Road & Track Magazine awards the Veloster Car Of The Year

[Joecooool]

Actually "Performance Car of the Year"

It beat out a Lamborghini, Lotus, Porsche, Corvette, Supra, McLaren, GTR, and several others.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-comparis...

One of the authors stated on Reddit that "the whole point of PCOTY is for us to pick the car we think best represents the direction we want the industry to go. In this case, affordable, light, fast, fun, manual gearboxes, and with technology that serves engagement over outright speed." While that may be the direction they want to go, it surely is a very poor way to determine what the "performance" car of the year is. If your top criteria are price and a manual, a base Corolla would win over a Ferrari.

Edited by Joecooool on Tuesday 5th November 17:08

[FA57REN]

Joecooool said:

By that metric a base Corolla would win over a Ferrari.

Is a Corolla grinningly engaging to drive at 9/10ths down twisty roads? Of course not.

Here's the summary from the article ( which everyone should take 20 mins to read ):

"The new definition of performance isn’t what a car can do, but what it will do on a good road."

I wouldn't say that's a new definition, as hot hatches have been demolishing overpowered supercars on B-roads for decades, but I agree entirely.

Hyundai have completely changed my outlook with the i30N / Veloster. Next car might not be from Dieppe... at least not without test-drive comparisons.

Edited by FA57REN on Tuesday 5th November 16:33

[sidekickdmr]

Hyundai dont currently sell the Veloster, so all that, and you cant actually buy one

[unsprung]

This feature of Road & Track has become a tour de force on the calendar of motoring journalism.

On their most recent choice, the Veloster N, I give them credit for voting on principle among an astonishing range of candidates, some with extraordinary power and chassis dynamics. They are aware that you may disagree with their choice, and they invest considerably in both self deprecation and logical argument.

It must also be said that the on-road portions of the testing, as well as the journey to and from the track location, are a treat for the eye. The article linked above has some lovely photos.

[anonymous-user]

Sounds like a deliberate "shock" vote to me.

If i were buying a performance car, and the choice was between a Lotus (2 seat, low CofG, mid engined, V6, world beating handling and world class feel and driver engagement) and a mid sized fwd hatch back, i certainly wouldn't choose the hatchback....

(yes, a Veloster is a fun car, for a mid sized, road biased, 5 seater hatch back, but it's nowhere near the lotus in terms of driving pleasure and engagement at any speed......) It's like BMW claiming an M3 is the "Ultimate driving machine" and yet it being a huge, wide, heavy, soft hector of a car by comparison to say, oh, i don't know, a lotus elise...... :-) )

[FA57REN]

Max_Torque said:

If i were buying a performance car, and the choice was between a Lotus (2 seat, low CofG, mid engined, V6, world beating handling and world class feel and driver engagement) and a mid sized fwd hatch back, i certainly wouldn't choose the hatchback....

You might, but as the reviewers said the Evora is a stunning performance car from ... a previous era. It needs a one-percentile driver to wring the potential out of it.

Whereas the Hyundai is much more accessible, a car for the twentieth-percentile and that's a much harder development task. I'm looking forward to trying one, I'm pretty sure I'd be faster point to point in it than if I were to drive a lotus simply because I'm not a good enough driver.

Edited by FA57REN on Tuesday 5th November 17:54

[Green1man]

It does seem a bit strange given this is essentially an i30N. The i30N it seems is a great car and did pretty well in end of year reviews but it failed to scale these heights.

The Autocar review of of Veloster N is good but short of a five star world beating recommendation
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/hyundai/velos...

[CABC]

FA57REN said:

Max_Torque said:

If i were buying a performance car, and the choice was between a Lotus (2 seat, low CofG, mid engined, V6, world beating handling and world class feel and driver engagement) and a mid sized fwd hatch back, i certainly wouldn't choose the hatchback....

You might, but as the reviewers said the Evora is a stunning performance car from ... a previous era. It needs a one-percentile driver to wring the potential out of it.

Whereas the Hyundai is much more accessible, a car for the twentieth-percentile and that's a much harder development task. I'm looking forward to trying one, I'm pretty sure I'd be faster point to point in it than if I were to drive a lotus simply because I'm not a good enough driver.

Edited by FA57REN on Tuesday 5th November 17:54

they also said the Lotus would not punish the less capable driver either.

Anyway, the Lotus along with the other Brit, the 600LT, made it to the shortlist leaving the Huracan Evo, Supra, M2 and GTR behind. clearly we all need to get out to test drive a Hyundai! Brits will have to fly somewhere.

I like the approach of R&T to this test, and here's an ending paragraph:
"For all their bluster and power, their lap times and displacement, most of the carmakers at this test made a deal with the devil—they traded what once made them great in the search for outright speed. Never has the disparity been greater between the capabilities of a modern fast car and what is legally possible. The new definition of performance isn’t what a car can do, but what it will do on a good road."

[anonymous-user]

FA57REN said:

Max_Torque said:

If i were buying a performance car, and the choice was between a Lotus (2 seat, low CofG, mid engined, V6, world beating handling and world class feel and driver engagement) and a mid sized fwd hatch back, i certainly wouldn't choose the hatchback....

You might, but as the reviewers said the Evora is a stunning performance car from ... a previous era. It needs a one-percentile driver to wring the potential out of it.

If we are talking about ultimate lap times then yes. But we are not. A lotus with a 20th percential driver will be both quicker round any circuit than a Veloster with a 20th percenter pedalling (due to having a power to weight ratio about twice that of the hatch!), but crucially, for any driver, 0 to 100 percentile the lotus will provide a better (more honest, more immersive, greater tactility, feedback and balance) driver experience at ANY speed by simple nature of it's physics (low mass, low CofG, better mass distribution)

[AER]

Come over to the dark side Max! You know you want to!

[TheDrBrian]

Max_Torque said:

Sounds like a deliberate "shock" vote to me.

If i were buying a performance car, and the choice was between a Lotus (2 seat, low CofG, mid engined, V6, world beating handling and world class feel and driver engagement) and a mid sized fwd hatch back, i certainly wouldn't choose the hatchback....

(yes, a Veloster is a fun car, for a mid sized, road biased, 5 seater hatch back, but it's nowhere near the lotus in terms of driving pleasure and engagement at any speed......) It's like BMW claiming an M3 is the "Ultimate driving machine" and yet it being a huge, wide, heavy, soft hector of a car by comparison to say, oh, i don't know, a lotus elise...... :-) )

It's also FWD and weighs more than a ton.

The MX-5 on the other hand.........

[Truckosaurus]

Also, the Septics don't have the history with hot hatches that we do, so I suspect such cars seem as a novelty to them as their muscle cars do to us.

Similarly, I notice Hyundai are doing the 'N' only as the wacky Veloster stateside rather than the i30/Elantra so they can't think there is a market for a traditional hot hatch there. (And as someone has said above, they've given up selling the Veloster in any form in the UK).

[auyt]

“The new definition of performance isn’t what a car can do, but what it will do on a good road."
I am stunned on just how good an Evora 400 is on a bad condition road.

And a friend just bought a i30N .... I won’t hear the end of it after this test.

[s m]

Green1man said:

It does seem a bit strange given this is essentially an i30N. The i30N it seems is a great car and did pretty well in end of year reviews but it failed to scale these heights.

The Autocar review of of Veloster N is good but short of a five star world beating recommendation
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/hyundai/velos...

Yes, all will depend on the criteria as well
Having room for 4 people would be the making of a car with greater useability than a low slung 2-seater that can’t negotiate a bumpy, rutted B-road. Your super car doesn’t seem quite so super then........

Edited by s m on Friday 8th November 22:45