irishcar.com - Hyundai Coupe review

If Hyundai’s previous Coupe sold well because it was (relatively) cheap and very cheerful, and very distinctive in an overblown sexy styling, its successor is apparently doing at least equally as well for quite different reasons.

First big change is the shape. Curves are gone and edges are in. It’s a car that instead of wanting to hug it, you feel it as a chariot to carve you through traffic. Indeed, the lines are outstanding, positive, strong and masculine.

And one wonders what that last will do to the female part of the buyer profile? Maybe in this high-powered career-equality age, it might even attract some more?

Standard features include electric heated mirrors, a Pioneer CD player, front and side airbags, and alloy wheels in 16” and 17” widths

Anyway, for me there is just one fairly serious problem with the new car. I’ll get it out of the way now, because it is peculiar to those of us taller than 6’1”. The roof comes in too low for me, because of the intrusion of the sunroof. If buying the car, I would specify it with no sunroof and then have no problems at all. And anyway, given the fact that there’s aircon as standard, no sunroof is actually needed.

After that, it is a really nice package. The rather oddball and Korean-taste instrumentation and switchgear of the previous car are all gone in favour of no nonsense and fairly well placed facilities. The dashboard - with a fairly high aspect - is a reflection of the outside of the car in its aesthetics, with lines and angles instead of soft curves

The driving position - after that tall-guy caveat - I found could be quite comfortable, and the front passenger also has plenty of room to stretch on a long Grand Tour. Any pair in the rear would need to be a little small, though, for that long trip. But do you want to do the tour with spare people? Much better to save the space for extra luggage.

(Not that there’s any shortage of luggage space where luggage should go: the deep style of the car’s body means much can be carried with ease.)

The car as reviewed had a 2-litre engine and if you want really much more power, there’s a 2.7-litre V6. The 2-litre seemed on our runs to have quite adequate power and worked with a nice smooth torque curve. The gearshift is good, pedals are well spaced. I feel this is a heavier car than its predecessor and I’m wondering how it will perform with the 1.6-litre option which is expected to be the bulk seller here. But I’ll find out one of these days.

The ride is firm, and the car runs well on decent tarmac. But it felt a little fidgety on poor surfaces (not in terms of being unsure in handling, rather not coping 100% in ride terms. But what the heck, with Irish roads, you can’t expect anything else no matter how good the car).

The new Coupe attracted a lot of attention - there’s no doubt that there’s both a happy customer base from the old one, and an appreciation by others of the new thoroughbred lines of the latest car.

And I gather from Hyundai Ireland that it is moving out of showrooms as quickly as they can get copies onto the floors. The new car is just the latest showing of a new Hyundai range which has grown up very much in a very short few years. From having a cheap image, this particular Korean manufacturer now has the street cred of any major carbuilder in the world.

Prices as I write are 22,738 euros for the 1.6, 26,658 euros for the 2-litre, and 33,007 euros for the 2.7.