Hyundai
cars have come a looooong way since their introduction to this
country. I remember when the first Hyundais made their way into our
market in the early 1990s and during that time, there were not many
takers of the brand. At a time where Proton had cars on waiting
lists. Honda and Toyota were cars that people bought and where loan
repayment periods were less than five years almost everyone bought
what they could really afford or really want. So people went and
bought the three cars mentioned above, as well as some Nissans by the
dozens. Hyundai was still an afterthought. People did not see them as
real quality stuff. Even I wasn't bothered with this Korean upstart.
But
it wasn't the general public's fault. The earliest Hyundais were
horrid creatures. They had something called the Scoupe, which was
short for Sporty Coupe. It may have been called something else that
starts with an S and it sure as hell wasn't sporty. It wasn't even
remotely fast with the 1.5liter Mitsubishi engine that was installed
in it. They also made something called the Sonata for the full sized
family car category. It was categorically just as bad as the Scoupe
as it was dull to look at, had horrible plastics and somehow not as
enjoyable behind the wheel. As a means of transport, the Sonata of
the early 1990s was fine. But that being said, so was a horse cart.
However,
I must state for the record that times have changed. It has been
quite ingrained in my sometimes pessimistic mind that the Koreans
have not really caught up with the Joneses; the Toyota, Honda, Nissan
and especially the continentals like Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz or even
Volvo for that matter. How wrong have I been. The Hyundai i40 Tourer
I drove recently is a fabulous, fabulous animal.
