Just as the rumors suggested, Hyundai unveiled a complete roster of new cars today, spearheaded by the i20 Coupe. This 3-door supermini was previewed earlier this year by an official sketch and is now ready for production, showing many new design elements that aren't available on the regular 5-door.
Aimed at young buyers, this lifestyle-oriented car is great for those who want a MINI but can't afford one. Even in this boring silver shade, it looks special enough to get you excited in the morning.
Unique to the i20 Coupe is a new C-pillar design, extra creases in the rear wheel humps that give a masculine look and longer doors with a distinctive line at the bottom. They've also subtly enhanced the rear bumper and inverted the grille at the front, a design trick we often saw on Porsche.
To further differentiate the three-door model, Hyundai has introduced a unique Tangerine Orange exterior color and a matching orange interior color option for the Coupe.
Specs and engines
Right, enough talk about design. Time to look at the engine range, where the i20 Coupe may disappoint those who wanted a new type of engine, maybe a powerful turbo. In total, four Euro 6 engines are going to be available, split evenly between petrol and diesel.
We have a sneaking suspicion every Kia or Hyundai owner knows but they are, but to be sure we're going to take a quick look. The base petrol unit is an 84 hp 1.25-liter, which is connected to a 5-speed manual. There's also a 100 horsepower 1.4-liter that's available with either a 6-speed or the only auto in the range, the old 4-speed.
As for diesels, you can either get the 3-cylinder 1.1-liter making 75 hp or a 1.4-liter with 90 hp. If you can afford it, we'd suggest getting the "big" diesel because it has the most torque and gets the best mileage in the real world.
Hyundai has promised us that later in 2015, a new 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine will join the range, so you might want to consider waiting.
Surprisingly, there's also a practical side to this car. The i20 Coupe has a 336-liter boot, which is not only bigger than the MINI's, but also than just about any other supermini hatch. This is partly because rear legroom wasn't important, but mainly because the car is big, measuring 4,045mm from bumper to bumper.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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