is a blast and then the rest of the car is as great as we remember this is such a good example of a great segment of automobile the seats are super comfortable the visibility is great the engine note is good without being overpowering and then the ability to adjust as much as you want with regards to the chassis the steering the exhaust all that stuff is very much appreciated i have the engine the transmission um let's see what else the exhaust sound and the esc yes you can play with the esc i have that all set to the most aggressive sportiest setting i have the limited slip set to its second of two settings but then suspension and steering i put in their normal setting because i like the ride to be a little bit softer and these the steering in the most aggressive mode is a bit too heavy for the character of the car maybe it would make sense on a race track but just cruising around or even on this canyon road just normal is plenty because the chassis is good the engine response is great and then if you hit this ngs button you get more torque now the name and grin shifts is pretty corny but you know what the fact that they give it to you is fine i wish they could just have a mode they'll wear just give me that torque all the time adding in the performance pack for 2021 is smart and explains the price bump we'll get to the price more in a minute but the performance pack used to cost 2100 extra and it added 25 horsepower and the limited slip and the larger wheels and larger brakes and all stuff now they just included which is great and that's the reason you're paying more for the car but you're still not paying an insane amount when the average new car transaction price these days is forty thousand dollars a sub forty thousand 000 entertaining hot hatch is a wonderful machine hear that ding ding that's telling me the car wants to shift there's also a shift light in the gauge cluster as well this thing is built for having fun the last time i drove one of these was the manual gearbox on a racetrack at the launch and i loved the car then and it feels so good to be back in it and having just as much fun and now with this dct it's actually more approachable for a wider audience not everyone out there knows how to drive a manual not everyone out there wants to drive a manual in their daily commute so say you have to slog through la traffic on a daily basis the dct might be the better option for you the stick is good the dct here is pretty darn fantastic it's also priced well for a car that offers up this much fun the veloster end starts a bit over 33 000 and comes pretty much as equipped as you need it a base golf gti starts less but is also slower and doesn't have as good a warranty now the 2022 golf gti is about to come out but we think that's probably going to be more of the same albeit with some new looking skin on the outside you have the golf r though of course which does deliver a bit more power costs quite a bit more and is only likely marginally quicker from 0 to 60. then you also have the honda civic type r which is a wonderful machine as well again that one is more expensive and the styling is quite a bit let's say more polarizing the good news is that we're even having this conversation right now because you can't go wrong with any of those cars that i mentioned they're all good they all have their own quarks their own style they all deliver excellent driving dynamics but if it's my money on the line i'm heading to the hyundai dealer because the veloster end is just that good this car is awesome so youthe benchmark hot hatch at least here in the states has long been the volkswagen golf gti and the golf r contenders pop up every now and then but typically victory remains in the hands of vw recently though hyundai got serious about competing in this segment and it did so when it reworked the veloster into the new veloster and created the veloster n and then it added more fuel to the fire when it took the manual only car and now offers an optional dual clutch gearbox which is in the car behind us it's more expensive and more approachable but is it still hot first let's talk looks cause hyundai has nailed the styling on this one with one exception the whole two doors on one side one door on the other side thing it's silly it's quirky for the sake of quirk and adds nothing to the car pop on the extra door or ditch a door and make this the proper three or five door machine it needs to be yes hot hatch fans love to count the hatch as a door regardless the rest of this thing looks great especially with this red paint on the black trim and the fun but not over the top rear spoiler add in the 19 inch wheels shod with pirelli summer tires and you have a great looking stance though we'd say the previously offered 18 inch wheels wearing michelin pilot super sports is actually the better performing setup slide inside and you have a well laid out cabin there's an eight inch touchscreen sitting atop the center stack these seats are both comfortable and supportive and this steering wheel feels really great in your hands and start diving into the menus and you'll find a multitude of ways to set up the car viewable via a very cool spider graph you can adjust the chassis exhaust engine response and overall drivetrain attitude to suit your needs or just go with preset eco normal sport and end modes there's also a button on the steering wheel labeled ngs now that stands for n grind shift and despite the dumb name it is a cool button because it boosts torque up to 278 pound-feet for 20 seconds speaking of the engine it's a 2-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder making 275 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque when you're not hammering on that ngs button it also returns nearly 30 miles per gallon on the highway so this dct right here adds 96 pounds of weight to bring the curb weight to 3 186 pounds which is still good by modern car standards but is the car fun to drive no it's fantastic so does the lack of a manual here sap the fun and it's not a lack of a manual it's a choice and the answer is no it does not the dct actually makes this car quicker car and driver said this thing will run from 0 to 60 in 4.8 seconds which is wonderful in a hot hatch and it's a dual clutch so it shifts quickly it's responsive it is a blast and then the rest of the car is as great as we remember this is such a good example of a great segment of automobile the seats are super comfortable the visibility is great the engine note is good without being overpowering and then the ability to adjust as much as you want with regards to the chassis the steering the exhaust all that stuff is very much appreciated i have the engine the transmission um let's see what else the exhaust sound and the esc yes you can play with the esc i have that all set to the most aggressive sportiest setting i have the limited slip set to its second of two settings but then suspension and steering i put in their normal setting because i like the ride to be a little bit softer and these the steering in the most aggressive mode is a bit too heavy for the character of the car maybe it would make sense on a race track but just cruising around or even on this canyon road just normal is plenty because the chassis is good the engine response is great and then if you hit this ngs button you get more torque now the name and grin shifts is pretty corny but you know what the fact that they give it to you is fine i wish they could just have a mode they'll wear just give me that torque all the time adding in the performance pack for 2021 is smart and explains the price bump we'll get to the price more in a minute but the performance pack used to cost 2100 extra and it added 25 horsepower and the limited slip and the larger wheels and larger brakes and all stuff now they just included which is great and that's the reason you're paying more for the car but you're still not paying an insane amount when the average new car transaction price these days is forty thousand dollars a sub forty thousand 000 entertaining hot hatch is a wonderful machine hear that ding ding that's telling me the car wants to shift there's also a shift light in the gauge cluster as well this thing is built for having fun the last time i drove one of these was the manual gearbox on a racetrack at the launch and i loved the car then and it feels so good to be back in it and having just as much fun and now with this dct it's actually more approachable for a wider audience not everyone out there knows how to drive a manual not everyone out there wants to drive a manual in their daily commute so say you have to slog through la traffic on a daily basis the dct might be the better option for you the stick is good the dct here is pretty darn fantastic it's also priced well for a car that offers up this much fun the veloster end starts a bit over 33 000 and comes pretty much as equipped as you need it a base golf gti starts less but is also slower and doesn't have as good a warranty now the 2022 golf gti is about to come out but we think that's probably going to be more of the same albeit with some new looking skin on the outside you have the golf r though of course which does deliver a bit more power costs quite a bit more and is only likely marginally quicker from 0 to 60. then you also have the honda civic type r which is a wonderful machine as well again that one is more expensive and the styling is quite a bit let's say more polarizing the good news is that we're even having this conversation right now because you can't go wrong with any of those cars that i mentioned they're all good they all have their own quarks their own style they all deliver excellent driving dynamics but if it's my money on the line i'm heading to the hyundai dealer because the veloster end is just that good this car is awesome so you\n"