Gadgetory

I'm getting out of this side of the backseat I'm the Hyundai Veloster because I can't get out of that side one of the keynotes on this vehicle asymmetrical doors to here one over there that one's longer this one's small there's a lot more to this car than just that strangeness let's try the 2012 Hyundai Veloster brand-new model for them and check the tech two things struck me about the Veloster the first minute I got in first of all this seven-inch color LCD is standard though it doesn't always have nav that's an optional package we'll get to and it has acres of nasty plastic hard plastic everywhere with kind of a I don't know if that's something in between a faux carbon fiber and a little sort of a herringbone but it's not real attractive but bare the car's price point in mind and around 18 grand to have this full head unit you got an option up for the tech package mm more and it requires something called the style package which is $2,000 as well so let's say it's 4 grand to go CNET style like I'm going to show you I like the Hyundai head unit I have for a long time all your favorite media sources are the am/fm no HD radio satellite radio is XM you get traffic from that as well when you're in the navigation this is a nice looking map I think this is one of the better rendered out there and for a car at this price range that's saying something it's a touchscreen of course and quite responsive I don't find that it has any lag to speak of and the buttons basically react the way you want them to when you hit them you got an optical slot right here for your CD and there's also a USB aux classic hyundai-kia stuff they just about all have this which gives you your iPod USB and anything else by an aux jack with the nav package we've bumped ourselves up to $2,000 tech package we also get bluetooth streaming I don't believe that that's in the car without that package you get decent controls for bluetooth streaming no advance or backtrack and minimal metatags and notice it does have support for a Pandora app on your smart phone through bluetooth streaming as well and you've got the backup camera here again that's part of this navigation or tech package pretty basic just gives you some distance markings it also includes rear sensors the style package the $2,000 package you've got to have before you get the tech package which is kind of tricky stuff brings you the dimension audio system like 450 watts it's actually sounding pretty darn good for a car in this price class now this car has Hyundai blue link kind of an OnStar on steroids including pio I search and download with agent assistance the usual SOS and roadside help valet boundaries and stolen vehicles slowdown and tracking you can share your location via Facebook use voice command to compose SMS text and with an app on your smart phone lock unlock remote start and blow the horn put the lights off and on you see we have the six-speed manual here that's your base gearbox you can also get a six called dual clutch a DCT for 1250 more yes there's that telltale click it's a direct injection car gas direct injection those turbos honey nonsense like that 1.6 litre kind of small in fact about the smallest di car I think we've tested and one of the smaller in the industry gets 138 horsepower 123 foot-pounds of torque the car only weighs 2,700 pounds so those numbers aren't as concerning as they seem you get to 60 in about eight and a half seconds while delivering 28 40 mpg with the manual 40 is the magic number these days if you get the DCT you lose that headline and you end up with 29 38 so you pick up one of the city but lose two on the freeway now let's go see what it's like on both well the first thing you notice in this Veloster is there's not a lot of velocity in the Veloster two words gun let's unfortunately the numbers on this engine don't lie it's lacking some power that it really kind of needs so that's a little disappointing beyond that the gearbox is a nice one the handling is fine it's not dramatically sporty but this isn't a sport trim car but they'll add a turbo sort trim later and the steering is a little bit technical shall we say it's electric power steering and certainly around town as you're driving and nibbling around or if you're out on the road it's it's a little numb it's precise in a clean linear sense but it doesn't give you any road feedback all in all it's a perfectly nice car to drive if it had more under the throttle it really doesn't it sort of doesn't answer when you get on the pedal not with anything convincing that's the main theme I take away from driving the Veloster okay the philosophers about an $18,000 ride but to get it seen that style you got to add the style package for two grand which is mostly panoramic roof an upgraded audio all the other tech comes in the tech package mm more but chapter the style pack is to get the tech package so assume you're gonna add four grand and buy this guy for about twenty-two