Today things are going to get interesting because we are having a faceoff. Remember, the last post regarding the Honda Civic Type R, the response on the post was stellar. This time we have the Arch Rival of the Civic Type R, the Hyundai Veloster. There are various areas where the Veloster is better than the Type R and then there are areas where the Type R outperforms the Veloster. We will be discussing everything from the design to the engine and performance and the interior of the car. The Veloster is also one of the most expensive Hyundai’s on sale today in the market, so it will be interesting to see how the most expensive and the best product from Hyundai stacks up against the best product from Honda( Excluding Acura).
Design:-
The Hyundai Veloster N isn’t just a road car from Hyundai, the Veloster is involved in various races as well, so it’s the hot hatchback that’s the closest to being an actual racecar, I have seen it in person at the Auto Expo and the design is hard to put into words, I have captured some photos.
Surreal isn’t it? The N badging that you may be noticed on the car is the symbol of the Performance division of Hyundai. They are responsible for making cars like the i30 N and the Veloster N.
The front of the car as you notice is quite aggressive and subtle at the same time. It’s not overdone. When you look at the Type R, the front kind off seems overdone, but not on the Veloster. The profile from the front is pretty sleek and does the job pretty well of regulating the aerodynamics of the car. The Grill in the front is huge, reason being? To cool the engine. The Vents on the side of the main grill direct the air towards the brakes, to cool them down under harsh braking.
Moving to the rear, the best part of the rearview has to be the Triangular brake light. It looks so cool and if you notice the taillights closely, they might remind you of a supercar……Guessed it? Answer it in the comments below, let’s see how big of a car guy you are. The shark fin on the top of the car seems to be aerodynamic too. The Spoiler is not overly done, it performs its function pretty well of managing the aerodynamics of the car, thus resulting in the superb track performance of the Veloster.
Engine and Performance:-
Before discussing the Performance figure of the engine and the car, I will first let you have a glance at the engine:-
Spectacular right? One of the first things that you might have noticed on the engine is N logo and the Turbo badging, the engine may seem small to you and it is but doesn’t mistake it to be any less powerful, it’s a really good engine with punchy performance numbers. The Veloster N just like the type R is front-wheel drive and it delivers 275 Horses and 260 Pound ft. of torque from a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4 cylinder engine. Sounds impressive to me. Acceleration remains pretty much the same for the type r as well as the Veloster, 0 to 60 Mph takes 5.5 seconds and Hyundai claims that the top speed of the car is about 155 Mph but in the real world some owners of the Veloster N have claimed to have achieved speeds upwards of 160 Mph, the Type achieves around 170 Mph, pretty close. Now the main question, who wins the performance game, the Type R or the Veloster, on paper the type R outperforms the Veloster N in almost all areas. But in the real world, the Veloster n catches up to the Type R pretty quick. Now the factor for comparison is the price, the Type r costs 36,000 Dollars, the Veloster with the performance package i.e. the N package costs 29,500 Dollars, that’s a difference of 6,500 dollars!!! In my opinion, the Veloster N is worth considering if you are in the market looking for a hot hatchback. But if you are still not convinced we have another deciding factor.
Interior:-
The interior is going to be the deciding factor here, you have seen the interior of the Civic Type R, now have a look on the interior of the Veloster N:-
I will let you decide yourself but allow me to walk you through the interior of the car. The seats as you might have noticed are not the standard leather seats that you notice on other cars. They are sports seats, specifically designed and made for the Veloster N, the cool part about the seats is the N logo stitching that Hyundai allows you to have over the seats, they increase the cool factor of the car by a huge margin. The hand rest in the middle is pretty useful on long journeys. The handbrake on the Veloster N is a proper old school Handbrake, not one of your button operated electric handbrakes. The Old school feel just doesn’t stop on the handbrake, the 6-speed manual transmission has it as well, the 3 pedal layout too, it doesn’t get better than this. The steering wheel is adjustable according to the height of the driver and the controls on the steering wheel provide you the freedom to reach between various driving and performance modes available. The N button on the Steering wheel also lets you rev match. Rev match is a technique that many car enthusiasts want to learn and it’s not an easy technique to master but now you can, Hyundai is here to help you.
Conclusion:-
One thing is clear here that the Veloster N can easily stack up to the Type R, there is no doubt about it. From the beautiful design of the car to the punchy engine of the car, to the healthy performance. Also, the car seems to be an all-rounder. I want to congratulate Hyundai on making such a wonderful car, and I confident enough to say that they have defeated the Type R, not in terms of paper but the real world. The Performance and the Affordability combined make the Veloster the Hot hatch king in my eyes. I would take the Veloster N over the Type R any day. Which one will you take?? Answer in the comments below.
Also here is a beautiful shot of the Veloster N:-
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Ciao
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