Test Drive Hyundai Coupe (Tiburon) 1999 - 2001 coupe

Pudrenitsa

Even you get used to all Muscovites turn on this car. By catching their views, you feel like a girl in a mini, crossing the soldiers' places: on the one hand, not in itself (depends on the practice), on the other hand, you enjoy increased attention (it does not depend on the practice).
 

In the early 90s of the last century (as unusually sounds!) Hyundai has rolled around the world a sports coupe of HCD-II worldwide. In 1993, the car was reached to Detroit, where he received excellent reviews and presses, and visitors - the first is not always accompanied by the second. (Why did we mention Detroit? Because the American market for Hyundai is very important - many technical and design solutions to her cars are aimed at him.) The public hardly believed that the Korean company, while in the United States, an imperious Excel, could work in the US .
 

A year later I saw the light of the HCD-III concept, which looked even better than HCD-II, and was also supplied with an unusual rear seat - it was expanded by 90 degrees, the passenger could sit, stretching his legs. In the public, first of all youth, sweeping saliva ...
 

In the event that appeared in the end, the serial car (Geneva, 1996) did not turn out to be a funny seating - it did not meet the security requirements. In the US, the car was sold called Tiburon (changing the Hyundai Scoupe coupe), on other markets - like just Hyundai Coupe. A couple of years ago, the coupe was already in our hands (Motor # 12, 1997) and left quite positive impressions. By the year 2000, the car was updated. What changed?
 

So, Hyundai Coupe 2.0 - in the highest configuration FX. The meeting occurred on a brilliant car dealership, where it was possible to look under the belly as if soaring the car. The inspection of special changes in the mechanics did not reveal - an independent suspension (front and back Macpherson) with transverse stability stabilizers, an exhaust path made of stainless steel (partially) with an increased diameter of the chrome-plated nozzle on the exhaust pipe, disk brakes (ventilated front).
 

Changes in appearance are more significant - completely different in front of the new lighting, profiled hood, modified rear part with a spoiler on the trunk lid. The multi-eyed creation with a folded side of the sides of the skirt has to itself at first sight. The surface of his body is formed or a muscular constitution, whether the incoming air waves ...
 

Inside it became spacious. Salon with his taxi-formula finish with something reminds the interior of the Audi TT - the Korean company, not embarrassed, borrows successful solutions from more high classes.
 

Anthracite color upholstery, black seats are similar to leather - if it is a substitute, then excellent quality. The steering wheel covering and the automatic box lever is exactly leather, shifted deliberately rude stitches. Plastic Torpedo finishes skillfully applied under matte aluminum.
 

A la Sports seats with heating and mechanical adjustments (right easier, left - with a change in the tilt of the pillow and the back of the back), the impression is performed irresistible until you sit as it should. The trouble is not that harsh - they are supposed to be such - but in the fact that the side support rollers are not well developed to ensure the desired fixation of the body in sharp turns.
 

The amplitude of the longitudinal movement of the driver's seat is sufficient for the people of the middle and slightly above the growth, the tall is not enough tall. Lumbar support (novelty) in exactly my case maintained a completely different part of the body. Flywheel of the pillow tilt controller can be tired of thin female fingers ...
 

The rear seats are designed for two teenagers, I failed to accommodate there even with the driving chair completely shifted. However, for a compact coupe, it is quite expensive. The child's appointment of the rear row is justified by the absence of head restraints, cigarette lighter, ashtrays and pockets for newspapers.
 

The round-burglar bodies of the body with unusual do not allow you to really appreciate the dimensions of the machine with a dense parking, forcing it to stay away from the neighbors. Review forward - Gorgeous: Sleaned hood (exciting-wavy, one look at it can cause heartbeat) allows you to see close road obstacles. There are no complaints with narrow front racks and bent side windows. Visibility over the shoulder, back-tonds and back-left, is strongly limited to the withdrawal rear stands. Review in the salon mirror - without comments. Door mirrors almost lack panoramic, and their mechanics have tangible backlays when setting up.
 

On the wide wind and rear windows are one of the janitor. Oddly enough, the windows they are cleaned almost completely, leaving only tiny islets in the corners. The front brush is controlled by a submissive lever, rear - buttons on the torpedo.
 

Immersion in the salon is facilitated due to the strong bending of the doorway - the upper edge of the door turns out to be shifted inside and the head does not interfere. The steering column adjustable over the corner allows a person of any growth to eliminate the contact of the kneel with the beam. The latter first seemed large, but no - as it turned out in motion, it is quite acceptable in diameter, only the rim is thinner and tougher desired, and its shell slides in his hands with a high-speed handle.
 

Devices - like on the palm, the red arrows on a gray background are visible perfectly. Heads in combination speedometer, and a tachometer with a red zone of 6.5-8 thousand rpm. Hints at the need to twist the motor as it should.
 

The lines of the new torpedo are extremely intricate, nevertheless - everything is regenerated, simply and logical: any knob can be found immediately, without looking, icons-icons are understandable. Just below the air conditioner - the CD receiver, simultaneously with its inclusion from the left rear wing crashes an antenna.
 

In abundance - duct gratings. They are even on the doors, two - for glass and for humans. Armrests, in the role of which are a small medium glove box and door handle, control do not interfere - the driver's elbows do not touch them. If the left hand is lowered from the steering wheel to the armrest, the windows control panel, mirrors and the central lock will be right under the fingers, below is a spacious pocket. In the roof - a hatch with an electric drive, the control buttons are placed in the ceiling console, nearby - odor.
 

For the convenience of booting the trunk, the Hyundai Coupe model is fully comparable to the pickup. The trunk, under the floor of which is hidden full-size spare, big and deep, and you can still fold the backs of the rear seats ...
 

The car is still stupid, without life experience - on the odometer solid zeros. She still does not know that there is nothing good to meet with Slushny February Moscow - the elegant yellow clothes quickly disappeared under the layer of dirt. Nevertheless, passersby are freezing and wait to Hyundai Coupe for a long time. (In the Motor Show the lady, driving a dreamily eye, without claiming, hinted with their satellites: And the machine is female!
 

Lady - no, rather, the youth (unisex is still alive!) - Circus the car for some reason does not hit the male pride at all. Probably because from the inside the car is perceived quite differently, and the management process delivers tremendous pleasure.
 

Despite the pathological dislike for automatic transmission, I chose the car with a machine gun (the main box Hyundai Coupe is a five-speed manual). The capital dictates its conditions - frequent acceleration-braking in traffic jams are able to use any amateur mechanics and reduce the life of the grip. Ready to recognize obvious: The machine in the city is preferable. Coupe transmission is well coordinated with a 2 l 140-strong engine, and even an active driver is unlikely to feel offended. The gear shift moment is practically imperative and is determined mainly by changing the number of rotation of the engine.
 

The engine sounds defiantly - as if there are fifty-more horses in it than in fact. But cash power is quite enough for the machine weighing a little more tons. Suffice it to say that the torque of the motor is 180 nm, and acceleration up to hundreds takes a little more than 8.5 seconds. I feel the inner potential of Pudrenizers, and I am annoyed by dranny penny, creeping on the left row with strict observance of the speed regime, they say - I do not break anything!. Stern traffic police inspector, afterced me after a sharp maneuver with a clearly punishable speed, inspected a car with interest, for some reason and not asking for the right ...
 

Despite frankly summer tires, the car is perfectly kept behind the wet asphalt, providing the driver unexpectedly strong overload during acceleration and turns. Hyundai Coupe confidently prescribes lectal curves in speed slalom. The photographer burned - it was not possible to break the car into a skid on the asphalt plated. It was not even such an elementary focus as a wheel separation in turn.
 

The steering amplifier with good feedback did not cause any complaints, but a harsh suspension and low-profile tires strengthened even more in the opinion that the road tax we pay in vain ...
 

Not everyone after the first trip will like this car - the behavior is not at all the ladies. All the more, it is not necessary to pumped out it with the acquisition of those whose driver's experience is limited to several hours of an educational ride. In addition, the coupe, according to the established opinion, is an impractical machine.
 

In the explicit advantages of Hyundai Coupe, you can record aggressive appearance, a decent engine and good handling. In the minuses - the same aggressive appearance limiting the age category of potential buyers from above.
 

In the US, Hyundai Coupe in the basic version costs about $ 14,000. The machine similar to the configuration of the one that we had on the test would cost about $ 16,000. There are not very many on the standards - not so much, the model is designed primarily on the stylish, but not too burdened with youth, - from those who buy Ford Escort ZX2 instead of just escort, or Volkswagen Golf GTI instead of an ordinary Golf. We also have prices other, Hyundai Coupe 2.0 FX with an automatic box will cost about $ 25.000 ...
 

Alexey Rodkov
 
 

 

A source: Magazine Motor [№3 / 2000]