The interior is functional and attractive. The formed foam seats are firm, supportive and comfortable, with thigh bolsters that provide good side support during hard cornering. The base model is comfortable, but the FX benefits from a driver's seat with tilt adjustment, lumbar support and fabric accents.
There is ample leg, head and shoulder room up front. The wraparound contoured dash makes the driver feel like a pilot without inducing claustrophobia. Attractive curves over the top of the vents are reminiscent of bygone era of sports cars. The ventilation controls are big Lexus-like knobs that we found easy to operate when the car is moving.
Power windows are standard on both models. The big ovoid speedometer and tachometer are stylish, as well as highly legible. Slender front roof pillars contribute to excellent forward visibility, a view enhanced by bulging front fenders clearly visible from the front seats. The back seats are roomier than those in the Celica or Eclipse. Three of us plus a huge load of camera equipment, test equipment and luggage were comfortable in a lengthy morning rush ride drive around downtown Montreal.
We give the interior a big thumbs up.
The trunk is surprisingly roomy. The Tiburon offers more trunk space than the Sunfire, but not as much as the Eclipse. It swallowed a king-size presentation portfolio laid flat, the passenger car equivalent of putting a sheet of plywood in the back of a pickup truck.
A day turning hot laps at Autodrome St. Eustache, a small road racing circuit north of Montreal, impressed us with the handling and overall performance of the Tiburon. Predictable handling at the limit -- even while braking and turning at the same time -- make the Tiburon a lot of fun to drive.
The 2.0-liter engine provides quick acceleration on back roads and plenty of torque for cruising around town. It employs double overhead cams, 16 valves, electronic fuel injection and a distributorless ignition system. A knock control system permits a high 10.3:1 compression ratio for improved output and a modified pentroof combustion chamber with a tumble port design and dual-aperture spray injectors provide optimum responsiveness and performance while reducing emissions. Hyundai worked hard to minimize friction and vibration by using lightweight parts, silicon-impregnated pistons and fluid-damped engine mounts. While it's neither the smoothest nor the quietest engine on the market, it falls well within acceptable bounds.
Hyundai definitely did its homework on the Tiburon's chassis. It's among the stiffest in its class, which is probably why the Tiburon weighs a bit more than some of its competitors. Chassis stiffness is where agile handling starts, and we were very favorably impressed with the Tiburon's athletic responses in quick maneuvers.
Even in extreme lane-change and slalom exercises, the car felt balanced and stable, and the power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering is quick and accurate. The Tiburon is one of those cars that made us go out of our way to give it some exercise on favored stretches of winding back roads, something that can't be said for some of its competitors.
If there's any downside to the Tiburon's dynamic traits, it lies in the action of the five-speed manual gearbox, which feels less precise than some others in this class. In particular, low-speed downshifts into first gear can be a challenge. Making a proper upshift in hard low-speed cornering also requires a little extra care, a trait that's not at all uncommon in small front-drive hot rods such as this.
However, at higher speeds the gearbox works fine and the gearing is well suited to the engine's power characteristics. The optional $650 four-speed automatic takes much of the sport out of this--or any--sport coupe, but the 140-horsepower engine offers sufficient torque to work well with the automatic.