Automotive Reviews
Posts tagged Hyundai
2003 Hyundai Tiburon GT
Jul 21st
Into the hotly contested front-drive sports coupe market comes a new challenger. The Hyundai Tiburon’s name means “shark” in Spanish, but this review won’t contain any icthyological puns, because they’ve already been done and frankly, the 2003 Tiburon deserves better.
It’s been changed so thoroughly it skipped a year. There is no 2002 version of Hyundai’s front-drive sports coupe. Instead, the Tiburon has jumped ahead to ’03, and metamorphosed from an awkward-looking, moderately fast four-banger into a sleek, V6-powered coupe that’s more than ready to compete with the Mitsubishi Eclipse and short-timing Mercury Cougar.
The biggest reason for this is of course the 2.7 liter V6 engine under the hood. Instead of trying to compete with the ultra-high-tech four-cylinders used by Honda and Toyota, Hyundai has given the Tiburon the torque and great freeway manners of a V6 engine. The V6, which is borrowed from the Santa Fe SUV, puts out 181 horsepower and 177 foot-pounds of torque. Like most V6 engines, it provides a much more relaxed feeling around town because the engine doesn’t have to work particularly hard. The new Tiburon is noticeably less frenetic than the high-revving Acura RS-X or Toyota Celica, but it’s still eager to chirp the tires and make the steering wheel dance with torque steer. A six-speed manual transmission is also available, making the Tiburon one of the least expensive cars so equipped. The six-speed’s action can be a bit notchy at times, and the Tiburon’s V6 doesn’t always need the flexibility that the extra gears offers. Still, six-speeds are in vogue, so the Tib has to have one too. More interested in fuel economy than V6 power? The base Tiburon is available with a 2.0 liter four-cylinder that produces a resepctable 140 horsepower. Both powerplants are available with a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic transmission as well.
The Tiburon is also excellently balanced. The all-new body has a unique chassis, unlike previous Tiburons which shared underpinnings with the Elantra economy car. MacPherson struts up front and a multi-link rear form a fully independent suspension. The Tiburon’s low center of gravity also helps, and the car hugs the road with impressive tenacity. Stiffer springs on the Tiburon GT improve road feel. Low-profile 215/45 series tires on 17″ wheels are sometimes a bit rough around town–avoid the worst of your local potholes.
The new design is a home run. It resembles a chubby Ferrari from some angles, but the Tiburon won’t be mistaken for any of its competitors. To be honest, it won’t be mistaken for a Ferrari, either, but the influence is obvious from the front fender “gills” to the heavy slope of the C-pillar. If the lumpy, bumpy previous car was starched and ironed, it still wouldn’t look this good. Up front, quad round headlamps under glass covers lead the way. The door sills are high, which gives the Tiburon a low-roofed appearance, and the “gills” up front form the base of a character line which rises at the rear for a muscular, poised-to-launch look. The rear spoiler is tall and blocky, but doesn’t block vision as badly as it could. Overall, the curbside accountant will think it’s more expensive than it is.
That low roof means that visibility is sometimes compromised, especially to the sides. Otherwise, the Tiburon’s interior has been updated just as elegantly as the exterior. There’s a lot of dull, black plastic, but it doesn’t feel flimsy or cheap, and it’s accented with Audi-TT influenced brushed aluminum. The dash is cleanly executed, all in all. A CD player is standard on the Tiburon GT, as is a leather interior. The barrel-shaped shifter has a neat rubberized grip. The seats themselves are average. They’re well-bolstered enough for sporty driving, and fine for commuting, but we wouldn’t want to spend all day in them. Down below, there are cool alloy pedals.
Resemblances to expensive European sports cars aside, this is still a Hyundai, so the base price is safely under $20,000. Tiburon pricing ranges from $15,999 to $19,997. A loaded Tiburon GT features the V6 engine and leather interior, 17″ wheels, anti-lock brakes, and fog lamps and still doesn’t break $20,000. Additionally, Hyundai is still challenging the wags who knock the quality of its cars by offering a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty.
Specifications:
All specs are for the 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GT, which we tested.
Length: 173.0 in.
Width: 69.3 in.
Height: 52.3 in.
Wheelbase: 99.6 in.
Curb weight: 3023 lb.
Cargo space: 14.7 cu.ft.
Base price: $17,999
Price as tested: $18.744
Engine: 2.7 liter DOHC V6
Drivetrain: six-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Horsepower: 181 @ 6000
Torque: 177 @ 4000
Fuel capacity: 14.2 gal.
Est. mileage: 18/26
2002 Hyundai Sonata
Jul 21st
That funny-looking sedan with the peanut-shaped headlights should not be dismissed as another also-ran in the midsize sedan class. Redesigned for 2002, Hyundai’s Sonata is symbolic of Hyundai’s growing influence in the American car market.
Look around and you’ll see more and more Sonatas on the road. That’s not a surprise, considering Hyundai’s increasing annual sales, which have passed those of some Japanese manufacturers. With its prosperity on the rise, the Korean manufacturer is making plans to build a factory in the United States as well, just like those of its major Japanese rivals. This corporate power surge has been fueled in part by the Sonata. In addition to the new sheet metal, Hyundai’s bread-and-butter sedan gets a larger engine and surprise-and-delight refinements that make it a stronger competitor for more expensive cars.
Awkward at first glance, the Sonata’s new face will grow on you. The distinctive, droop-tailed styling is busier than last year’s smoothly sculpted model, with an upright grille whose blacked-out bars highlight the Hyundai logo in the center. The headlights are complex units that don’t quite bring Mercedes to mind. New ten-spoke 16″ wheels are available on pricier models. The taillights are larger, and feature an attractive, sunburst-like lensing effect. Fog lamps and hydraulic hood and trunklid lifters are now standard on all models, so the Sonata can be cheaper than the competition without necessarily feeling like it.
One thing we’ve always noticed about Hyundais is that they feel different. The interior of our test car couldn’t be mistaken for that of any other midsize sedan. Hyundai has chosen a unique upholstery cloth for the Sonata. Our test car seemed fuzzy inside, in a good way. A new dashboard uses more upscale plastics, and is the equal of any other midsize sedan. The plush seats are comfortable for shortish trips, but long-legged drivers will wish for a longer bottom cushion.
The Sonata’s drivetrain is fairly conventional. The V6 engine has been bumped in displacement, from 2.5 liters to 2.7, and it’s making 181 horsepower. The Sonata is a little bit underpowered, however, and merging into traffic is sometimes a desperate affair. Once up to speed, it’s well-behaved. A 2.4 liter four-cylinder engine is also available. Sonatas can be had with five-speed manual or four-speed automatics. The automatic even has a selectable manual shift control, just like the ones that are the thing to have in European midsize sedans these days.
Hyundai lowered the roll center of the multilink rear suspension, and added larger roll bars in the front to improve the Sonata’s ride and handling this year. The verdict: Hyundai’s Sonata is still not a particularly athletic car. Like previous Sonatas we’ve driven, the 2002 model has a comparatively squashy suspension. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially for buyers who like old American cars and want an alternative to today’s taut, road-hugging family sedans. The soft shock valving on its independent suspension allows the Sonata to wallow more than a Grand Marquis in hard turns! Will this matter anywhere but on a race track? No. Residents of areas with ill-maintained roads will in fact be thankful for the suspension float provided by a Sonata.
Apart from the floppy handling, the Sonata is easy to drive. Around town it belies its midsize rating, nipping easily in and out of traffic, and the long-looking nose isn’t a problem in parking lots.
With Hyundai, of course, it always comes down to value. Priced several thousand dollars less than a Toyota Camry or Ford Taurus, the Sonata’s giant-killer pricing requires less and less of a sacrifice each year. For 2002, the Sonata’s standard features list reads just like that of the more expensive cars: keyless entry, air conditioning, cruise control, remote trunk release and a CD player are all standard equipment. Side airbags are also standard, a feature not offered on some family-priced midsize cars. Options include an engine block heater for cold climates and a sunroof, of course.
Our test car was a Sonata GLS. With only floor mats as an option, it was equipped as nicely as the Ford Taurus we drove recently, lacking only a sunroof, and it stickered for over $2000 less, breaking the bank at $18,155.
Specifications:
All specs are for the 2002 Hyundai Sonata GLS V6, which we tested.
Length: 186.9 in.
Width: 71.7 in.
Height: 56.0 in.
Wheelbase: 106.3 in.
Curb weight: 3254 lb.
Cargo space: 14.1 cu.ft.
Base price: $17,499
Price as tested: $18,155
Engine: 2.7 liter 24-valve DOHC V6
Drivetrain: four-speed automatic, front wheel drive
Horsepower: 181 @ 6000
Torque: 177 @ 4000
Fuel capacity: 17.2 gal.
Est. mileage: 20/27
Warranty: 5 year/60,000 unlimited, 10/100,000 powertrain
2001 Hyundai Santa Fe
Jul 8th
Once upon a time, compact sport-utes were little more than four-wheel drive buckboards, thrown together with minimal attention to styling or comfort. They were the cheap workhorses of the line, intended to live hard lives and disappear quietly. When was the last time you saw a Suzuki Samurai or a Daihatsu Rocky running around town?
These days, the compact SUV has grown up into an alternative to a mid-size station wagon or even a minivan. Case in point; the 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe. Like other small utes, it’s based on a passenger car platform and is more suited to pavement than mud. It brings good road manners and distinctive styling to the bargain-basement end of the sport-ute market.
As I’ve said before, if someone says “Hyundai” and you roll your eyes, you’re out of the loop. This Korean manufacturer’s name is no longer synonymous with low-quality products. For 2001, Hyundai has strengthened its lineup of compact and midsize car and branched out in new directions, with the all-new Santa Fe SUV and XG300 near-luxury sedan. This is no half-hearted effort, either. The Santa Fe hits the streets with a long standard options list and pricing below that of the competition from Honda, Jeep or Ford.
Hyundais are becoming quirkier and quirkier looking as the years go by. The Santa Fe looks as though it was designed by a fourteen-year-old boy. And that’s not a bad thing, sometimes. The deep dips in the front fenders and hood give the little truck an unmistakable and cute, if slightly pugnacious, face. The fenders are aggressively flared front and rear, and the Santa Fe seems to be arching its back like a drenched cat. Out back, the taillights are integrated into an unusually curvy rear end and Hyundai has installed one of the best tailgate handles in the industry, a beefy, easy-to-grip unit. Overall it’s a distinctive, unconventionally sporty design that stands out in the boxy SUV crowd.
The kids have been at work inside the Santa Fe as well. If you like the way it looks outside, you’ll like the curvy, swoopy dash which curves around into the doors. It’s hard to tell if the large dip on top of the instrument panel is intended to be a coin tray or if it’s just an accident of one curve meeting another. The materials feel good under the fingers.
Pop the hood, and the Santa Fe’s engine sits low in the engine bay, to keep the center of gravity low and the little truck stable on the freeway. The shy-looking motor is also a bit symbolic, however, as the Santa Fe is a bit lacking in power. The Santa Fe can be had with four- or six-cylinder power. After driving the 181-horsepower V6 and finding it a bit lacking, it’s a sure bet that the 149-horsepower four-cylinder isn’t going to be any better. Getting up to freeway speed quickly can be a chore, or an impossible dream depending on your level of patience. The 2.7 liter V6 doesn’t lack for power on paper, but the Santa Fe is nonetheless sluggish. The four-speed automatic transmission will occasionally hunt for a lower gear on the freeway; the manual available with the four-cylinder might improve matters in this department.
It’s a good little commuter, however. Underneath the skin, the Santa Fe rides on a heavily modified version of the midsize Hyundai Sonata’s platform. Like the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V, the Santa Fe is happy to deal with heavy traffic, crowded streets, and that urban SUV specialty, the occasional clipped curb. MacPherson struts in the front and a fully independent trailing arm suspension at the rear make a compliant, almost squashy ride. Like other Hyundais, the Santa Fe is more softly sprung than the competition, contributing to a comfortable ride on the freeway but also to some unsettling body roll in emergency braking and lane change situations. The little sport-ute is stable and well-balanced; it just doesn’t always feel confident. Anti-lock brakes and traction control are available options.
Santa Fes equipped with four-wheel drive have a full-time 4WD system which splits torque 60/40 front to rear. It’s more of an on-road SUV than a bruiser for the mud pits, and the carlike ride makes that obvious. The Santa Fe will be a good friend in bad weather, but don’t expect to follow a Jeep Liberty up the side of a mountain.
The best thing of all, of course, is the price. What the Santa Fe gives up in outright passing power, it more than makes up for in value. Air conditioning, 16″ wheels, a roof rack, cruise control, a first aid kit and tinted windows are standard equipment on the Santa Fe GLS. That’s pretty impressive, considering the base price of $19,299.
Specifications:
All specs are for the 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe, which we tested.
Length: 177.2 in.
Width: 72.6 in.
Height: 65.9 in.
Wheelbase: 103.1 in.
Curb weight: 3720 lb.
Cargo space: 29.4 cu.ft. (seats up); 78.0 cu.ft. (seats folded)
Base price: $19,299
Price as tested: $19,379
Engine: 2.7 liter DOHC V6
Drivetrain: four-speed automatic, front-wheel drive
Horsepower: 181 @ 6000
Torque: 177 @ 4000
Fuel capacity: 17.2 gal.
Est. mileage: 19/23