zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Culture
/
The Standard Hyundai Veloster May Not Be Long For This World
The Standard Hyundai Veloster May Not Be Long For This World-May 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:12:23

Image for article titled The Standard Hyundai Veloster May Not Be Long For This World

Everyone loves the . For about $32,000, Hyundai’s funky hot hatch, oftentimes powder-blue, offers a relatively inexpensive ticket to driving joy. You get a 275-horsepower, 2.0-liter inline-four, a lovely sounding exhaust and delightful handling thanks to a nifty electronically controlled limited-slip differential. It’s got it all.

Less celebrated is the humble not-N Veloster, which Hyundai’s website still lists for a starting price of $18,900. In Canada, you actually can’t buy such a Veloster anymore — our friends to the north can choose only the spicier Veloster N. Which is why discovery that Hyundai is no longer offering incentives on the regular Veloster in the U.S. seems quite foreboding:

As of April 1, Hyundai is no longer offering any rebates, APR deals, or lease incentives on the standard Veloster, though there are offers on the sportier Veloster N. Instead, Hyundai is offering a special type of manufacturer incentive known as Final Pay money meant to help dealers clear the last remaining models off their lots.

To help put this into perspective, Hyundai is continuing to offer Final Pay money on the 2020 Kona, a crossover SUV that our analysis finds sold out last November. A closer look finds that regular incentives on the Veloster ended on March 31. There’s also the fact that Velosters are almost impossible to find in stock at dealers.

CarsDirect says of the “roughly 200” Velosters it found for sale across Hyundai’s nationwide inventory, many were Veloster Ns. The assumption is that the manufacturer has decided to retire the Veloster and Veloster Turbo after merely three years on sale. We’ve reached out to Hyundai to determine if that is indeed the plan, though we don’t suggest holding your breath for a confirmation.

None of this would be especially surprising. The lower-end Velosters always kind of felt like the first act of a play that wouldn’t truly get rolling until the Veloster N’s arrival. Our Justin Westbrook almost three years ago, before anyone knew how good the N would be. Reading the excerpt of his thoughts below presents a clear case for why Hyundai might be best served keeping the range-topping hatch around while ditching the others:

Driving the Veloster was pleasant, but even Hyundai stops short of calling anything under the N model sporty. It’s stylistically aggressive, but the actual performance is only a very mild heat on the current Turbo cars.

I think the problem is peak torque of 195 lb-ft kicking in at just 1,500 rpm, which Hyundai tries to sell as a positive since it gives you everything it’s got early, but it clashes with the presence of the six-speed manual. You get in thinking you’re going to enjoy revving through the gears with a nice gradual line of increasing power, or at least the feeling of it, but anything above second lacks a punch and the initial excitement of the torque quickly fades.

Those who want a sporty looking compact — though not necessarily a sporty driving one — might be happy enough choosing a Venue or Kona instead of a base Veloster or Turbo variant. But those who really want the performance of the Veloster N are likely a bit more discerning on account of the fact there aren’t many similarly-priced cars that can do what it can for sale any more in North America. We’ll be curious to see to what degree the incoming cannibalizes its sales.

A Hyundai spokesman responded to Jalopnik’s request for comment saying only that “both Veloster and Veloster N models remain available at U.S. Hyundai dealers.”

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Culture
I Can't Get Enough Of This YouTuber Who Builds Tiny, Fully Functional Scale-Model Cars
I Can't Get Enough Of This YouTuber Who Builds Tiny, Fully Functional Scale-Model Cars
I love tiny, of . I have a that is roughly half the size of a normal cat, and she’s perfect. I own a 2013 , which is like the miniature version of a normal-sized vehicle (at least here in Texas) — but beyond that, I also own a Hot...
May 12, 2025
Watch ABS Fail When MotorWeek Tests A 1997 Chevy S-10
Watch ABS Fail When MotorWeek Tests A 1997 Chevy S-10
MotorWeek’s is some of the on the internet. The long-running automotive news magazine has a treasure trove of tests after being on the air for over 40 years. Where else can you find detailed instrumented testing of long-forgotten cars like the or a ? MotorWeek’s recent Retro Review upload is...
May 12, 2025
2024 Kia EV9: What Do You Want To Know?
2024 Kia EV9: What Do You Want To Know?
At long last, we are about to get behind the wheel of for the first time. Sure, , and sure, , and sure , but hey — what can you do? Anyway, before we get behind the wheel of this three-row electric beast, we want to know what you...
May 12, 2025
I Entered My Lifted Miata In A Real Off-Road Race, Here's What Happened
I Entered My Lifted Miata In A Real Off-Road Race, Here's What Happened
I have two automotive loves: The first is the Miata, the second is off-road racing. For a while I raced air-cooled Volkswagens in the deserts of California and Nevada and I was lucky enough to co-drive in a class 11 stock bug in the Baja 1000 a few years...
May 12, 2025
Toyota Is Moving A Prewar 700-Ton Press Machine Halfway Around The World
Toyota Is Moving A Prewar 700-Ton Press Machine Halfway Around The World
closed its São Bernardo Plant in November 2023, marking the end of its first overseas production facility. The closure caps off a period of continuous car production in São Paolo, , lasting over 60 years. The plant was home to a Komatsu 700-ton press that predates itself. And now...
May 12, 2025
Subaru Had It Right All Along
Subaru Had It Right All Along
When first came to the United States, it sold small funky cars that were decidedly un-American. As the company grew its own identity and became more established in the U.S., it became the first automaker to offer an all-wheel-drive passenger car in 1975. Subaru was also an early-adopter of...
May 12, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved