Not long ago, the president of Hyundai North America stated, “We want Hyundai to be the kind of car you want to buy, not the kind of car you have to buy.” Well, with the release of the Genesis, Genesis Coupe and the new Sonata, Hyundai can claim both improved quality AND eye-catching design. Their latest crowd-pleaser is the 2012 Hyundai Veloster. With echoes of both the Nissan 370Z (side windows) and the Aston Martin One-77 (front airdam cutouts), the Veloster still manages to look quite original. It also pulls a hat-trick and tosses in a passenger-side 3rd door, making rear seat access good for us non-contortionists. The Veloster is driven by a 1.6 liter four-cylinder 138 hp engine and gets 40 mpg. Available with dual clutch or manual tranny. For you tech heads, there’s a touchscreen display, Pandora Internet radio, Bluetooth, Gracenote music display and Blue Link telematics platform. Did we mention the gaming console connectivity? All for around 20 grand. Ooh la la.
Price: $TBA (available Summer 2011)
