Hyundai Coupe Road Test

Hyundai Coupe

The Coupe’s all come with petrol engines. The 2.7 V6 produces 167 PS (165bhp) at 6,000rpm along with 245Nm (181 lb ft) of pulling power at 4,000rpm. This will take the car to a top speed of 135mph, following a 0-62mph time of 8.6 seconds. Sounds reasonable doesn’t it?

In reality, it is hard work to get the best out of the engine. The car feels solid and heavy and while this offers a sense of comforting security, it makes the performance feel stilted and the car unnecessarily cumbersome. I found that the only way to enjoy the promised performance was to be brutal. Once you’ve got used to it and overcome the sense of inertia, the car’s handling is very good and the solid feel manifests as fairly agile stability.

The fuel consumption is not too bad for a heavy car with a large engine. Figures are quoted as 19.9mpg for the urban cycle, 35.5mpg for the extra-urban and the combined works out as 27.4mpg. The CO2 emissions are a hefty 247g/km putting the Coupe in VED Band G. The manual version is a little better but not enough to make any real difference.

As usual, standard safety features includes ABS with EBD and the 2.7 also has Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) and Traction Control. There are front and side airbags for the driver and passenger, a collapsible steering column and ISOFIX anchors in the rear of the cabin.

According to Hyundai, in the UK, the Coupe outsells the BMW 3-series coupe and the Mercedes Benz CLK but then that particular playing field is far from level. For me, the Coupe SIII may be good looking and the car that stands out in the company’s range but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it is outstanding.

Hyundai Coupe