So true.... its sad to see the rwd coupe doesn't get the proper respect and love it deserves on these shores. Because of it we missed some great coupes from across the pond like the S15 Silvia ...what a beautiful lightweight car that makes outsanding power for the money. If that car was out here in the states, it would take a huge chunk out of sales from alot performance car under that 35k price bracket.

Everybody had there fingers cross in the Nissan community , including me when Nissan said they were going to bring us a sport coupe for this year, unfortunately it didn't come with a Silvia badge and RWD. Instead they gave us hopped up bloated Altima in coupe form....yawn.

 

My GF has an 06 tib v6 auto... that review while being for the 07 manual or whatever is overly harsh in their review... it is quite enjoyable to drive actually...i agree with them about driving the car about 7-8/10ths is the most fun cuz after that the limits in the car become too aparent(sp?)

I think a rwd tib is something good...and they had a good product as long as you were realistic with what you were driving

 

Speaking of being realistic about driving a Tiburon...

We used to have this guy that hung around our apartment when we first started college who owned a Tiburon. Said he was going to put in a new intake manifold, exhaust and turbo...and attain 600 WHP.

I'm interested to see what Hyundai comes up with. If the thing isn't a bloated monster and looks as good as the shape is implying (there seem to be some serious sporty lines to the camoed up mule), then Hyundai may have a hit on their hands as long as the cost stays near where it is now. Hyundai's vehicles have been moving along quite nicely, I'll be interested to see if they can actually put out a halfway decent RWD sports coupe on their first try. (old Tib was FWD sports coupe, in case there's any confusion)

 

turbo i4+rwd is already equating to pretty good potential

 

that's what I was thinking. The Q is what kind of "extra" lines did they cut into that overall style. There's a ton of . . weird . . looking bumps under those wraps. Not sure if it's just part of the camo, or actually covering up some of the "classic" tib contours.

 

I just traded in my 03 Tib when buying my 8 last month. The Tiburon community has been clamoring for this RWD version for quite some time. The beauty of the current model has always been the price range. When the 2003 came out its main competitors were the Celica, the Eclipse, and the RSX. All three were significantly more expensive for very little benefit. If Hyundai can make this a fun performing car, keep the weight down, and stay under the price of competitors they'll have another winner.

I loved my Tiburon, but it took some mods before I finally felt like I had a car that performed well. The aftermarket suspension made it very tossable, but it also made it harsh and exposed the shortcomings of other parts. Rattles and squeaks became a fact of life in everyday driving. And the 2.7L V6 had some nice torque, but the car still weighed a bit more than the 8, and without a very usable backseat.

 

looks like hyundai is going to beat mazda and the kabura

 

that sounds cool even if it is a hyundai, the world needs another rwd turbo 4 cyl car. hopefully they make it look a little better

 

There are at least 7 current and future cars that share that overall bodyshape. It's the new "safe" design look for sport sedans, enough to break from the Mazda6 or BMW traditional-box, yet nothing too daring.

 

Now you'll get to see a Tibby in drifting contests.
This is an impressive move by hyundai.

If Mazda doesn't get off their butts and turbocharge or supercharge the RX8, they are going to watch their wonderfully engineered car get its *** kicked by a piece of crap Hyundai on some Japanese TV show. That's just wrong.

 

Not if its going to weigh a ton or two.

We have a year and half till this car comes out and if you haven't notice, car companies are not putting there cars on a diet anytime soon. Its very rare to find a car now adays under the 3200 lbs mark these days. I am assuming this Hyundai will probally be somewhere in the 3400+ pound range , equipped with 300HP equates to a decent performer on the straits but weak in the corners. It would definitely need to be a torque monster like your GTO , to move that heft around or else the next Tiburon will be a ho-hum car.


Despite the lack of Hp in the RX-8 it is still very competive against many car with higher HP, but cars that also have a tremendous weight disadvantage. I for one have had my share in participating in some healthy runs with cars that have 50-100HP more but weigh more than the RX-8 and my RX-8 gave them a run for there money.

Those high HP numbers may look nice on paper and sell a ton of cars , but when a car weighs 3400+ lbs, real world application and execution tells it all.