G. Chambers Williams III: Hyundai moves up

An upscale SUV from Hyundai?

Yes, indeed.

Arriving now at your local dealers is the all-new Veracruz, a seven-passenger, midsize crossover that begins just under $27,000.

Hyundai says the vehicle was benchmarked against the luxury Lexus RX 350.

Now, I’m not ready to tell you that the Veracruz is quite as good as the Lexus, even though the folks at Hyundai are convinced of that. They gave me a chance to drive the RX and the Veracruz back to back for comparison, and the RX won rather easily.

But with prices starting $11,000 less than the RX 350, and with a similarly equipped Veracruz running $7,700 less than the base RX, the Hyundai does come across as quite a value.

That doesn’t mean that many of the 9,000 customers who buy the RX 350 every month would check out the Hyundai first, and perhaps choose it instead. Those who would buy the Lexus and those who would choose the Hyundai are entirely different customers and won’t be cross-shopping these two vehicles.

But when compared with two popular crossovers that Veracruz shoppers might consider – the Honda Pilot and Toyota Highlander – the Hyundai model still rings up as a bargain.

The base Veracruz GLS model with front-wheel drive lists for $3,265 less than a similarly equipped Highlander, and $3,712 less than the Pilot.

Here again, though, Hyundai has a hard sell ahead of it when trying to take customers away from the top Japanese brands. Honda and Toyota customers are loyal and probably wouldn’t consider a Hyundai any more than a Lexus customer would.

Where Hyundai is going to be successful with the Veracruz – and make no mistake, the Veracruz is going to be a great success – is with customers who cross-shop it with many of the other crossovers on the market, particularly the domestic models such as the Ford Edge, Saturn Outlook, GMC Acadia, Chrysler Pacifica and Buick Rendezvous.

Unfortunately, Hyundai is still fighting an unfair perception on the part of many consumers that its vehicles are somehow lacking in quality, especially when compared with the main Japanese brands, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda.

J.D. Power quality rankings in the past few years solidly refute that notion, but Hyundai knows it has an image problem and will have to continue to prove itself to consumers who have that negative view of the company’s products.

Those who have bought Hyundai products within the past few years, particularly since 2000, know better, and are among the smartest and most-astute car buyers on the planet. That’s because Hyundai offers top-quality vehicles at what amounts to bargain prices and also throws in the nation’s best warranty, which covers the drivetrain for up to 10 years or 100,000 miles.

The Veracruz is the third SUV in the Hyundai lineup, joining the entry compact Tucson and midsize Santa Fe. The Veracruz is built on a stretched and widened Santa Fe chassis to allow for a roomy third row of seating, letting it to hold up to seven people comfortably.

It has more total cargo volume – 86.8 cubic feet with the second and third rows of seats folded – than all of its direct competitors except for the Pilot (87.6 cubic feet), which has the edge because it’s built from the architecture of the Honda Odyssey minivan. The Veracruz even has more cargo space than the full-size Mercedes-Benz GL500.

It’s also among the most powerful midsize crossover utility vehicles.

Under the hood is a 3.8-liter V-6 engine rated at 260 horsepower and 257 foot-pounds of torque. This is a version of the engine found in the Azera, Hyundai’s full-size premium sedan, which competes with the Toyota Avalon.

That’s more than the 244 horsepower of the Pilot, the 240 horsepower of the Nissan Murano and the 215 horsepower of the current Highlander. (The redesigned, 2008 Highlander, which will arrive later this year, will have 270 horsepower, however.)

The Veracruz’s engine is connected to a new six-speed automatic transmission, another feature distinguishing it from its competitors, most of which have five-speed automatics, including the Pilot and the Highlander (both the current model and the 2008).

The six-speed in the Veracruz comes with a manual-shift feature, too, which isn’t available with the Pilot, Highlander or Murano (which has a continuously variable transmission with no discernable shift points).

Fuel-economy ratings of the Veracruz are nearly the same as those of its competitors. Using the 2007 EPA formula, the Veracruz is rated at 18 miles per gallon city/25 highway vs. 18/24 for the Pilot, 19/25 for the ’07 Highlander and 19/24 for the Murano. No ratings have been released for the 2008 Highlander.

Hyundai claims to have a quieter cabin in the Veracruz than the Pilot, with levels of noise and vibration that match or exceed those of the Lexus RX.

Safety is one of the strongest points of the Veracruz, which already has achieved the top five-star crash-test ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in frontal- and side-impact testing for all front and rear passengers. The Veracruz scored four stars in the rollover ratings, which is the highest any of the crossovers have received.

Standard safety features include electronic stability control with traction control, four-wheel disc antilock brakes, and side-curtain air bags for all three rows of seats. Hyundai is the leader in providing stability control as standard equipment on its vehicles, with 73 percent of its 2007 models so equipped vs. 42 percent of Honda’s vehicles, the closest competitor.

HTSA estimates that 80 percent of fatal SUV rollover accidents could be prevented by having stability control in all of the vehicles, and that with ESC in the entire fleet of cars on the road, 10,000 lives could be saved annually.

The Veracruz’s exterior styling is similar to that of several of the newer crossovers, including the RX 350, the Edge and Acura MDX. The car was styled by Hyundai’s California design studio for American tastes, but is being built in Hyundai’s home country, South Korea, and is sold in Europe and Asia as well as North America.

n other markets, the main engine is a diesel; but because of stricter U.S. smog regulations, that engine is not offered here.

Inside, the Veracruz has premium features and materials that give it a luxury look and feel. It is here that the vehicle has the closest comparisons to a more expensive vehicle such as the RX 350. Leather seats are optional, and there is wood-grain trim.

Among luxury options are a power rear liftgate, automatic climate control, a backup warning system and a keyless entry/start system like the one found in many luxury vehicles. The key can be left in the pocket; the doors unlock as the person with the key fob approaches.

The base audio system comes with a single-disc CD player that is MP3-capable, and it also has an auxiliary jack for connection of an iPod or other portable audio player. There are a couple of audio upgrades available. XM satellite radio is standard.

Also optional is a good rear DVD entertainment system, though. It has an 8-inch screen that drops down from the ceiling, and a pair of wireless headphones is included.

One flaw, though, is that no factory-installed navigation system is yet offered with the Veracruz. Hyundai says it’s working on adding an in-dash nave system as an optional feature.

All-wheel drive is a $1,700 option and is available on all models. This system can direct up to half of the torque to the rear wheels, and there is a lock switch on the dash that can force it into the 50/50 mode.

The car has 8.1 inches of ground clearance, which makes it suitable for some light off-road use; but as with most crossovers, this vehicle is a soft-roader, not an off-roader. It’s not suitable for the Rubicon Trail.

The Veracruz comes in three trim levels: base ($26,995, including freight), SE ($28,695) and top-of-the-line Limited ($32,995). With all-wheel drive, prices begin at $28,695. With all options, the Limited model with all-wheel drive tops out at about $38,000.

San Antonio Express-News
G. Chambers Williams III

That’s No Lexus, It’s a Hyundai

Forget the myth. Hyundai Motor is not a tiny South Korean manufacturer of cheap little cars. It is a giant — the largest car company in South Korea and, as a part of the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, the sixth-largest car company in the world.

It is a threat to anyone making cars, economy or luxury.

It can topple General Motors. It can upset Toyota. It already has bypassed Nissan and Honda in global vehicle sales. It is as determined as any company to rank No. 1 on the world’s automotive stage.

You can be forgiven for being surprised. Until now, Hyundai has done well faking humility — rolling out economy cars, wagons and compact sport-utility vehicles for budget-minded consumers. It will continue to serve that segment. Money is money. But there is more money to be made serving the rich — upper-income professionals who traditionally shop Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Infiniti, Lexus, Lincoln or Mercedes-Benz.

Hyundai wants those upscale dollars and is implementing an audacious, risky strategy to get them. It plans to build better luxury vehicles than any existing competitor and to sell those models at prices below that of any segment rival.

Cheeky? Yes. Possible? Consider the 2007 Hyundai Veracruz Limited crossover utility vehicle, which easily runs against the likes of the excellent Lexus RX350 — for thousands of dollars less.

I recently did a day-long, head-to-head driving comparison of the Veracruz and RX350 in San Diego and environs. There were obvious differences. The Veracruz, available with all-wheel drive or front-wheel drive, has seating for seven people. The RX350, also available with all-wheel drive or front-wheel drive, has space for five. The Veracruz has more standard equipment — including some that is usually optional, such as third-row seating — than the RX350.

In terms of crash-avoidance and impact-mitigation equipment, the Veracruz matches or surpasses all mainstream luxury vehicle manufacturers. For example, electronic stability control, side and head air bags, front-seat active head restraints, rear-seat head restraints, antilock brakes and electronic brake assistance are all standard on the Veracruz.

In design and creature comforts, the Veracruz — especially the fully loaded Limited edition — is an undisputed winner. It has a longer, more elegantly sculpted body than the RX350. Inside and out, it simply looks better. Inside, it also feels better — more spacious, less cramped than the RX350. The leather-covered seats are comfortable. (Thankfully, here, Hyundai jettisoned the notion that all drivers’ seats should fit the body as tightly as those in a race car. The Veracruz’s seats recognize that many of us are older and that our bodies are slightly larger than they were in our youth.) The Veracruz has every onboard automotive gadget imaginable, except one. At the moment, there is no navigation system. Hyundai has taken some heat for that. And the company is likely to respond by offering onboard navigation as an option in the slightly updated 2008 Veracruz. I understand the concept of the customer always being right. However, in this case, I believe that both Hyundai and its customers are wrong.

Go to a good consumer electronics shop. Look at the portable, easily attachable navigation systems. Most of them are more advanced and more accurate, and have more usable features than the best onboard navigation systems. But the portables, which can be updated more quickly than the fixed onboard models, often sell for half the price.

It thus makes as much sense for car companies to continue installing onboard systems as it does for them to install car phones, which have been surpassed in features, functionality and value by hand-held cellphones. Hyundai needs to save the money it’s going to waste installing onboard systems and use it to do something else.

But who am I to talk? Hyundai, as represented by the Veracruz, seems to be doing quite well following its own sense of what’s right and what works.

Consider the matter of engineering. The Veracruz comes with an easy-breathing, 260-horsepower, 3.8-liter V-6. It uses regular unleaded fuel. The engine is linked to a remarkably smooth six-speed automatic transmission. The comparable RX350 comes with a 3.5-liter, 270-horsepower V-6 that requires premium unleaded fuel. That engine is linked to a five-speed automatic transmission. Put another way, the Veracruz is less expensive to operate than the RX350. But it’s every bit as much fun to drive.

Still, the problem for Hyundai remains consumer perception. It has to get consumers into the Veracruz to make them believe. That won’t be easy to do in the luxury vehicle segment. Prestige is important to luxury bias. Fair or not, for the time being, “Lexus” still sounds better than “Hyundai.”

By Warren Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2007

Hyundai’s new 7-passenger Veracruz a sweet deal

Hyundai is positioning its all-new 2007 Veracruz seven-passenger crossover utility vehicle against venerable competition, models such as Honda’s Pilot and Toyota’s Highlander, boasting a better powertrain performance and more safety features, in addition to high-quality craftsmanship and sophisticated styling. Like other manufacturers, Hyundai clearly envisions a still-growing crossover marketplace in the U.S., as the South Korean manufacturer now includes three CUVs in its product portfolio.

On sale now, the new Veracruz is available in either front-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive configurations. The seven-seater may be optioned at three distinct trim levels. Hardly “entry level” in terms of equipment, base GLS models are outfitted with features such as electronic stability control, anti-lock brakes, 17-inch alloy wheels, air conditioning, a multifunctional steering wheel that tilts and telescopes, power windows/locks/heated mirror with turn signal indicators, remote keyless entry and tire-pressure monitoring. This version is impressively priced at $26,995 as a front driver and $28,695 in AWD format.

That same $28,695 entry fee gets you inside a FWD Veracruz SE model, which adds 18-inch wheels, power driver’s seat adjustment, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, auto-dimming exterior mirrors, front fog lights, roof rack and center storage console with the “Cool Box” feature to the already well-equipped base model. Hyundai Veracruz SE AWD models ring up at $30,395.

Anteing up $32,995 (FWD) or $34,695 (AWD) yields the comprehensive Limited package, which brings leather upholstery, power front passenger seat adjustment, heated front seats, a 315-watt Infinity audio system, power sunroof, power tailgate, automatic temperature control, windshield wiper de-icing, a conversation mirror and reverse warning. Chrome and brushed metal enhancements are also thoughtfully designed throughout.

Veracruz GLS models can be ordered with a $1,950 Premium Package that brings a sunroof, power driver’s seat, front seat heaters, leather wrapped steering wheel/shift knob and reverse warning. At the SE level, this package becomes “Premium and Leather,” commanding $3,350 while adding leather seats and an Infinity audio system, in addition to the GLS’s Premium offering. Additionally, a $1,600 Entertainment Package tacks on rear-seat DVD entertainment, a 115-volt outlet and a conversation mirror (to enable front seat passengers to see rear seat passengers when talking. The Premium/Leather gear is required for the Entertainment Package to be checked.

Finally, Veracruz Limited models get exclusive rights to the $2,950 Ultimate Package, which delivers adjustable pedals, memory settings, a power tilting/telescoping wheel, rain-sensing wipers, proximity key, lighted door scuff plates and the 115-volt outlet and the conversation mirror. Another $250 yields Premium Black/Saddle interior materials.

All models are powered by an all-aluminum 3.8-liter V-6 engine shared with the Azera sedan and rated for 260 horsepower and 257 pound-feet of torque in front of a six-speed automatic transmission. Continuously variable valve timing helps optimize intake valve operation, while the variable intake system enhancing cylinder “breathing” at both low and high engine speeds. Semi-active engine mounts decrease motor vibration and, as Hyundai gleefully proclaims, allows the Veracruz to idle with less noise and vibration than a Lexus RX350. The transmission includes sporty Shiftronic manual control, and fuel economy rates at 18/25 city/highway miles per gallon as a FWD vehicle and 17/24 mpg with the AWD system.

That electronic all-wheel-drive setup includes a lock mode splitting torque 50:50 front to rear.

The unibody chassis, MacPherson front suspension, multilink rear independent suspension, gas-charged dampers, front and rear stabilizer bars, 245/65-series 17-inch tires and rack-and-pinion steering ensure carlike composure and crisp handling over a variety of road conditions. The optional 18-inch wheels maintain the same 245mm width tire, but the aspect ratio drops to 60 (lower profile).

Safety equipment is plentiful, including dual front air bags, driver and front passenger seat-mounted side impact air bags, head curtain air bags protecting all three rows, standard electronic stability control with traction control and adjustable active front head restraints that help reduce whiplash.

Three-point seat belts hold all occupants in place and second- and third-row headrests are adjustable. Solidifying Veracruz’s safety are the five-star safety ratings in both front and side impact collisions awarded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

By Sue Mead
SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
April 6, 2007