A Tale of Two Special Editions
As I write this the embargo has apparently just expired because the first driving impressions of the Hyundai Veloster N have hit in a wave. The universal consensus appears to be that it drives very well in the modern, hot hatch idiom.
The closest competitor in the US market is probably the Volkswagen GTI. At the $30,000 price point it weighs slightly more than the GTI but has a significantly better power to weight ratio.
Hyundai Veloster N (Performance): 3112 lb, 275 hp = 11.3 lb/hp
Volkswagen Golf GTI (SE): 3031 lb, 220 hp = 13.8 lb/hp
Given the similar nature of these two cars I’m sure you’ll soon be able to read your pick of direct comparisons that will probably conclude along the lines of “The GTI has a nicer interior and feels more grown up, but the Veloster N is quicker and more fun.” I’d like to go in a slightly different direction and think about the Veloster N in comparison to a very different special edition performance car – the Ford Mustang Bullitt.
Ford’s approach has been to take an already retro car and add more retro by referencing a half century old movie. If you saw Bullitt as an impressionable 15 year old you’d be about 65 now, at or near your peak income earning, and maybe spending $48,000 or so on a car that makes you feel some of that again feels reasonable. You’re probably not even bothered by the car’s gunsight badge, despite living in the age of the mass shooting massacre. As for fuel efficiency, “What? You think I can’t afford to pay for gas?! I want to hear the V-8 ROAR and torch some tanks! Remember when you could fill your whole tank for $5, though? Those were the days.”
In contrast, here comes Hyundai with a car aimed right at somebody in their mid-20s, out of school for a little while and doing well enough in that first career job to buy their first new car. They can’t afford anything too opulent, what with crazy rent and those student loans, but it sure would be nice to get something fun. The N is more or less affordable, practical, and by all accounts a blast to drive. Even the signature color, that lovely baby blue, is almost calculated to offend old guys. It also gets 25 mpg combined, as opposed to 18 for the Bullitt.
These two cars feel representative of Ford and Hyundai generally. Ford is infamously ditching all of their non-SUV vehicles, save for the retro Mustang. A high performance electric vehicle, stylistically derived from the Mustang, is coming. Sometime. I like Ford. They have great heritage and my mother even worked for them. I’ve owned a Mustang. But they feel like a company looking mostly backwards, hoping the future takes as long as possible to arrive. Hyundai, in contrast, has three versions of the electrified Ionic, the Sonata Hybrid, a range of well received affordable cars like the Kona and Accent, the affordable Kona EV, even the Nexo Fuel Cell. They feel like a company looking forward, aware of how the economy has strained the finances of young people and the urgent need to decarbonize.
