Hyundai Atos test drive since 2005 hatchback

Hyundai Atos- less outside, more inside

A small car, especially in our area, is not just a convenient vehicle for the city, it is rather a lifestyle. It is difficult to justify this from an economic point of view - for about the same money you can always find a car of a little larger size, even in the poorest configuration. Such models were originally prepared for the role of a female car, although I know several rather serious and wealthy people who also pilot such kids. But in any case, one can say one thing: with all the imaginary inappropriateness of cars of this class in our conditions, there are more and more of them every year. And so we had the opportunity to get acquainted with the next representative of this small, but at the same time popular category of cars. So, Hyundai Atos Prime.

The first impression - well, this very small Hyundai Atos, like a copy of some normal minivan, made on a 1: 3 scale. And although cars are now produced in size and smaller, ATOS seems even more miniature, apparently due to the ratio of height and width. Or maybe this is the merit of designers - such a design itself evokes associations with a toy, and here is also small size. But then the comparison with the toy ends: so minimal and uniform gaps can only have a high -quality and competently designed car. In general, the problem of assembly quality, as well as components, the sick question of all the creators of small -scale cars seeking to save literally on everything, bypassed Atos. At least, nothing criminal, in the sense of the low price of the car, will not even be able to find the most picky buyer. The same can be said about the interior - despite the toy design, the ergonomics of the driver’s workplace and the quality of the materials used are quite consistent with the concept of a good foreign car, and without any discounts on the cost of the car itself. Of course, it does not smell like a leather salon, in the literal and figurative sense, but there are no rattling cheap plastic panels either. The steering wheel is slightly thin in the section, but nevertheless does not slide in his hands. In hot weather, which was on the day of the test, his hands were not sticking to him. Approximately the same can be said about the rest of the governing bodies - even if there is no thoroughbred entourage, but the convenience and functionality do not suffer from this.

The fact that the car is small, even very, you will notice only in the parking lot or in the traffic jam: for a turn in one Atos reception, less than five meters will be needed. In the cabin, thanks to the midnight layout, the place is no less than in any representative of the golf class, or even a little more. The width of the salon at the shoulder level is 1215 mm, so you can imagine how conveniently passengers can accommodate. The supply of space in the knee area is quite sufficient for the rear riders to ride by putting the leg on the leg. But to fall apart, as in a limousine, it will not work: the back of the rear seat is installed a little more vertically and is not adjusted by the inclination. But thanks to this, getting and getting into the car is very convenient, and during short city trips you will have every chance to evaluate this.

Of course, a light car, and even with a relatively high center of gravity, will not be able to provide the level of comfort such as in models of higher classes, but in this case ATOS can be considered pleasant exception. No, of course, he is far from representative sedans in this regard, but ATOS designers saved their baby, and this is the most important thing, from the whole range of sounds and sensations inherent in inexpensive small -leafers. No rattling in the cabin, thumping pendants when traveling deep holes or something like that - the salon panel can be called dumb, and the strongest sound is the noise of the wind, and then only when the window is ajar. Sound insulation is very good, without any discounts on the class and price of the car. Even the engine, which usually soloes on low -profile, does not press its sound here, except for acceleration: when you twist the engine to ringing, its restrained rumbling at times goes on high -frequency howls. But this is not heard in the cabin, so in the Comfort column the most stringent experts can put at least four. Moreover, during the test, at least five people visited the car, and none of them expressed the slightest complaints either to the convenience of landing, or to the level of comfort.

It is good, of course, that the Hyundai Atos salon does not cause claustrophobia attacks, but there are no miracles, therefore, with all the advantages of the car layout, the trunk could not be made much. Its volume is quite sufficient if it is necessary to add purchases during trips to shops, but only a couple of suitcases will be able to take only a couple of suitcases on a long journey. And although the figure of 263 liters does not seem so small, but the convenience of using the luggage compartment is not the strong side of ATOS: in height it is much larger than in depth. In principle, this drawback could be eliminated by supplying the luggage compartment with some kind of net or pockets, but we did not find anything like this. Although, in extreme cases, if the luggage compartment is more important than passenger capacity, then the rear seat can be folded, thus increasing the luggage volume to 1084 liters.

In motion, again, thanks to its modest size, ATOS causes associations with a scooter. After a couple of minutes of calm movement, you unexpectedly start starting, overtake everyone right and left and climb into such cracks in the stream that the faint of heart (ki) sometimes just pale. This style of driving is also promoted by the driver’s landing. Installed slightly more vertically than in a regular car, the pedal node and the steering column create a complete illusion that you are in the saddle of the same scooter. In addition, given the small equipped mass of the car, ATOS is a very transparent car that properly transmitting all the road information to the driver’s vestibular apparatus, so such associations can occur to everyone who is driving. I remembered about the vestibular apparatus that an experienced driver, if desired, could do with ATOS everything that my heart wants - at least two wheels. You feel literally everything, even an approximate coefficient of wheel clutch with the road (joke).

You do not think that such transparency causes some kind of discomfort, on the contrary, such feedback simply provokes the driver, forcing to believe in his, sometimes non -existent, driver’s skill. But at the same time, again, the driver’s sensations are akin to the fact that an experienced exposure-scumer experiences. And now, imperceptibly, you begin to bend in corners, as if holding your balance, and at the intersections you always strive in the first row. And with this, by the way, there are no problems - a little less than one and a half meters width makes this scout ... Sorry, the car is very agile. It comes to the point that, if necessary, you can even grab to the right of the unsatisfied to drive away from the stop of the trolleybus. If you do not like such maneuvers, then in a dense city stream you can still find the application of this feature of Hyundai Atos. After all, this is a common thing - some Ezyuk was on his bimmer for one and a half rows: you won’t eat it on the right, and the curb interferes with the left. Only this is a problem for the driver of an ordinary car, but you are on Atos. Give a glance in the rearview mirror, calmly go around this surprised citizen from any side you like, occupying a strategically profitable place in front of him. Let Laby read on the back door so far and admires an interesting shape of the rear lighting devices of your car. As soon as the green lights up, you can surprise it again - accelerated dynamics. This is only homegrown Schumackers that ten seconds to a hundred will not be enough, you will have more than once to make sure that in a dense stream it is much more important to have modest dimensions and good visibility.

However, with everything else, ATOS is also all right - up to 60 km/h, it accelerates in 6.5 seconds, which is quite enough to break away from the stream. Further, the matter is not so fast, but this car can only look like a ministry of at least six -cylinder counterparts. Actually, how dynamic ATOS will also depend on you, more precisely, on the number of passengers in the cabin, because the equipped mass of the Hyundai Atos Prime is only 810 kg, so you can imagine what percentage of total weight it can be at least two passengers. In the business class sedans, this is imperceptible, but in this case, the accelerated dynamics directly depends on the degree of loading of the car, especially at high speeds. The catalog says that from a place to 100 km/h, such ATOS accelerates in 15.1 seconds, but after the test I still had the feeling that this is the dynamics of a loaded car. At least in the city of ATOS seemed to me very dynamic. If a dispute on this topic came in, then I would put the money that acceleration to a hundred of this car takes no more than ten seconds. True, for such jerks, you need to very vigorously work with a lever of the gearbox, because in the absence of a tachometer, skies of maximum torque can easily be allowed, especially when you consider that the greatest return occurs somewhere in the range of 2300-4000 rpm, this is by ear.

From the very beginning, the engine seems a little phlegmatic, although the supply of torque is quite enough for the movement of innight, but when the imaginary arrow reaches the imaginary tachometer of the aforementioned speed range, the machine begins to accelerate very vigorously, one might say, even with a small undermining. The first gear is a little short, so there is much more noise than the acceleration itself, but if you do not miss the moment and prevent the revolutionary limiter, then the second one can win a few seconds at the start by timely inclusion. And then it all depends on the situation on the road - either pay a fine for speeding, or get to the destination ten minutes earlier than your opponents. By the way, during the test, I myself, without noticing it, went to ATOS around the city at a speed of about 80-90 km/h, and I could not even attract the attention of inspectors, and thank God with such a frank provocation. But everyone else looked at my car that temporarily becoming very frankly, especially the beautiful half of humanity. Apparently, if men are mostly dreaming of everyone about Ferrari or Lamborghini, then the woman does not need this, the ideal car for her is such a bug of a pretty color.

Hyundai Atos Prime confirms its readiness to become a second car in the family not only an attractive price and inexpensive service, but also in the presence of versions in the range of automatic and even a semi -automatic transmission. Unlike other automakers, Hyundai initially did not try to give the ATOS Prime model the type of expensive and strictly car, which is visible both in terms of the range of offered colors and design. Which, by the way, automatically transfer it to a detachment of more prestigious cars. Why? If your spouse travels, say, to the golf class model, then some spitens can assume a sinful thing that you use the machine in turn. But this can definitely not happen with ATOS: you can immediately see - a gift to her, loved.

Thinking about the prospects of cars of this type in our market, I involuntarily came to the idea of \u200b\u200bthe potential competitors of Hyundai Atos Prime. And as it turned out, they, in fact, no- all cars of about the same dimensions are traditional three- and five-door hatchbacks, which means that the supply of space in the cabin cannot provide the same. True, there are still similar in the design of Suzuki Wagon R and Daewoo Matiz, but the first is not officially sold in our republic, and the existence of the second brand has already been under a big question for several years, so ATOS has not yet been observed by ATOS. However, why so far - knowing the slowness of European automakers regarding the development of models of new, non -traditional classes, we can say that this car has a great advantage. Of course, it would be possible to predict a large pressure from the only competitor of the European brand - the double of Suzuki Wagon R Opel Agila, but the local dealer does not seem to bet on this model. Yes, as it has happened more than once, a European classmate, with imaginary, the presence of imaginary advantages, will probably cost an order of magnitude more expensive, which in this class plays far from the last role.

I don’t know how soon the concept of the second car in the family will cease to cut the hearing of our fellow citizens, this is not in my competence, but I suspect that at about the same time we will finally begin to understand the purpose of such cars as Hyundai Atos Prim and the like. It is no secret that even for those relatively small money for which the new Atos Prime is proposed with an annual guarantee, the vast majority of us will prefer even a very used car, but larger in size. Several generations of our car owners have been used by one, often completely wretched both in terms of design and technically, by a vehicle, trying to squeeze out of it what is not provided for by the design. Now times have changed, and each of us has the opportunity to choose - from the means, to taste, according to technical characteristics, finally. Well, the fact that there will be people who choose a convenient and beautiful car for the city, which, in fact, is Hyundai Atos Prime, there is no doubt - this baby is very good!

Pavel Kozlovsky

Source: Auto -Gazeta / N 16 (319) dated 30.05.01