[MUSIC PLAYING]
CARLOS LAGO: This is Hyundai's first serious attempt
at a performance front-wheel drive car.
It's called the Veloster N. That letter signifies
the performance division at Hyundai,
but also the track behind me, the Nordschleife
at the Nurburgring.
We're going to hop in and take it for a spin.
We're off in the Veloster N on the Nordschleife.
This is my first time here and my first time driving this car.
So I'm going to be trying to taking it
all in through this drive.
We've got 275 horsepower.
It's the optional performance package in this car.
That also means we've got bigger wheels, stickier tires, more
durable brakes, limited slip differential, and a couple
of other features, too.
I hope I can remember while driving this track.
We are in a lead-follow situation.
And I am the last car in the line because I'm
talking to the cameras.
Initially, power feels strong.
As I come off the gas I hear two pops from the exhaust, which
sounds really nice always.
This car has a variable exhaust system in it.
You can choose the level of aggression of the exhaust.
It sounds like a traditional two-liter turbo-4.
I like the pops from the exhaust.
They're fake, but they are kind of fun.
I mean, hey, if we don't mind them being fake on an F-type,
why not with the Hyundai Veloster?
I have shift lights in front of me, which is a nice feature.
Right beneath the 12 o'clock on the steering wheel.
That's a helpful thing.
I don't have to look at the tach.
I can just glance down and know when
I need to shift when I see red.
The nice thing is this engine is pretty
vocal at high revolutions and high engine speed.
That's something that other front-drive sports
cars, specifically the Civic SI and the type R
have an issue with.
They're really quiet when you approach red line.
And for that reason, you often end up
running into the rev limiter instead of
knowing when to shift.
I feel like a shift indicator of some kind--
I believe, actually, they have it.
But it's not as obvious as it is in here.
And that's probably due mostly to the sound.
And we're coming up to the carousel,
a pretty infamous part of the track.
I'm still in third gear.
Thought I was in fourth.
This is really bumpy.
Captain Obvious reporting for duty.
Flat out of there.
We have stability control and it's sport mode.
It's not disabled.
You can fully disable it.
And there is a little break actuation, too.
Some of that brake actuated semi-torque vectoring
that is happening.
I can't really sense it right now.
Again, unfamiliar familiar road, new car, all that stuff.
And that will always be enabled, even if you
disable stability control.
But chief engineer tells me that it's
meant to help overall with performance and stability,
less so for safety.
Especially when you have the stability control disabled.
We also have electronically controlled
dampers set to their most aggressive setting right now.
That's why I'm doing a lot of these vertical movements.
Because this is a pretty bumpy road course as legend
goes, and as I'm experiencing right now.
But as we're cresting 100 miles an hour right now,
stability is generally strong.
This is pretty nice, I got to say.
Initial steering response feels very nice.
A lot of turn in, a lot of turn in, which feels really good.
A lot of grip on these tires.
The optional tire is a Pirelli P Zero Corsa, I believe--
P Zero, for sure.
It's been developed by Hyundai specifically
for this application, and it does
feel pretty nice and strong.
As I mentioned earlier, this optional performance package
comes with a limited slip differential.
It's ensuring that you get appropriate power delivery
coming out of a corner.
You don't promote too much under-steer.
You don't get a lot of torque steer either.
And that's its job.
So far it feels pretty good at that.
Seat bolsters feel good.
It's a standard seat, cloth material.
Doing a fine job holding me in position.
A lot of stability in this car.
A lot of movement in a way that's communicative and really
enjoyable.
But a lot of overall stability.
And what returns out of that is a ton of confidence.
We're moving on a legendary track going
at nothing like the fastest speeds out there,
but a decent clip, at a speed I'd
probably not be approaching if I were
doing this solo without a lead-follow situation.
But this is a huge improvement over the original Veloster.
I had a lot of problems with that car.
Because it seemed to want to be a hot-hatch,
but didn't want to do all the hot-hatch things.
So right now I'm just enjoying the car.
I've got to say this feels really
strong for Hyundai's first front-drive performance car.
It's precise, giving me decent feedback
through the whole chassis.
A lot of accuracy in the front end of this thing.
This would probably be a lot of fun on a mountain road.
And even on some drop throttle there's
a light amount of rotation, not a drift, not a slide.
Just a little bit of-- coaxes the front end
to turn a little bit more.
It feels really nice.
Oh, and now we're starting lap two.
So lap two at the Nordschleife with the Hyundai Veloster N.
I've been pretty impressed with how this car's been performing
so far.
Automatic rev matching is really accurate.
It's helpful as I'm trying to learn where I'm going
and keep pace with the cars in front of me.
I can execute a full throttle gear change
without the engine just letting the motor hang.
Nice throws on the shifter.
It's not the cleanest in the world, but it does feel good.
The traction in the front end is really high.
And as I'm applying power and coming through the corner
I'm really enjoying how the tires and the differential
help me pull through.
It feels really nice.
I can hear the engine as it gets to red line that's important,
especially with today's modern small displacement turbocharged
cars where you can't really hear them as they approach,
you know, 7000 RPM.
But you can really cook through this last section.
I'm surprised how fast this is.
Let's get moving.
110, 115, 120, 130, 135.
Can we get 140?
138 indicated.
And that's been a first session in the Hyundai Veloster N.
Really impressive, I got to say.
I really enjoy the power delivery.
I enjoy the steering.
I enjoy the rev matching.
I enjoy the overall handling.
It is very firm on this track, but this is a rough track.
So for a first impression, well done.
Well done.
If this is an indicator of what the N brand, what
Hyundai's performance brand, is going
to do for itself in the future, we
have a lot of really nice things to look forward to.
If you like what you saw keep it tuned right here.
And be sure to visit edmunds.com.
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