Hyundai Coupe SIII V6

The miles have flown by since our Coupe’s new arrival report just a few weeks ago.

With almost 1,000 miles added, the V6 engine now feels much looser and seems to have liberated a few more of those 162 horses lurking under the bonnet.

It still hasn’t transformed the car into the snarling Tarmac-shredder that its looks might suggest, but overall performance and the already good engine flexibility now feels more rounded.

But not in a way its 2.7-litre capacity would suggest, because although it sounds so good, the engine’s inability to deliver beyond that aural promise is slightly disappointing.

Ask little of the engine and all is fine. Up the demands, and “smooth though asthmatic” best sums it up. The SIII may be a coupe – but it’s no sports coupe.

Oddly – for a coupe – city driving and pottering is what the V6-engined Hyundai excels at: docile, even at walking speed; a light clutch action, and an equally light gearchange and quick steering with a good kick of initial acceleration are great assets in the cut-and-thrust of city driving.

Even over-the-shoulder visibility and rear window vision is good, as are those less-than-elegant door mirrors for keeping an eye on gutter-hugging cyclists and queue-hopping bikers.

A moment of déjà vu: a few years ago I was fortunate enough to run a Mazda RX-8 for three months.

The restricted headroom meant parting with the best part of £6.50 for what amounted to a short-back-and-sides haircut and then running the gauntlet of abuse from my wife for having done so. Well, it has happened again.

The Coupe steering wheel’s lack of any adjustment for reach is the main culprit: with correct pedal clearance and enough rake to the driver’s seat back for some headroom I then can’t reach the steering wheel.

My solution: folding back the inner sunroof blind and readjusting the seat angle just about alleviates the problem as long as my hair is kept short!

From day one, I’d been perplexed by the front left tyre’s hunger for a small but regular (weekly) dose of air.

But one particular afternoon the tyre suddenly looked alarmingly flat. After a close inspection, a small self-tapping screw was found deeply embedded in the tyre’s thick tread area.

In the past 12 months, I’ve had more than my fair share of punctures – and new tyres – so wasn’t really looking forward to visiting another tyre-fitting centre.

Unable to drive the Coupe in that condition, out came the jack and space-saver tyre.

Locating the jacking point was simple (an inward-facing arrowhead on the extended side sill points to the precise spot), but jacking the car up was another matter thanks to a non-cranked jack handle.

It took a full five minutes of inserting, cranking up by half a turn, removing the handle, re-inserting handle into other side of the jack spindle and cranking another half a turn – it takes less time to read this sentence than it does to action it!

Fact file

Price: £19,597 (£19,972 as tested)
Mileage: 3,120
CO2 emissions (g/km): 236
Company car tax (22% taxpayer): £120 per month
Insurance group: 14
Combined mpg: 28.5
Test mpg: 26.5
CAP Monitor RV: £5,700/30%
Contract hire rate: £463
Expenditure to date: £16 (puncture repair)