Learn Me: First-Gen Veloster Turbo

Here's a test from 2013:  Motorweek Veloster test

We looked at these back then as a potential new daily for my wife.  Our previous Kia experience had been very good (2010 Soul), and the Veloster looked like a winner for our intended use, which was much like what you're talking about.  It wasn't fantastic, but was decently zippy and well equipped for the time.

We were actually on our way to Phoenix to buy a Veloster turbo (local dealer wouldn't deal), but decided to look at used C6 'Vettes instead and ended up buying one.  

The C6 turned out to be a POS, and we got rid of it for an NC3 Club Miata.

poopshovel again said:

I wouldn't park one in my ass if I had room for a freight train. 

YMMV.

Not sure you didn't type that right or if it's a saying I've never heard.... sounds, uhh... "other side of the fence". 

I have a second gen.  I have a love hate relationship with it.  I was actually shopping for an 8th gen Si and ended up with this somehow.

The throttle mapping is terrible.  I really wish it had a torsen.  The lack of a second door on the driver's side is irritating as berkeley.  Other than that, its fun around town, runs on regular, gets impressive gas mileage for what it is, etc.

Part of me still wishes I had bought an 8th gen Si, but like you said, those are really hard to find (and I was not interested in a 2 door).  If I had more time, I probably would not have ended up with this car.  A tune fixes a lot, and 50hp more would be a lot of fun, but I'm not ready to give up my warranty.  

bobzilla said:

pointofdeparture said:

Ex-BiL had (has?) one. The one thing I really remember is that it didn't seem to have the same level of refinement that Hyundai/Kia products really started nailing in the early-mid 2010's. The platform dates back to 2008 and is shared with the Accent so I guess that makes sense.

I don't think there is really anything wrong with them aside from the fact that they would probably be at the bottom of your list in the "general feeling of cheapness" category. Not a dealbreaker by any means, but depending on your usage something to consider.

It's not the same chassis as the accent, it's the same as the '10-13 Forte, and the '11-up Elantra. 

Not that the interwebs is ever wrong, but everything I can find says it's on the Hyundai PB platform which is the following cars:

Hyundai-Kia PB platform

• Hyundai i20 (PB) (2008–2014)
• Kia Venga (YN) (2009-2017)
• Kia Soul (AM) (2009–2014)
• Hyundai ix20 (JC) (2010–2017)
• Hyundai Accent (RB) (2010–2017)
• Kia Rio (UB) (2011–2017)
• Hyundai Veloster (FS) (2011–present)
• Hyundai HB20 (2012–present)
• Hyundai Reina (2017–present)
• Kia Pegas (2017–present)

You can buy a FiST for that money, try one, it's really good. It's a little bit smaller, but not hugely. I'd take a FiST over a 2nd gen Veloster Turbo R.

https://racine.craigslist.org/cto/d/elkhorn-2007-civic-si/6998330485.html

Fly n drive?

https://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/cto/d/summit-argo-2008-honda-civic-si-6500/7010827044.html

How bad was the accident? 

they should have called the turbo veloster the "Veloste-raptor".   They did not.    It is therefore a terrible car. 

that is all. 

i have an 89 turbo stang for sale! :P

in all seriousness, the Soul is a better car, as is the Si. 

-J0N

Snrub said:

You can buy a FiST for that money, try one, it's really good. It's a little bit smaller, but not hugely. I'd take a FiST over a 2nd gen Veloster Turbo R.

I'd considered the FiST but the last time I looked, they were all going for more money the FoSTs, although now I am seeing a few down in the 9-10k range. I haven't had an opportunity to drive a FiST, but my only conern is that at 6'3", I don't know how well I'd fit. I drove a FoST, and with my helmet on, it was wedged against the headliner.

NickD saidStrut up front and twist beam axle out back aren't the most exciting, but at least they are cheap easy to work on, and they aren't necessarily the death of a fun car. After all, the Focus ST makes do with the same.

Point of clarification:  The FIESTA has a twist beam.  The Focus has a multilink so that hardparkers can get the camber angle just right for those high-contrast black and white photos in front of a graffiti mural.

The most fun front wheel drive cars ever made (VW Rabbit/Golf) had twist beams.  It's not a liability.  The main purpose of the rear suspension in a front driver is to keep quiet and not bother the front tires while they are trying to work.

Honda Fits have twist beams as well and they are a hoot to hoon. 

With that being said - 8th gen Si or a Honda Fit is the answer. 

Rodan said:

We were actually on our way to Phoenix to buy a Veloster turbo (local dealer wouldn't deal), but decided to look at used C6 'Vettes instead and ended up buying one.  

The C6 turned out to be a POS, and we got rid of it for an NC3 Club Miata.

 

I find this to be a perfectly normal chain of events, but if I were to tell anybody else I know that I know someone who was gonna buy a Hyundai, but cross-shopped a Corvette instead and hated it and replaced it with a Mazda, they'd look at me like the people I know are nuts.

Maybe we are, but that's all right, we knows what we likes.

NickD said:

Snrub said:

You can buy a FiST for that money, try one, it's really good. It's a little bit smaller, but not hugely. I'd take a FiST over a 2nd gen Veloster Turbo R.

I'd considered the FiST but the last time I looked, they were all going for more money the FoSTs, although now I am seeing a few down in the 9-10k range. I haven't had an opportunity to drive a FiST, but my only conern is that at 6'3", I don't know how well I'd fit. I drove a FoST, and with my helmet on, it was wedged against the headliner.

I'm about you-sized and I fit them just fine.  YMMV of course.  Try one and see.

sleepyhead the buffalo said:

also, since we're talking Hyundai... and you're considering G35's...

any reason not to look at Genesis Coupes?  Other than the whole RWD and snow thing?  I think you'd want to stay way from the track models (other than maybe finding one of the lsd's in the yard) for the smaller brakes and easier wheel swapping/winter-tiring?

Mostly because I kind of forget they exist, to be honest. I'm not sure how well they would handle CNY snow, which can frequently be 6-12" overnight, but there's a guy who drives a 5th-gen Camaro SS year round, so if he can make it around, maybe I could do the same. If nothing else, it'd be fun to take up and ice lakes race with the AMEC guys

clutchsmoke said:

https://racine.craigslist.org/cto/d/elkhorn-2007-civic-si/6998330485.html

Fly n drive?

 

https://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/cto/d/summit-argo-2008-honda-civic-si-6500/7010827044.html

How bad was the accident? 

Wow, that top ad is peak craigslist. Barely any info and a single photo that only shows the rear of the car. I wouldn't be surprised to get there and find the front end had been wiped off it by a tractor trailer.

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/cto/d/jasper-2014-honda-civic-si-sedan/7008951880.html

Not hard to find these in the sweet spot.  Sure a little more miles than you want but in Atlanta so what's rust. 

Or use this search. 

https://www.cars.com/for-sale/searchresults.action/?bsId=20211&dealerType=all&mdId=20823&mkId=20017&page=1&perPage=20&prMn=6000&prMx=10000&rd=500&searchSource=GN_SELECT&showMore=false&sort=relevance&stkTypId=28881&trId=25362&yrId=20200,20145,20201,27381,34923,39723,47272,51683,56007,30031936,35797618&zc=14623

In reply to pointofdeparture :

It's wrong. The parts swap from the Elantra to the Forte to the Veloster for suspension, brakes etc. They do NOT swap for the accent/rio. 

In reply to bobzilla :

So, no four lug Veloster with Rio parts?

Knurled. said:

NickD saidStrut up front and twist beam axle out back aren't the most exciting, but at least they are cheap easy to work on, and they aren't necessarily the death of a fun car. After all, the Focus ST makes do with the same.

 

Point of clarification:  The FIESTA has a twist beam.  The Focus has a multilink so that hardparkers can get the camber angle just right for those high-contrast black and white photos in front of a graffiti mural.

 

The most fun front wheel drive cars ever made (VW Rabbit/Golf) had twist beams.  It's not a liability.  The main purpose of the rear suspension in a front driver is to keep quiet and not bother the front tires while they are trying to work.

I found the twist beam in the Forte to be perfect to be honest. Added the 18mm rear sway bar to mine and a set of Koni Veloster shocks. It was settled, predictable and liked a little more slip angle. the only thing that car needed was an LSD. OK, and better gearing.... that 2-3 shift was harsh.

Knurled. said:

In reply to bobzilla :

So, no four lug Veloster with Rio parts?

no. Veloster/Forte/Elantra are all 5 lug, the rear shocks are shorter. the beam is linked differently etc. 

bobzilla said:

Knurled. said:

NickD saidStrut up front and twist beam axle out back aren't the most exciting, but at least they are cheap easy to work on, and they aren't necessarily the death of a fun car. After all, the Focus ST makes do with the same.

 

Point of clarification:  The FIESTA has a twist beam.  The Focus has a multilink so that hardparkers can get the camber angle just right for those high-contrast black and white photos in front of a graffiti mural.

 

The most fun front wheel drive cars ever made (VW Rabbit/Golf) had twist beams.  It's not a liability.  The main purpose of the rear suspension in a front driver is to keep quiet and not bother the front tires while they are trying to work.

I found the twist beam in the Forte to be perfect to be honest. Added the 18mm rear sway bar to mine and a set of Koni Veloster shocks. It was settled, predictable and liked a little more slip angle. the only thing that car needed was an LSD. OK, and better gearing.... that 2-3 shift was harsh.

To be clear, I wasn't casting shade on the twist beam axle. I know that they really come down to a matter of chassis tuning by the manufacturer.

Knurled. said:

Rodan said:

We were actually on our way to Phoenix to buy a Veloster turbo (local dealer wouldn't deal), but decided to look at used C6 'Vettes instead and ended up buying one.  

The C6 turned out to be a POS, and we got rid of it for an NC3 Club Miata.

 

 

I find this to be a perfectly normal chain of events, but if I were to tell anybody else I know that I know someone who was gonna buy a Hyundai, but cross-shopped a Corvette instead and hated it and replaced it with a Mazda, they'd look at me like the people I know are nuts.

 

Maybe we are, but that's all right, we knows what we likes.

Replace "Hyundai" with "sporty coupe" and it makes more sense...     The 'Vette was an itch that needed to be scratched, and they were about the same money at the time. 

Oh, and I know I'm nuts.  

My big concern with a Fiesta ST is that they are so competitively classed in autocross, once I get a taste of that sweet sweet H/Street PAX I might start primarily autocrossing the FiST and park my SSM Miata. (Running a 200tw tire, unflared, unaero'd Miata in SSM sucks the big one. 10th on Raw, 40th in PAX)

NickD said:

My big concern with a Fiesta ST is that they are so competitively classed in autocross, once I get a taste of that sweet sweet H/Street PAX I might start primarily autocrossing the FiST and park my SSM Miata.

That's a legitimate concern. I really liked the one I drove around a short course. You'll need to find one without a sunroof. I wanted to buy one new in 2014 and could not find a non sunroof car anywhere near me. Stupid Ford dealerships.

NickD said:

Snrub said:

You can buy a FiST for that money, try one, it's really good. It's a little bit smaller, but not hugely. I'd take a FiST over a 2nd gen Veloster Turbo R.

I'd considered the FiST but the last time I looked, they were all going for more money the FoSTs, although now I am seeing a few down in the 9-10k range. I haven't had an opportunity to drive a FiST, but my only conern is that at 6'3", I don't know how well I'd fit. I drove a FoST, and with my helmet on, it was wedged against the headliner.

Does the FiST have more headroom than the Veloster?  Its several inches taller* but I'm not sure how much higher the H point is.  My Veloster does not have a sunroof and I could definitely see 6'3" + helmet being an issue.

*its track width is also several inches narrower which is both good and scary as berkeley.

ProDarwin said:

NickD said:

Snrub said:

You can buy a FiST for that money, try one, it's really good. It's a little bit smaller, but not hugely. I'd take a FiST over a 2nd gen Veloster Turbo R.

I'd considered the FiST but the last time I looked, they were all going for more money the FoSTs, although now I am seeing a few down in the 9-10k range. I haven't had an opportunity to drive a FiST, but my only conern is that at 6'3", I don't know how well I'd fit. I drove a FoST, and with my helmet on, it was wedged against the headliner.

Does the FiST have more headroom than the Veloster?  Its several inches taller* but I'm not sure how much higher the H point is.  My Veloster does not have a sunroof and I could definitely see 6'3" + helmet being an issue.

*its track width is also several inches narrower which is both good and scary as berkeley.

Yeah, the properly setup and driven H/Street FiSTs scare the living daylights out of me.