2014 Hyundai Veloster Base on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2019 Hyundai Santa Fe First Drive Review | A safely stylish crossover

To help it stand out in today's crowded, highly competitive midsize crossover market, Hyundai has given the new 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe has a bolder SUV-like exterior design. The Santa Fe's changes are evolutionary rather than seismic, but in a market that includes rivals like the Ford Edge, Jeep Cherokee, Nissan Murano, Chevrolet Equinox, and Honda CR-V, every detail matters. Buyers still have a choice of two four-cylinder engines - just like the outgoing Santa Fe Sport – one of them turbocharged, with each paired to an updated 8-speed automatic transmission. The Santa Fe also offers all-wheel drive across its five trim levels, while delivering a modest bump in overall cargo space and rear legroom. A few notes before we dive further in: The new Santa Fe doesn't include the "Sport" in its name. Anyone in immediate need of a Santa Fe with a third-row seat will have to settle for the Santa Fe XL, a one-year-only offering based on the previous generation model. We highly recommend test driving the new model, if you can do without a third row. Some form of hybridization is also planned, though Hyundai would not comment on technical aspects or a projected on-sale date. Ahead of taking the wheel on the wide-open roads surrounding the charming ski-cation town of Park City, Utah, Hyundai told us that they strove to make it less of a high-riding minivan, both in terms of its style and stance on the road. To do this, Hyundai shortened the front overhang, added a more upright front grille with a chainmail pattern, and pushed the headlights lower in the front fascia. Those slim lighting units that flank the grille are the LED daytime running lights and turn signals. (Yes, it's okay if you initially thought they were super skinny headlights, too.) The 2.6-inch longer wheelbase makes the Santa Fe look more planted, while adding about an extra inch of rear legroom compared to the previous model. The more horizontal side profile and large glass area – especially the small side windows, ahead and behind the A- and C-pillars – help improve visibility. And unlike some SUVs and crossovers that opt for tapered tail-ends that look sporty, but create claustrophobic-levels of cargo space, the squarish rear of the Santa Fe translates to 35.9 cubic feet of cargo room behind the second-row seats. That's up from 35.4 cu-ft. offered in the previous model. Styling is subjective, but to our eyes, the Santa Fe has a lot more presence than it previously did.

The 2017 Hyundai Ioniq fuel economy numbers are official, and impressive

Thanks to the EPA's handy fuel economy reference site, fueleconomy.gov, we now know exactly how the three versions of the 2017 Hyundai Ioniq did in fuel economy testing. The EPA tested all three versions: the hybrid Ioniq, the plug-in hybrid Ioniq Blue, and the self-explanatory Ioniq Electric. For reference, the 2017 Toyota Prius is no slouch, getting 50 mpg highway, 54 in the city, and 52 combined according to EPA testing. Now let's compare to the Ioniq, which in regular form gets 54 highway, 55 city, and 55 combined. It bests the traditional hybrid Prius most significantly on the highway. The plug-in Blue achieved 59 highway, 57 city, for a combined 58 mpg rating. As we mentioned in our earlier deep dive on the Ioniq range, the plug-in will also do 31 miles on electricity alone. As suspected, the range of the Ioniq Electric is going to be an issue for the company. The EPA confirmed the range to be 124 miles in total, returning an MPGe rating of 122 highway, 150 city, and 136 combined. We know that Hyundai is self-conscious of the range of the initial model, which looks unimpressive compared to the crop of 200-plus-mile range EVs coming to market soon, like the Bolt. Hyundai recently told Automotive News that a 200-mile range version will be coming quickly, by 2018, so the Electric won't be hobbled for too long. As long as we're comparing it to the Bolt, it should be noted that the MPGe numbers are better, even if the total range isn't. The Bolt is only good for 110 highway, 128 city, and 119 combined MPGe – to put it another way, the Ioniq Electric consumes 25 kWh per 100 miles, while the Bolt consumes 28. A small difference, to be sure, but worth noting. Don't forget that there's a fourth Ioniq out there, which we rode in recently, although it's notably mainly for its autonomous tech rather than its drivetrain. Related Video: Tip: Ramsy Shuffield Green Hyundai Fuel Efficiency Hatchback Electric Hybrid

2019 Hyundai Nexo Quick Spin Review | A better hydrogen fuel cell crossover

PYEONGCHANG, S. Korea — When we travelled to South Korea to test out the new Hyundai Santa Fe, we also got a chance behind the wheel of the new hydrogen-powered Nexo fuel-cell SUV. Hyundai unveiled the Nexo at CES in January as a replacement for the Tucson Fuel Cell, which logged miles and gathered data in 18 countries over the course of its generation. The Nexo is an improvement: It's more efficient, packed with smarter driver assistance technologies and, in our opinion, is more attractive. With a clean an uncluttered exterior, it has a familiar crossover profile, but the front end, is a little more unique with a large grille and uber-thin lighting tucked high under the front of the hood. The rear end offers a lot of blank sheet metal, which looks fetching in white. Aerodynamic vents behind the rear quarter windows open up at the back of the car beneath a sporty-looking spoiler. But it's the clean, sustainable future that its hydrogen fuel may provide that's most important. Which is not to diminish the benefits battery electric cars offer in the interim — and likely for the foreseeable future — but renewable electricity is intermittent. So how does one store massive amounts of clean electricity for long periods to use when it's not readily available? Hydrogen electrolysis – using an electric current to decompose regular water into oxygen and hydrogen. The beautiful thing about the abundant element is that it can be converted back to electricity, either on a grid-scale, or in the fuel cell of a passenger vehicle. (The less beautiful thing is how to store hydrogen safely, but that's another story.) Our first stint inside the vehicle took place in the back seat, where we had plenty of legroom and clean surroundings. The interior was white and grey with matte silver metallic trim. The plastics in the Nexo aren't particularly soft, but somehow Hyundai makes them look premium with fine grains and patterns — one of the tricks Hyundai uses to make its affordable cars feel like higher-end automobiles. We were comfortable back there, especially with rear seat heaters to ward of the winter chill in the Korean mountains as we drove past the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. When it came our turn to get behind the wheel, we felt right at home in the comfortable driver's seat. The steering wheel was attractive in its two-tone leather, and smooth to the touch.