Archive for August, 2015
Private Fleet Car Review: 2015 Series 2 Hyundai Veloster Turbo SR
The funky Veloster from Korean carmaker, Hyundai, has polarised opinions since its release. With a driver’s door some inches longer than the passenger door, plus the addition of a rear door for the left hand side of the hatchback styled vehicle, the unusual styling has both caught the eyes of road users and divided those into do and don’t like.
A Wheel Thing spent time with the latest iteration of the turbo Veloster SR, updated to a seven speed dual clutch automatic and clad in flat metallic paint.
It’s a compact little thing, at just 4220 mm in overall length and wouldn’t look out of place amongst a class of grade five students height wise, at 1405 mm. It’s wide, though, adding to the squat look and proportions, at 1790 mm and sits on a spacious 2650 mm wheelbase, weighing a svelte 1265 kilos. 
The SR came with the panoramic sunroof, which compromises headroom slightly, dropping it from 990 mm on the standard Veloster to 945 mm at the front with the rear getting 896 mm. As each 225/40/18 wheel and tyre is pushed out to the corners, the Veloster offers up a handy 1114 mm and 805 mm of legroom, front and rear, whilst shoulder room gives room to breathe, at 1412 mm and 1371 mm, front and rear.
Under the truncated snout lies Hyundai’s 1.6L petrol, turbocharged and direct injected powerplant, with 150 kW at 6000 revs; the important numbers, however, are these: 265 Newton metres of torque between 1750 and 4500 rpm. That’s a mesa flat delivery of a very usable amount of torque, put down to the tarmac via the new (for 2015) seven ratio dual clutch auto. 
One hopes these issues experienced: jerkiness, indecisiveness, over revving under hard acceleration and not engaging the next gear as one would expect, a slow uptake of Drive from Reverse, are limited to the test car. It simply didn’t inspire, initially, unlike the manual tested some time ago which took full advantage of the engine’s playfulness. On a slight uphill slope, there’s a measure of rollback before the transmission engages, plus there’s just a bit too much annoying creep on the brake.
On the road, the 40 profile sidewalls did nothing to add to anything resembling ride comfort; the overly taut suspension and damper settings combined to comment harshly about any ripple or speed bump, cat’s eye or ten cent piece.
Along with the underwhelming electronic steering modes (Sporting, Normal, Comfort, with Comfort over light, Normal numb and Sporting feeling….normal) the overall driving experienced was lacklustre also.
To be fair…the drive issue DID seem to clear itself after a legal, high speed, run…perhaps not so much the gearbox (to a point) but a minor fuel delivery issue? When punted hard on a particular road, with plenty of curves, a downhill run and some hard braking, the Veloster came alive, throwing out the anchors nicely, squirreling under ABS on a tightening radius turn and seeming more suited to that environment…
Gear changes felt crisper, more in tune with the rest of the car and doing what’s expected of a DCT. Using the paddle shifters also felt as if the programming recognised human input and reacted accordingly.
Hyundai quotes fuel economy for the Turbo SR as 7.1L per 100 km (combined), 9.4L and 5.5L for Urban and Highway, with a constant figure of 8.5L per 100 km being the end result from the fifty litre tank.
The interior is starting to date; there’s nary a soft plastic to be found, although there’s a colour coding situation to brighten the office (the exterior is clad in the flat metallic blue available, a snip at $1500.00….) with blue leather inserts on the sports seats (heated and vented) and highlights on the upward rising door grab handles.
There’s plenty of hints towards the name, Veloster, with both the tiller and centre stack being of a distinctive V shape.
The centre stack itself is typical Hyundai in its clear and crisp ergonomics, with a push button for Start/Stop at the bottom of the V, leading towards a crosshatch/carbon fibre look, hard plastic, on the dash, which can reflect quite badly in the windscreen. 
The plastic either side is also quite hard, with a different texture as well. Both doors are black plastic lines and have a similar, fluidic sculpture, inspired curve along the door into the dash structure. They’re unusual in that they rise vertically from the lower parts in a square shape rather than the traditional angled one line style.
The seats are comfortable, supportive, with the driver’s seat getting a mix of manual and electric adjustment.
There’s a five inch, responsive, touchscreen for audio (still no RDS), Navigation (clean and simple to read) and settings, the steerer has the appropriate tabs and buttons for audio, Bluetooth and cruise and the dash itself is simply laid out, with fuel and engine temperature gauges located neatly inside the dials for speed and engine revolutions. On the steering column are flat black plastic paddles for the transmission, a touch disappointing, to be honest. Some proper metal ones would be more appropriate.
The sound system also surprised, with FM being the band of choice, there’s a decent, punchy bottom end, not fluttery and blown out but crisp and tightly controlled, whilst separation and range were also surprising in their presence. 
Rear seat access is via the left hand rear door; yup, Veloster being Veloster, there’s no change to the quirky two and one design, door wise. The profile is still unusual enough to divide viewers, being of a (newly reprofiled grille) short bonnet and steeply raked roofline, not unlike that of a Lotus Elise. There’s a sunroof fitted to the SR Turbo, as previously mentioned, with a glass section directly overhead for the rear seat passengers plus no interior light for them either.
Body wise, the Veloster gets a sports style kit, with twin exhaust centrally mounted in the rear diffuser whilst the front gets a larger air intake and chin style extensions. Headlights sport LED driving lights underneath whilst the rear lights up like a neon factory at night. There’s a surprisingly useful amount of cargo space as well, hidden under the hunchback rear hatch and cargo cover. There’s also a Turbo specific grille.
The Wrap.The DCT in the Veloster is its weak spot; the lack of engagement between Drive and Reverse, no engagement on slight slopes which allows rollbacks once the foot is off the brake (giving cars behind a fright!), the lack of smoothness in changes….there’s an argument for money versus expectations but if Hyundai want to see how to do a DCT properly, see Audi and take a ride in their TT…
The interior is getting close to needing a refresh and could do with some different treatments for the plastics, with an ergonomic issue such as the reflective dash plastic into the windscreen really requiring attention. the ride could do with a touch of softening and a touch only, as to not reduce the rawness of what the Veloster is intended to be. However, you will get peace of mind with the five year/unlimited kilometre warranty, Roadside support and the Service plan.
As prices vary, contact your local dealer however expect to pay around $30K plus on roads. Click here: Hyundai Veloster Series 2 for info.
I’m Getting A Ticket For What???
I’m sure that the powers that be for traffic control have a quota system going. There can’t be any other explanation for it. Why else would they hand out tickets for tiny little things seemingly at random? Why else would the people who do the roadworthiness tests fail vehicles for teeny little things? Why else would the drivers’ licence testing people fail people for very, very minor issues – which may have nothing to do with the driving? You know perfectly well that on other days, there would be no problem at all.
Blame Key Performance Indicators and all that management hooey. Traffic cops, inspectors and testers have to be Seen To Be Doing Their Job, which means that they have to find something to fail or ticket to justify their jobs. I kind of understand this, as when I’m not having fun writing driving-related blogs, I work as a proofreader; picking out a missing full stop or a typo the spell-checker missed shows the client that I actually did do some work. The difference, however, is that my clients want error-free reports and research papers, so are happy to get barely noticeable typos picked up, whereas nobody wants to be ticketed or failed.
I’m sure these picky little fails and tickets have happened to you. They certainly have happened to people I know. Here’s a selection:
- The cop who ticketed an elderly woman for “driving without her seatbelt” because she had turned the engine on before putting her seatbelt on (to warm up the engine of her little old hatchback on a cold winter’s day, naturally).
- A teenager sitting their provisional licence test who failed because he didn’t stop for “long enough” at a stop sign, even though the road was quiet.
- Another teenager who turned up to the licence test in a farm vehicle that smelt of dogs and substances on the bottom of gumboots even after having a good clean out (said teenager had come into town from rural area, as this was the only place to sit the test). Squeamish townie tester decided the car wasn’t in adequate condition for the test = fail.
- The cop who gave my other half a ticket for driving too slowly while towing a heavily loaded trailer. This happened not too far away from a road packed with those billboards warning people about excess speed.
- My friend’s car failed a roadworthiness test because of a bit of stick-on window tint that was deemed to be “too dark” and obscuring the driver’s vision… although it was on a rear window more or less in the driver’s blind spot and had been applied to keep my friend’s red-haired, pale-skinned little kids out of the strong summer sunlight.
- The cop who we saw coming the other direction but, after we had gone past, decided to turn around and follow us for the next 20 or so kilometres until the other half’s attention went off the speedo for a few seconds and the Volvo crept over the speed limit. Actual quote from said cop: “You weren’t going much over the limit when I clocked you but I could tell that you were going to go faster.” What – do they fit cop cars out with crystal balls as well as speed cameras these days?
So here’s your chance to have a bit of a rant. What teeny little things did you get pulled up and fined for or failed for? Tell us about them (but please keep names and easily identified places out of it or we might be looking at lawsuits and we’d rather not have the hassle).
Safe and happy driving (hopefully without tickets),
Megan
Rapturous Relief and Dominant Drives at Snetterton
Photo Credit: BTCC.net
After what seemed like a lifetime, the BTCC returned with a meteoric bang as the series took on the famous Snetterton circuit. After a blasting into a dominant orbit in qualifying, Turkington and Team BMR translated their Saturday sucesss into a succulent Sunday points haul with two impressive wins. The other big story of the weekend had to be the elation for Goff, who scored his first BTCC win in the final race of the day. While all this was happening, in a truly shocking turn of events Honda were racking up an impressive selection of DNFs…
Race day could not have gotten off to a better start for the BMR boys, who mirrored their impressive qualifying effort into another 1-2-3 in the first race. Like a true champion, Turkington shot into a lead he would never lose. And while chaos reigned in the second race (more on that momentarily) and even with full success ballast on the car, Colin once more blew the field away with a supreme drive from lights to flag. Even in the famously unpredictable reverse grid final race, Turkington brought the BMR VW home in a respectable 7th place. There was no doubt that Colin Turkington was happy with his weekend:
“I needed a performance like that as I was beginning to feel a little left out! There’s been a lot of rivalry between me and Jason [Plato] since day one, and he’s had a little bit of an advantage until now, but I’ve pretty much cracked it.”
The move from RWD to FWD was never going to be an easy one, but as the man himself says, he appears to have cracked it. In a similar fashion to last year, Turkington has made his title intentions clear once again. It is very rare that a driver can have a faultless weekend, but Colin may have just managed it. Even Jason Plato, who has now taken to a cooling bathe in a paddling pool after each race had a pretty solid weekend, with a 3rd, 4th and 2nd, putting him atop the drivers standings heading into the next race at Knockhill:
“It’s been a great weekend – we were ten points behind coming into the weekend and now we’re leaving 16 ahead. An engineer would say that’s a delta of 26 – which means it’s been a very good weekend! I can’t remember a time when a team has scored a 1-2-3 in qualifying and then backed it up with a 1-2-3 in the race too”
BMR reigned supreme throughout the weekend. Photo credit: BTCC.net
The final race of the day also saw that elusive first win for the ever-plucky Jack Goff in the MG. Having secured the reverse grid pole, Goff got the dream start which propelled him into a lead he would never lose. That is not to say that Jason Plato let him have it easily. The final few laps saw Goff’s lead reduce from 2 seconds to only 0.3 seconds. A gallant effort by Plato, albeit not enough to topple the MG. Ever since his epic battle with Gordon Shedden at the final race at Brands Hatch a few years ago, Goff had been tipped as the next big thing. However, some of his performances seem to lack that ‘go hard or go home’ attitude needed to win a BTCC race. Until his win, Goff had only achieved a single podium at the first race weekend of the year. With his first win under his belt, chances are some primal urge has been unleashed and we will be seeing a great many more victory celebrations from Goff. After his highly popular win, the future should be bright for Jack! He seems to agree anyway:
“I made my best start of the year, and what a time to do it! That’s the strongest the car has felt all season, and it was a great race. I could see Jason [Plato] in my mirrors and was thinking ‘of all the people to have behind me, it would be him!’ Hopefully, the results will come in like London buses now!”
An impressive weekend for both Morgan and Priaulx at Snetterton! Photo Credit: BTCC.net
Two drivers that solidly impressed throughout the weekend were Mercedes driver Adam Morgan and WSR man Priaulx. Race two saw a wonderful battle between Priaulx and Morgan. Priaulx may indeed have had the faster car, but Morgan’s defensive drive was truly astonishing, holding on for an eventual 2nd place. Morgan has worked hard to get to where he is, and within the next year or two he will be topping the timing sheets and even the title table. A dark ginger horse he really is! A truly talented driver with the skills for greatness!
In fact, 2nd through 5th places were separated by less than half a second on the line. With two third places and a fifth, Priaulx has set his sights on more than just race wins:
“It’s been a brilliant weekend – to score two podiums at a track that we know isn’t one of our best is really positive. Let’s keep this momentum going now and start focusing on that championship.”
Upon his return to the championship, many (even Andy) thought it would take him a while to readjust to the unique demands of the BTCC. But from his results so far this season, Priaulx has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt exactly why he is a world champion of touring cars. There is even talk of him taking part in the Rockingham, which was he was originally meant to miss due to other racing commitments. This new information is proof that Priaulx has his eye on more than just a return this year; this is a man that wants a BTCC title. With some BMW friendly tracks on the horizon too, he may well be fighting for the championship!
A weekend to be forgotten for Honda Yuasa Racing… Photo Credit: BTCC.net
The weekend held successes for many, but for many race day was less than satisfactory. One of the biggest losers was Collard who was taken out by his own team mate Tordoff (awkward) in race one, before spinning out in race two. As great as his comeback was in race three, Collard did attract some criticism after spinning Hunter Abbott out the way. A great driver he may be, but in the last few years Collard has developed too many dirty tactics and much respect for him has been lost!
But none lost out more than Honda, who suffered one of their worst race weekends in recent history. Following a disastrous qualifying for Shedden after ‘power steering issues’, Flash went on finish the first race 14th and get taken out of the second race (by his own team mate none the less). In Neal’s defence, when you go 4-wide into a corner, who you end up knocking into is often out of your control. Shedden’s luck went from bad to worse in the final race where it looked like his car had not recovered from the race two incident. His only shred of comfort came when he was let back out the pit towards the end of the race and set the fastest lap. All clouds have a silver lining, or something like that I guess!
“I don’t really know what to say. I don’t think I’ve ever had a weekend where I’ve had so much bad luck. It is what it is, we’ve got to move on and make the best of the next one now”
The returning Fords at first made no impact on the top end of the field, until Jackson reminded us all why he is a touring car driver. After a stonking drive through the grid, Jackson brought the Ford home to an eventual 6th in the final race of the day. Moving forward to Knockhill, the drivers standings are getting ever more interesting:
| 1 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | 230 |
| 2 | Colin Turkington | Team BMR | 214 |
| 3 | Gordon Shedden | Honda Yuasa Racing | 198 |
| 4 | Sam Tordoff | Team JCT600 with GardX | 191 |
| 5 | Andrew Jordan | MG Triple Eight Racing | 189 |
| 6 | Matt Neal | Honda Yuasa Racing | 188 |
| 7 | Andy Priaulx | Team IHG Rewards Club | 168 |
| 8 | Jack Goff | MG Triple Eight Racing | 162 |
| 9 | Adam Morgan | WIX Racing | 157 |
| 10 | Rob Collard | Team JCT600 with GardX | 133 |
The top 6 all have a fighting chance at the top spot the way it currently stands. Most of all, I am impressed with Tordoff who has kept his head down and out the spotlight yet still managed to keep himself firmly in contention. It may be an outside chance, but we could see Tordoff topping the table if the BMWs come good once again. But at the end of the day, there is no taking it away from Plato and Turkington, who with the help of BMR have taken a firm stranglehold on the series. If anything their rivalry spurs them on more than ever, which may well make them uncatchable.
How will Knockhill change proceedings? Will Aron Smith finally make his mark on the championship or will his bad luck continue? Can Palmer capitalise on his first ever points finish for Support Our Paras? Can Power Maxed have a repeat of their Donington performance or was it just a one off? Can anyone toppled the mighty Team BMR team?
Let me know your thoughts!
Twitter: @lewisglynn69
Keep Driving People!
Peace and Love!
Private Fleet Car Review: 2015 Hyundai i30 diesel series 2
Hyundai is on a roll, with new or updated models being released for the Australian market. A Wheel Thing was part of the dealership launch of the Hyundai Tucson range in July of 2015 and kicks off a Hyundai Triple Treat with the updated diesel i30 Active hatch, with seven speed dual clutch auto.
The heart of the test car is a relatively quiet 1.6L diesel, with a thumping 300 Newton metres of torque, on tap between 1750 to 2500 rpms, powering down to the road via a seven speed, dual clutch, auto. Peak power is a reasonable, for the size, 100 kW at a high 4000 rpm. The combination works well, efficiently, but isn’t without foibles.
First gear can take a touch longer than expected to engage, from a standing start, leaving the i30 stranded and there’s also a curious lurching sensation at standstill, as the torque on idle appears to semi engage the transmission and wishes to push the car into motion.
Under hard acceleration, it’s surprisingly thrashy and seems to not be as seat of the pants quick as normal driving has it.
Otherwise, it’s a fine combination, with that wonderfully seamless sensation of acceleration and almost imperceptible gear changes. There’s torque enough to cause both a wheel chirp and a minor measure of torque steer as well when the go pedal is punched hard off the line, which is easily controlled. Fuel economy is quoted as being 4.6L to 4.9L per 100, depending on Manual or Auto, for the Combined cycle, just 4.1L to 4.3L per 100 km on the highway and an impressive 5.7L to 5.9L per 100 km in an urban environment (Hyundai i30 specifications.)
Speaking of steering, Hyundai persists with its three electronically assisted steering modes, being Comfort, Normal and Sport. The system loads up the feel in Sport, excessively by feeling too heavy, in A Wheel Thing’s opinion, somewhat less so in Normal and oddly, Comfort ended up being the ratio that felt most natural in the way the steering felt connected to the front wheels. 
Normal and Sport artificially eliminated the feel expected through the tiller, leaving A Wheel Thing disassociated from the driving experience and a touch uncomfortably so.
Ride quality of the car provided was skewed towards comfort, with a softish ride, some understeer and with shopping centre carpark speedbumps noticeable but not excessively intrusive, as in there’s no sudden hard jolt. With relatively high profile tyres, 205/55 on 16 inch steel wheels, the Active hangs on quite well however the tyres will allow a measure of understeer in certain driving circumstances; you can feel the sidewalls feeling like they’re rolling in and under slightly, flexing enough so the footprint isn’t holding on.
Steering, as mentioned earlier, was decent enough with Comfort, and whilst the other two may have their fans of the three mode system, A Wheel Thing isn’t one of them.
It’s not the heaviest thing around either, with Hyundai quoting 1337 kilos to 1439 kilos for the automatics in the range
There’s been a subtle yet noticeable makeover for the front, with the grille being redesigned to show flatter slats and a subtle reshaping of the housing itself. The rear continues much as it has done from the previous model, with an interesting note being how much the latest (2016 spec) Corolla hatch tail lights look like the i30’s…
In profile, the pedestrian friendly slope of the bonnet and windscreen is noticeable, as is the sinuous wave of the sheetmetal joining the wheelarches. Driving lights are non LED equipped in the Active.
It’s a compact car to the eye, at just 4300 mm in total length, whilst packing a 2650 mm wheelbase. Height is low, at 1470 mm with width being a surprising 1780 mm.
On the inside it’s an intriguing mix of curves, relatively soft touch plastic and an oddity or two. From the driver’s (manually operated) pew, looking at the passenger side sees an embossed line in the plastic, making the join between the door and the dash look as if it’s one continuous curve, 
rather than the flat line it is. The door handles feel as if they’re an inch or two too far back for naturally opening without looking for them, plus there’s no sense of pressure as you pool, feeling as if it’s a string to open the doors, rather than a latch mechanism..
Also, the gear selector lever for manual selection requires the lever to be pushed away from, not to, the driver’s position. All seats in the Active diesel are cloth and the three level range all get cooling for the glovebox. All doors get moulded in holders for drink bottles as well but another oddity is the one touch Down only for the driver’s window, not one touch up as well..It’s roomy enough, that’s to that near 1.8m width.
The office space is comfortable and pleasant to look at; the dash houses two cobalt blue backlit dials that bracket an hourglass shaped, monochrome, display screen. 
There’s fuel and temperature (engine and outside) the gear of the transmission and average speed, amongst others. The controls for the cruise control, audio and Bluetooth phone connection on the steerer and clear and simple, as are the ones for the audio and aircon.
There’s a small smartphone screen (five inches) sized touchscreen, with Hyundai persisting in not including RDS.
If there’s a downside, it’s the tactile feel and the somewhat meh look of the plastics used for the buttons themselves. Another question mark is the lack of Auto on for the headlights.
Access to the rear cargo space is done via a soft tab release in the hatch door (just below the hidden rear camera) or via the folding (60/40 split) rear seats, which gives a range of capacity, from 378 to 1316 litres of storage. All cars in the range get a full sized spare.
Safety is high across the board, with a knee airbag for the driver, curtain airbags, a full suite of active electronic safety aids, pretensioning seat belts and ISOFIX for child seats.
Hyundai offer a five year, unlimited kilometre warranty plus a free service at 1500 kilometres. There’s also a Lifetime Service Plan and Roadside Assistance service available as well (Hyundai Roadside Assistance) Metallic paint is a $495 option and Hyundai offers a choice of three Accessories packs. At a starting price for the Active diesel of around $30K, it’s a bit pricier than expected, however, at the time of writing (August 2015) Hyundai Australia are doing a $19990 driveaway offer for the 1.8L petrol i30 Active with a manual transmission. Check with your local Hyundai dealer for pricing and offers.
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