HMT-Roger

With the mainstream market reaching saturation point, more manufacturers are turning to niche products to bolster the bottom line. The list of niche rides ranges from the Honda Crosstour to the Nissan Cube.

The latest entrant is the Hyundai Veloster. To say its avant-garde form attracted attention is an understatement. Some loved its sharp shape; most, however, did not. The most cutting comment thrown my way came from a rather prickly critic. He figured “the chocolate body had been left under the hot sun for too long transforming it into an amorphous blob.” Ouch!

The Veloster is also unusual in that it has but one rear door on the right side of the vehicle. While this extra portal does ease access to the rear seat, space is very much a premium commodity. It is very tight and, as such, really only suited to emergency use. There is little legroom (virtually none with the front seats fully rearward) and even less headroom. The sticker applied to the liftgate drives the latter home — it warns not to slam the lid shut before warning the rear seat riders to duck. As a result, the 60/40-split/folding-rear seat remained flat during my time with the car. This bumped the cargo capacity from 15.5 cubic feet to 34.7 cu. ft.

Read more: http://www.driving.ca/takes+2012+Hyu...#ixzz1imZUAj43