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2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo Quick Spin Review | Now with actual 'velo'!

Hyundai finally seems to be figuring out driving dynamics. You know, suspensions that don't become flummoxed after hitting a mid-corner heave. Steering that does more than simply exist. A general driving experience that you may actually remember. Indeed, I'm going to remember the 2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo, the latest Hyundai group car to demonstrate newfound dynamic talents. Fully redesigned, it picks up its predecessor's funky mantle, bringing over its unique three-door count and unusual hatchback rear, but actually satisfies the "velo" bit of its name. The old car was a dud, this one is not. Well, at least in Turbo guise, as no amount of chassis improvements can make the base 147-horsepower version go anywhere with immediacy. The Turbo packs Hyundai's 1.6-liter four-cylinder with 201 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque. That's pretty much equal to the Honda Civic Si Coupe, as is its curb weight of 2,899 pounds. Though it doesn't sing the same melodically mechanical song as the Honda's, the Veloster's turbo four-cylinder nevertheless delivers a satisfying punch. It responds and feels like it belongs in a vehicle with sporting intentions. On a mountain road, the new Veloster is capable, poised and legitimately fun. When completing my local mountain road evaluation route, I was compelled to turn around and run it again — the usual indication of a dynamic job well-done. This handling boon also doesn't come at the expense of ride quality. Sure, it's on the firm side, but it's also not crashy or tiresome relative other sporty compact cars. I'd be curious to try it with the Veloster Turbo R-Spec's manual transmission, though, as the regular Turbo's seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual lacks the precision and smarts of VW's DSG and other such transmissions. In Smart or Sport mode, it's not quick enough to respond to throttle or braking inputs, let alone anticipate the need for them. In manual mode, the engine oddly hangs onto revs when upshifting. The tachometer drops down to a lower rev count, but the engine continues to sing for a split-second. It's unusual. Though this transmission performed well enough in a compact crossover like the Kona, a wannabe hot hatch like the Veloster might be asking too much. That, however, is not why the Veloster ultimately left me cold. While it excels on a mountain road, it is merely OK everywhere else. It just isn't alive and involving enough to make mundane drives a joy — much as a Civic Si or VW GTI can.

Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla battery degradation graphed, Hyundai plans fuel cell hub in Korea

A man has created a graph of Tesla Model S battery degradation over time. Merijn Coumans of Holland is tracking the owner data gathered on from Model S owners in a single file and graphing it visually. Coumans continually updates the graph of drivers' maximum ranges to give a look at battery degradation over the life of the car. Coumans tracks mileage and even number of visits to Superchargers in his data. Tesla provides an eight-year battery guarantee regardless of mileage. Read more at the Steinbuch blog. US plug-in vehicle sales are expected to surpass 300,000 when the data is tallied at the end of this month. That is 30 percent of President Obama's goal of 1 million battery electric cars and plug-in hybrids by the end of 2015. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz admitted the US won't reach the goal, saying, "We're going to be a few years after the president's aspirational goal of the end of 2015, but I think that we are within a few years of reaching that goal." Green car analyst Alan Baum projects the 1 million EV milestone will be met in 2018. Read more at Hybrid Cars. Hyundai and the South Korean government plan to create a hub for fuel cell technologies. Hyundai and Kia will give up unused patents to automotive startups focused on fuel cells at a recently launched innovation center in Gwangju. "Hyundai Motor will offer substantial assistance in the whole process of corporate growth ranging from the development of ideas to industrialization to making inroads into global markets," says South Korea's President Park Geun-hye. Hyundai hopes this will make the city a center for hydrogen technology. Read more at Just Auto. Mayor Boris Johnson has approved a cycling superhighway for the city of London. Set to be built along the Thames embankment, the system of cycling lanes could help encourage more people to ride their bikes, reducing automotive traffic congestion and relieving pressure on other transit networks. Opponents are upset that the cycling highway will increase driving time across the city, and call cyclists a "loud minority," whose numbers doesn't justify the new lanes. Read more at Treehugger. Kansas and Nebraska are joining the challenge against the EPA's new ethanol emissions rules. The EPA's Moves2014 regulations seek to reduce automotive sulfur emissions by 60 percent, but, says Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, the ethanol emissions measurement model is faulty and was adopted without public comment or review.

EPA says it will more closely monitor fuel economy claims from automakers

The unintended acceleration brouhaha at Toyota led to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration tightening the vise on recall procedures. Likewise, the fuel economy kerfuffle that blew up with Hyundai and Kia's admission of overstated fuel mileage claims could lead to the Environmental Protection Agency policing automaker assertions by performing more audits.
At least, that's what a senior engineer with the government agency said while in Michigan giving a talk, according to a report in Automotive News. What that actually means, however, is still in question. Just ten to 15 percent of new vehicles - something like 150 to 200 cars per year - are rested by the EPA to verify automaker numbers. The EPA's own tests include a "fudge factor" to adjust lab mileage for real-world mileage, and the agency still relies on automakers to submit data for tests that it doesn't have the facilities to perform. How much more auditing can the EPA really expect to do, or perhaps a more relevant question would be how much more accurate could the EPA's audits become?
The price of gasoline, the psychological importance of 40 miles per gallon to a frugal car buyer, an automaker wanting to further justify the price premium of a hybrid, all of these things contribute to fuel economy numbers that insist on creeping upward. Perhaps the senior engineer encapsulated the whole situation best when he said, "Everybody wants a label that tells you exactly what you're going to get, but obviously that's not possible. A good general rule of thumb is that real-world fuel economy is about 20 percent lower than the lab numbers." If the lesson isn't exactly 'buyer beware,' it's at least 'buyer be wary.'