If the VW Scirocco is too much too handle, and the French's Renault Megane is not in your list due to lack of service centres, then you could give Hyundai Veloster a chance to fun-fill your dream of owning a hot hatch. A 3-door design, which means you will get 1 driver-side door plus 2 passenger-side doors, odd and unique design. People can put their money down just because they like the suicide-door of RX8, and people will put money down for this just because of the odd number of doors it has.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, thus some will love the Veloster for its bold and muscular design. If you get me to rate it, among the Scirocco, Megane, and this, the Veloster slot in between, with Megane on top of the list. Scirocco, if you focus for awhile longer, you will see the shadow of the old Proton Satria at the rear.
Equipped with a 1.6-litre Gamma engine, with 128hp/158Nm on tap, this is unlike the real hot hatch. Veloster is a "hot-hatch-look" car, but not very hot in the performance. Though, turbo unit is available, there is no official price and word on this after they showcased it in the KLIMS in 2013. Luckily the Veloster is decently equipped, with a 6-speed transmission, 17"/18" wheels, VSM, HSA, ABS, and the bare minimum of 2-airbag. You are not suppose to put passenger at the back anyway in a hot hatch, so Hyundai could lower down the price by saving some safety gadgets here.
Interior is pretty standard Hyundai, with a sporty look supervision meters cluster, integrated 7" touch screen, good placement of USB connectivity access, bluetooth, panoramic sunroof, auto aircon, reverse camera, and best of all, sub-woofer and centre speaker for those "Ah Beng" that like to blast their ears out in this tiny space. For the fully loaded unit, it will take RM132k from your bank account. Seldom see one on the road...Hyundai has to do more to boost their reputation here in Malaysia, especially with expensive spare parts and inconsistent after sales service, not to mention almost no resale value.
The turbo unit as displayed will have a more aggressive front and rear, big mouth and rear bumper mounted lights. The rest of equipment is very similar, except for the engine, which could produce 201hp/265Nm. This make it a real hot hatch then! Especially if Hyundai brought in the Dual Clutch unit!
A Hyundai? For the affordable price, Yes! Worry later!
