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2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo: February 2013

I just couldn't bring myself to lead this post with the image you see on the right. The winter months have not been kind to our matte gray 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo, and since you can't just run the thing through your local car wash, our oddly shaped little hatchback has spent more days dirty than clean. It breaks my fleet manager heart to see one of our test cars covered in schmutz so frequently, but let's be honest - the last thing anyone wants to do when it's 12 degrees Fahrenheit outside is play with a hose and spend a good amount of time hand-washing a car.
Moral of the story: If you live in a cold-weather state where you expect to get regular doses of the white stuff, matte paint probably isn't for you. Not to worry, though, as the Veloster Turbo is offered in plenty of pretty, car wash-friendly colors.
We'll have a lot more to talk about regarding the Veloster's cleanability in forthcoming updates, and we're even planning a trip to the Dr. Beasley's office - the company that created the special matte paint detailing kit for the Hyundai - to have their experts show us how it's done. For now, let's spend some time talking about what we've learned about the turbocharged hatch during its honeymoon phase here in the Autoblog Garage.

Hyundai, Porsche top J.D. Power APEAL study

Just as they did in the Initial Quality Study, Porsche and Hyundai have taken the premium and non-premium crown, respectively, for the 2014 J.D. Power APEAL study. This is the tenth consecutive year for that Porsche has been rated the best premium make in the APEAL study, which attempts to figure out how pleased owners are with their purchases. For 2014, it asked 86,000 owners of MY2014 cars to rate their vehicles in 77 different categories 90 days after their initial purchase. The resulting figures were plugged in deliver the APEAL score, which is rated on a 1,000-point scale.
The industry average sits at 794 points for 2014, although that's a one-percent decline over last year's rating. In this year's study, premium brands averaged 840 out of 1,000, while non-premium makes average 785. For their part, Porsche netted an impressive 882 points, while Hyundai earned an 804. Interestingly, only four non-premium brands (Hyundai, Ram, Volkswagen and Mini) finished above the industry average for 2014.
It's also interesting to see the clear delineation between premium and non-premium brands, with an eight-point gap between the non-premium champ, Hyundai, and the lowest-rated premium brand, Volvo.

Facelifted Genesis G70 spied in new photos

The updated Genesis G70 was spotted testing on the road in Europe, and spy photos shared with Autoblog depict a prototype wearing significant camouflage that could be hiding some big updates to Hyundai's luxurious newcomer.  Mid-cycle refreshes are often nip-and-tuck affairs, but the extent of the coverings on this prototype suggest that Genesis has more in store for its compact luxury sedan than a fresh set of LEDs and some delicately re-drawn bumpers.  According to our spies, there may even be revisions to the materials used in the unibody and exterior panels to reduce weight and improve both efficiency and performance. The sedan's manual transmission is expected to live on for at least another model year, but whether it will carry over to the face-lifted model remains to be seen.  While both the head- and taillights on this prototype do appear to be new, we expect the G70's list of updates to be far more comprehensive, including updated powertrains and chassis updates. One of Hyundai's latest generation of turbocharged four-cylinders making at least 290 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque is even rumored to be making an appearance. Currently, the four-cylinder engine in the G70 makes 252 hp and 260 lb-ft. Based on Hyundai's estimates for the Sonata N-Line, the G70 could be getting a boost of nearly 40 horsepower and 50 pound-feet of torque. Those numbers might be conservative, as the G70's rear-wheel drive platform will take more readily to extra power than the Sonata's front-wheel drive setup. Increased power from the turbo four would make the 365-horsepower, twin-turbo 3.3L V6 less of an upgrade, but we suspect Hyundai will massage the 6's output to keep the natural order of things intact.  Related Video: