Before you drive it home, stop off at the hardware store and pick up a chisel. Spend a few careful minutes working on your car's doors, and you just might hear the neighbours shrieking, "He's bought a Ferrari 456!"
That's the new 2002 Hyundai Coupe. A big hint of Italian styling cues (especially around the flanks) mated to good old Korean value-for-money. The Hyundai's got character all right, even if it doesn't exactly have the heritage. Even on the inside, the Coupe packs in Recaro-style sports seats, aluminium inserts and orange backlit dials. The highlight is a torque-meter, probably a production first.
Giving that instrument some work is the lithe 2700 CC V6 engine's 25 kgm of twist at a sedate 4000 rpm, swiftly followed by 164 brake-horsepower 2000 revs later. So you were expecting twice as much? Did we mention the Hyundai Coupe barely pushes the 1500-kg mark? Ah, now it all becomes clear. Scythe through that short-throw six-speed 'box, and you can shrug off 100 kph in 8.2 seconds before running on to 220 kph. No mean feat for a car that will cost a fraction of the scarlet Italian's
