Hyundai and sister company, Kia, have been on a roll the last couple of years and 2012 has probably been one of the best years for them in terms sales and award winning vehicles they’ve been pumping out such as the Hyundai Sonata and the Kia Optima.
Today, all the attention is on the 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo. Yep, you read correctly. A turbo Veloster! The cute little car has grown some balls and it means business. The 2013 Veloster Turbo made its initial debut at the Detroit Motor Show back in January and Hyundai has now announced the pricing for this little pocket rocket.
The 2013 Veloster Turbo will start at a base price of $21,950 in the 6-speed manual gearbox while the 6-speed automatic will start at $22,950. The starting price of the non-turbo Veloster starts at $17,300. You may be asking what the performance gains are with the turbo model?
While the standard, 1.6-liter naturally-aspirated four-cylinder produces 138 horsepower, the turbo 1.6-liter produces 201 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 195 lb-ft of torque at 1,750 rpm on regular octane fuel. The Veloster Turbo features a directed-injection and a twin-scroll turbocharger. The direction-injection allows the Veloster Turbo to deliver a respectable 26 mpg city and a “best in class” 38 mpg on the highway with the manual transmission. I believe the only other car in “this class” is the Honda CRZ which is a hybrid and has no performance version.
The Veloster Turbo will also feature a more aggressive body kit which includes a more bold front grille, side skirts, a newly designed rear bumper with a diffuser, center mounted twin tailpipes, 18-inch allow wheels, and LED taillights. The Turbo model will also be available in a matte gray paint job which is a first for Hyundai.
The interior will feature leather seats as standard, electroluminescent gauge cluster exclusive to the Turbo model, and heated front seats. More details to come once the car hits the showroom floors.
