I would like to say it was just the little things that made the experience terrifying, but it wasn't. It's the whole package. Now, I will be honest and say the driver did not make the ordeal any less of an adventure, but the car definitely had a huge hand in it. We're talking NBA player hand big. At one point my friend tried parallel parking on a rather steep grade. On her first two attempts she began to roll so quickly forward she panicked and hit the brakes. The engine put so little power out at idle, that it did not slow forward motion. For the first time since my childhood, I became co-pilot to pilot and operated the hand brake.
With the pressure off, and the gas pedal smashed we successfully backed up the hill. The parallel parking wasn't very successful, but the 14" tires managed to take the rather brutal curb beating. Luckily she wasn't even close to straightening out, so it was solely rubber on concrete action.
I typically find freeway on ramps exhilarating, and one of the sole opportunities these day to give my car a solid kick at the power. How quickly we forget that on ramp mergers are a death defying act for some other members of the driving community. The small hamster wheel buzzes on it's hinges, the 175 wide tires holds on with the grip of soggy bread, and the body bobs amongst the monstrous seas of SUV's.
Sure, with America's greatest warranty it may be fine on its own for a while, but a single minor accident would probably take the entire thing out. I am confident in Hyundai becoming a real world competitor to Honda and Toyota very soon, but this was a reminder to me that some low priced base models are freakin scary to drive!
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