A colleague of mine thinks the latest version of the Hyundai Coupé looks a bit like a Jaguar XK, but I must admit that wasn't my opinion when the test car arrived. The thought that went through my head, as the delivery driver rolled up to the front door, was that the Coupé could just about pass for a Ferrari.Ferrari fans will probably be choking at this point, but I suppose they're not the people who will be expected to buy the Hyundai. The Coupé is for people who want something which gives at least a hint of an exotic supercar, but which costs less than £20,000 and offers the security - as all Hyundais do - of a five-year warranty.This particular Coupé doesn't just look slightly Ferrariesque - it also sounds that way. That's because it's the one with the 2.7-litre V6 engine, and therefore sounds rather more purposeful than the 1.6- and two-litre four-cylinder alternatives. With a maximum of 165bhp available, it's also the most powerful engine in the range, though the extra performance over the 2.0 isn't enough to cover the considerable fuel consumption penalty of 6.8mpg on the combined cycle.But it does sound good, and that helps the mock-supercar feeling. So, I suppose, does the interior, but I never became used to how low the roof is, and if it hadn't been for the sunroof (which gives an extra couple of inches' clearance) I doubt I would have been able to drive the thing at all. If you're over six feet it's unlikely that you'll ever be able to make yourself comfortable in here.As with previous Coupés, the interior also boasts a trio of gauges on the centre console. Two of these indicate the battery voltage and the instant fuel consumption, which I suppose could be vaguely useful in some circumstances, but the third - the like of which I have not seen in any car that was not also a Hyundai Coupé - is more puzzling. It tells you how much torque the engine is producing at any given moment, and I must admit I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with this information.Despite the looks, the Coupé does not feel much like a sports car. The major controls just don't convey that impression - the gearchange (six-speed manual in this case - an automatic is also available) isn't slick, the steering feels like that of a much heavier saloon car and the brake pedal is spongy and requires a lot of movement before anything much happens (though once they're actually operating the brakes themselves are more than fit for purpose).I found all this quite annoying on the first day of the test, perhaps because I was already in a bad mood because of the lack of headroom. If I had been writing about the Coupé on the basis of a hundred-mile drive I would probably be quite scathing about it.Things did improve, though - or at least I gradually became more tolerant. Hyundai Coupés have always struck me as being more fun than you might expect, and this one is from the same mould. Okay, it's not thrilling, but it has a lot of grip, so when you're pushing through a sequence of difficult corners it hangs on tenaciously if not enthrallingly.In the same way, the 2.7-litre engine may not have an extraordinary amount of power for something of that size, but it provides a fair bit of grunt when you want it to. Any more would probably start to overwhelm the chassis, so I'd say there's a respectable compromise between power and handling here.Is it worth nearly £20,000? Well, that's the difficult bit. For the same money you can buy cars which are roomier, cars which are more practical, cars which are faster and cars which are much more fun to drive. Frankly, you can buy cars which are better than the Coupé in all four ways at the same time. But you couldn't pretend even to the most gullible of your friends that any of them had anything to do with a Ferrari. With the Coupé, you could just about get away with it. Engine 2656cc, 6 cylinders Power 165bhp Transmission 6-speed manual Fuel/CO2 28.5mpg / 236g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 8.3 seconds Top speed 137mph Price £19,585 Details correct at publication date
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