2012 Hyundai Sonata Se 2.0t on 2040-cars

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Hyundai and Gurnade build a mildly wild Veloster Turbo

Update: We received some work-in-progress photos from Gurnade, Inc. of the Veloster Turbo, which can be seen in the gallery above. Hyundai revealed the third custom machine that will grace its display at the SEMA Show this year. It's a Veloster Turbo that Hyundai describes as "race-ready," and was built in collaboration with Gurnade, Inc., a design company that does graphic and website design and automotive renders. As far as making it race-ready, Hyundai and Gurnade gave this Veloster a new intercooler, downpipe, cold-air intake and ECU tune courtesy of 845 Motorsports. It also received a new catback exhaust and blow-off valve. The chassis has been reinforced with a variety of braces from Pierce Motorsports, and NEO Motorsports contributed the coilover suspension and bigger brakes with six-piston calipers. SEMA cars need show as well as go, so the companies added 19-inch Rotiform wheels, massive fender flares, a custom grille, a carbon-fiber hood and hatch and, of course, spoilers. All of which are covered in a PPG paint called "Magic Magenta." Inside, the Veloster Turbo features racing seats and a roll cage. The interior also received some less-than-race-ready modifications including an upgraded audio system complete with subwoofer and amplifier. While this is by no means an unimpressive car, this Veloster Turbo will unfortunately have to share the stage with some truly wild creations. These include a beefed-up, off-road Santa Fe, and the absolutely insane 1,040-horsepower, rear-wheel-drive Santa Fe built by Bisimoto. However, the Veloster Turbo gives a more realistic look at what people can create with a new Hyundai, thanks to its off-the-shelf parts. Related Video: Featured Gallery Gurnade Hyundai Veloster Turbo: SEMA 2016 Related Gallery Hyundai Gurnade Veloster Turbo Image Credit: Live photos copyright 2016 Drew Phillips / Autoblog Aftermarket SEMA Show Hyundai Hatchback Performance hyundai veloster turbo veloster turbo

Hyundai Genesis Coupe to get bigger, lux up?

With the all-new, 2015 Hyundai Genesis Sedan hitting the road, it puts the current Genesis Coupe in a rather weird spot. The sporty model is starting to get a bit long in the tooth, and for 2015, it's dropped its four-cylinder engine in the US. Hyundai isn't letting the car whither on the vine, though. Behind closed doors, the Korean automaker is rumored to be working on a new coupe to transform the vehicle from something of a pony car in the current guise into a luxury grand tourer with avante garde styling.
The next-generation Genesis Coupe would reportedly borrow its design inspiration from the Hyundai HND-9 Sports Coupe Concept from the 2013 Seoul Motor Show, according to Australian site Go Auto. The key to the new model is growing it larger to be able to seat four adults and giving it more grown-up styling at the same time. Go Auto claims that the coupe could finally get a V8 engine option and possibly a V6 and turbocharged four-cylinder in at least some markets, too. It's slated for a possible 2016 unveiling.
Even during the HND-9's unveiling, Hyundai admitted that the concept projected of the design direction for future models. Its styling was certainly a big shift from the current Genesis Coupe with more hard creases, a wide, mesh grille and butterfly doors. The show car also packed a 3.3-liter turbocharged, direct-injected engine with 364 horsepower and an eight-speed automatic transmission driving the rear wheels.

Hyundai Sonata PHEV may be a game (and mind) changer

If you really, really want to consume volts instead of fuel on your way to work, school or shopping, you currently have just three options: pure EV, hydrogen fuel cell, or plug-in hybrid EV. Much as we love them, we all know the disadvantages of BEVs: high prices due to high battery cost (even though subsidized by their makers), limited range and long recharges. Yes, I know: six-figure (giant-battery) Teslas can deliver a couple hundred miles and Supercharge to ~80 percent in 10 minutes. But few of us can afford one of those, Tesla's high-voltage chargers are hardly as plentiful as gas stations, and even 10 minutes is a meaningful chunk out of a busy day. Also, good luck finding a Tesla dealership to fix whatever goes wrong (other than downloadable software updates) when it inevitably does. There still aren't any. Even more expensive, still rare as honest politicians, and much more challenging to refuel are FCEVs. You can lease one from Honda or Hyundai, and maybe soon Toyota, provided you live in Southern California and have ample disposable income. But you'd best limit your driving to within 100 miles or so of the small (but growing) number of hydrogen fueling stations in that state if you don't want to complete your trip on the back of a flatbed. That leaves PHEVs as the only reasonably affordable, practical choice. Yes, you can operate a conventional parallel hybrid in EV mode...for a mile or so at creep-along speeds. But if your mission is getting to work, school or the mall (and maybe back) most days without burning any fuel – while basking in the security of having a range-extender in reserve when you need it – your choices are extended-range EVs. That means the Chevrolet Volt, Cadillac ELR or a BMW i3 with the optional range-extender engine, and plug-in parallel hybrids. Regular readers know that, except for their high prices, I'm partial to EREVs. They are series hybrids whose small, fuel-efficient engines don't even start (except in certain rare, extreme conditions) until their batteries are spent. That means you can drive 30-40 (Volt, ELR) or 70-80 miles (i3) without consuming a drop of fuel. And until now, I've been fairly skeptical of plug-in versions of conventional parallel hybrids. Why?