Just About Gets Away With It
by David Finlay (03 Apr 07)

A colleague of mine thinks the latest version of the Hyundai Coupé looks a bit like a Jaguar XK, but I must admit that wasn't my opinion when the test car arrived. The thought that went through my head, as the delivery driver rolled up to the front door, was that the Coupé could just about pass for a Ferrari.

Ferrari fans will probably be choking at this point, but I suppose they're not the people who will be expected to buy the Hyundai. The Coupé is for people who want something which gives at least a hint of an exotic supercar, but which costs less than £20,000 and offers the security - as all Hyundais do - of a five-year warranty.

This particular Coupé doesn't just look slightly Ferrariesque - it also sounds that way. That's because it's the one with the 2.7-litre V6 engine, and therefore sounds rather more purposeful than the 1.6- and two-litre four-cylinder alternatives. With a maximum of 165bhp available, it's also the most powerful engine in the range, though the extra performance over the 2.0 isn't enough to cover the considerable fuel consumption penalty of 6.8mpg on the combined cycle.

But it does sound good, and that helps the mock-supercar feeling. So, I suppose, does the interior, but I never became used to how low the roof is, and if it hadn't been for the sunroof (which gives an extra couple of inches' clearance) I doubt I would have been able to drive the thing at all. If you're more than six feet tall it's unlikely that you'll ever be able to make yourself comfortable in here.

As with previous Coupés, the interior also boasts a trio of gauges on the centre console. Two of these indicate the battery voltage and the instant fuel consumption, which I suppose could be vaguely useful in some circumstances, but the third - the like of which I have not seen in any car apart from a Hyundai Coupé - is more puzzling. It tells you how much torque the engine is producing at any given moment, and I must admit I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with this information.

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