2019 Hyundai Veloster R-Spec (danger, words)

bobzilla said:

Ozzy said:

I gave the R-Spec some serious thought assuming it would be an HS car for SCCA autocross since it's performance specs mirror the Fiesta ST.  Once I found out it will be in a different class I kind of threw it out of my "too buy" cars.  Darn-it if it doesn't keep coming up in my mind.  Is it a good driver's car?  It's suppose to be a fun little car.  I miss having a small econo-car that makes me smile.  How good of deal did you score on yours?

I can tell you the SCCA has no idea how to class Korean cars. My old forte was a GS car that went to STF. At the time PAX for Gs was .804 and STF which allowed wheels/tires/suspension/intake/exhaust and tubes was .798. Whiskey tango foxtrot? Then they wouldn’t allow the Rio/Accent into STF because they were too much car but did allow the rsx s. 

I doubt there will ever be a competitively classed Korean car so if you’re buying in class alone you’ll lose. But if you want a fun to drive good price decent piece of kit you’ll win. 

I hear you.  I currently run a fairly locally competitive HS car & have thought about getting a Fiesta ST but Ford is killing it in the US.  When I saw the R-spec if figured that it would be a good option instead.  I did check with Nationals & they are putting it in GS this year.  Though I do remember the Fiesta ST spent it's first year in GS before being moved to HS.  Maybe this car will be that same case since they are very similar.  It would be nice to have a car that could do double duty as a fun daily & a competitive autox car on the weekends.  If not I do like the price point and potential fun factor of the R-Spec enough to get one as a daily & let the kids drive it.  I am just waiting to see what the everyday drivers think of them.

OHSCrifle said:

I like the weird three door cars. What was the surprising amount that you offered?

I offered 22 out the door.  It was listed for ~$24600 ish + taxes/tags/doc fees/other bullE36 M3.  I'm not sure if I got a good deal or not, but it felt good to me and I took it.  Note that I have never purchased a new car before.

Ozzy said:

 Is it a good driver's car?  It's suppose to be a fun little car.  I miss having a small econo-car that makes me smile.  

I'll come back and post some more details on this in a bit, but so far, yes it is a decent driver's car.  It is quite a bit bigger than the car it replaced, so it doesn't exactly feel like a fun little car to me, but the fun is definitely there.

Regarding HS, there is another thread on that.  I don't know if the Veloster has what it takes to get it done against the Fiesta.  It can sustain more cornering force without ending up on its roof, which is good, but the added width likely translates to a slower slalom speed.  It has an extra 1/2" of rim width but I'm not sure how much of a factor that is.  I haven't looked closely at the front suspension yet, but it appears to have approximately zero front camber.  How much are people getting with the Fiesta.  If camber bolts can be used legally (some came with the RSpec Genesis, not sure if the Veloster has this option) it may stand a fighting chance.

In GS it will be buried against the Focus I would imagine.

klipless said:

RE: Hatch Size

This is likely styling and cost driven. With the hatch/truck of the car open, you still need to have visible tail lights. 99% of the cars out there use two-piece tail lights, so one part stays put when you open the hatch/trunk. This in turn dictates the size of the hatch. Hyundai could have made the hatch bigger by having incorporating all of the tail light into the hatch, but they would have had to incorporate a secondary tail light that's only visible when the hatch is open (a la Buick Cascada).

In the end, cost wins and you end up with tiny hatches...unless you're the Germans, then it's usually complexity that takes the victory.

Moar reading 

Possibly, but I don't think there is a single hatch on the market with a door nearly this small.  I parked next to a Fit earlier and was amused that the hatch opening must have been double the size.

2002maniac said:

Interesting. I've never seen one of these with the doors open and always assumed that the 3rd door was a suicide type arrangement. Does the drivers seat tilt forward for rear seat access like a 2-door coupe?

I haven't tried, but I believe so.  My dog is the only one who has been back there and I just let him go over the kid's seat.

Man, stepping up to a really nice, sporty car from a problematic ride AND it's your first new one? That's gotta be an epic feeling! Congratulations! 

I never realized the b pillars were in different places. That seems SO weird.

As long as it's worth the price to you, then you didnt pay too much. Doesnt matter what anyone else thinks or what anyone else paid.  It's much easier to write that check every month for something that you actually enjoy instead of something that's just sufficient. 

Thanks for sharing your experience @ProDarwin. I think you got a good deal. A quick search shows these being offered at sub-$21K, which is awesome. 2019 Civic Sis are $2-$3K more. There are also a bunch of Ns that are being offered sub-$27K. That is just crazy good value, imo. Also, the 2019 Rules draft don't have the new Velsoter anywhere in it, unless ctrl+f is failing me, but the '16-'17 Turbo Rally Edition is in GS, so I'd expect the new R-Spec to be too. 

A quick update:

Today I changed the oil on this thing.  It did not make me happy.

The plug is on the front of the oilpan, so A) You aren't getting all the oil (obviously you never get ALL of it, but you get even less than normal) and B) when the oil is almost done draining, it runs along the bottom of the pan rearward then drops on top of the undertray. Its berkeleying dumb.

Removing the undertray is a pain, so I guess I need to jack up the rear of the car as well for oil changes.  WTF.

On the plus side, the car has been averaging pretty good mileage.  Pretty much on par with the beater it replaced.  Pump MPG and car MPG are off more than I would have guessed (I've never had a car that gave a MPG readout before).

Solid numbers cost wise. 

I've kept a spreadsheet with every fill up on my 2017 Focus ST. Will cross 45k miles tomorrow and I'll be 4 days shy of 15 months of ownership. 

26.2 mpg average calculated by me.

Alternating 93 and 87 I'm at 9.4 cents per mile fuel cost. 

That includes all my autocrossing of which I do quite a bit. 

I've been keeping track of my MPGs for awhile now over a couple different vehicles.  But I've been using Fuelly instead of Excel.  Works pretty good.

As for the Veloster, how do you like the power train and are there good aftermarket tuning options?  The Straight Pipes guys on YouTube seem to love Hyundais and I think the 2nd generation of the car is much better on the eyes while still maintaining the 3-door quirkyness.

The wife's Forte still shows pessimistic fuel economy just like my first Gen Forte. We filled up Sunday, onboard showed 30.8, actual calculated 32.4. 

I don't know much about the aftermarket tuning.   The 1st gen cars seem to have good support though.  Mild upgrades w/ tune bring the car to around 225whp.

The engine is not bad.  Its fun.  It could really use better programming.  The rev hang is bad, and the throttle response sometimes sucks.  The is no reason to ever use "normal" mode.  Sport is better and even then not great.

It desperately needs a diff.

Finally took this thing on the highway.  Not too shabby.

I still have yet to test drive since no one within 90 miles of me has one.  I was in Vegas last week and almost took an Uber to the local dealer that had one but never made it (though I did get to the Shelby museum).  The wife even said if I bought something we could just drive it back to Indiana.  I may break down & drive the distance to Indy or over to Ohio to see if the car is really any good.  I still have one kid starting college & one the turns 14 soon so I am thinking it would be a good car to forward on to one of them.  Plus I would get to run around in it until then.

So I finally broke down & got one.  I had to make a 400 mile round trip run to Columbus OH with my truck & race car trailer to get it.  Then is snowed so I didn't drive it Sunday so other than the test drive at the dealer I didn't drive it until today.  Ran about 60 miles round trip to Fort Wayne IN for my body work class at Ivy Tech.  This car is a hoot!!!!  It is a huge joy to drive.  That B&M shifter & notchy shifting is worth it by it's self.  I found myself driving a different route just so I could hit more stop lights & more curves.  Definitely worth it as a commuter car.  

I think one of these things with a rear bar and some sticky tires would be a riot. I love my Fiesta ST but these are getting more attractive by the day. I really, really, really want to drive an N model Veloster and an N-Line Elantra hatch. I dont know if i could live with the rear opening on the Veloster versus sacrificing some power for the Elantra sized rear hatch.

I am crossing my fingers that they will bring the Elantra N(i30N) here to the states. We need that car here. It would be a true GTI fighter.

kevinatfms said:

I think one of these things with a rear bar and some sticky tires would be a riot. I love my Fiesta ST but these are getting more attractive by the day. I really, really, really want to drive an N model Veloster and an N-Line Elantra hatch. I dont know if i could live with the rear opening on the Veloster versus sacrificing some power for the Elantra sized rear hatch.

I am crossing my fingers that they will bring the Elantra N(i30N) here to the states. We need that car here. It would be a true GTI fighter.

All of this. Minus the ST part. 

In reply to Ozzy :

congrats! I dig the color!

kevinatfms said:

I think one of these things with a rear bar and some sticky tires would be a riot. I love my Fiesta ST but these are getting more attractive by the day. I really, really, really want to drive an N model Veloster and an N-Line Elantra hatch. I dont know if i could live with the rear opening on the Veloster versus sacrificing some power for the Elantra sized rear hatch.

I am crossing my fingers that they will bring the Elantra N(i30N) here to the states. We need that car here. It would be a true GTI fighter.

I have thought about getting a Fiesta ST ever since the SCCA took them out of GS & moved them to HS.  With a good driver & setup my Neon ACR just can't keep up with the power difference.  Heck even my dad bought one to replace his Beetle with for their Florida house.  His is fully loaded & he loves it.  He is also in his 70s.  Now since Ford killed them & the Focus you can't get one anyway.  I did do a paper comparison & still would have gone with the R-Spec.  The Veloster has lane departure, auto braking and those new safety features.  I feel better about letting my kids drive it.  The center console controls are less cluttered & are easier to use.  Plus being a little lower & wider it feels bigger on the inside.  Also I think the factory seats have a better feel than the Recaro I have sat in, without any additional cost.  I have a 34 waist & I thought the Recaro were a bit tight.  Both the ST & the R have almost identical power numbers.  But the ST was on premium & the R runs on 87.  That and the R's torque starts peaking at 1500rpm.  And it does pull really well for a little 4 cylinder.  The R is a little heavier than the ST but with the better torque band & new rear end setup I think it will negate the weight difference through the bends.  I read a couple review articles where the testers felt the R is actually better than the new Veloster N when you take into account the price difference.    SCCA threw all the 1.6 turbo cars in GS but it won't be competitive there against the Focus & GTI.  I wouldn't be surprised to see it end up in HS in 2020.  The FWSCCA has their Solo school in a few weeks & I am always there working it so I am going to take the car & throw it through the cones just to see.  Once I do that a few times I'll know if the stock setup has any potential.  I spent a long time researching & comparing cars in that "sportier" compact market, but I always came back to the R-Spec.

In reply to Ozzy :

you should bring it down Sunday for the PAPA event at Grissom. 

In reply to bobzilla :

What's at Grissom Sunday?  Who is putting on that event?

Never mind I found it.  Indy Region is doing it.  My family is getting back from Florida that day but since I don't have to load a car on a trailer & pack a truck I might just bring it for a while.

Congrats!

2 Notes based on Ozzy's post:

1)  I have a 32-33" waist.  I think the seats are way too wide.  I would love it if they were 2-3" narrower, but I understand most are wider than I am.  I also wish the bolsters were a little harder and more agressive (more perpendicular to seating surface).  Overall I do like the seats though.

2)  This is the first time I've had a car autobrake for me.  Total code brown moment:

It was morning.  Typical commute traffic.  The cars in front of me were accelerating at a truly glacial pace and I saw the light was about to turn.  I wanted to make it through, so I stepped on it a little bit to rapidly close the distance between myself and the car in front of me in order to get into the intersection before the light turned red.  I fully intended to hit the brakes a bit once I had closed the gap, but the car detected this as a problem first and slammed on the brakes without warning.  The dash also beeps like crazy when this happens.

I came from a 20+ year old DD where this type of thing is not possible so I had a moment of very intense confusion.  The car went nuts, its beeping at me, it felt like someone just dropped an achor out of the back.  I though maybe I ran over something.  After another split second I came to my senses and realized what happened.

I will say, the system seems to be pretty conservative, because it definitely didn't need to apply the brakes that hard and that early.  Also (and this goes to all manufacturers) having the dash beep like crazy when this happens IS NOT HELPFUL.  When dangerous stuff is happening I want to be looking at the road not distracted by a display that literally reads something like "Automatic braking engaged"

The Velosters look great; Ozzy, I love that orange color.

I have had an Elantra Sport since May of 2017 and am coming up on 35K miles.  I have had a lot of cars since starting driving in 1985 and this is honestly right up there as my favorite daily-driver.   The car listed for just shy on $23K and I bought it for under $18K after discounts and rebates (including a $1K Uber rebate that I believe is no longer in place).  There was no car in the market that offered the value of Hyundai--especially when you consider their warranty.

The wheels are 1st Gen Veloster wheels that I picked up on Marketplace--they were rashed pretty bad, so I refinished and painted them Ford Engine Gray.

Car is all stock except Pierce Motorsports RSB and Rally Armor universal mudguards.

    SCCA threw all the 1.6 turbo cars in GS but it won't be competitive there against the Focus & GTI. 

The Elantra 1.6T is in HS.  The line reads "Elantra (incl. GT Turbo) (1990- 2019)".

In reply to FSP_ZX2 :

I am pretty sure the Veloster will end up there too.  The 1st production year for a new car the SCCA tend to class them a class high & then moves them that next year after they get some hard data.  The Veloster 1.6 is so close to the Fiesta ST specs I am willing to bet it gets moved.

In reply to Ozzy :

The Fiesta ST got bumped up too.

ProDarwin said:

In reply to Ozzy :

The Fiesta ST got bumped up too.

The FiST ('14-19) still shows in HS 

Doh.  My bad.  Yeah, if the Elantra and the FiST are in HS, the Veloster should stay there too.

I wouldn't mind playing in HS with it, but that would depend on how much camber I could get.