warp08
Getting familiar with the group...
Cool Edmunds article, lots of new photos
edit by Admin: Please add some of the article to posts when you link to reviews at other sites.. Thank you..
P.S. Are we already having this discussion in another thread? I could have sworn this was already posted but I can't find it at the moment...
We hang a right and head west onto the 10 freeway in Santa Monica toward the beach. The on-ramp is downhill, two lanes wide and drag-strip straight.
Suddenly I'm pinned to the large leather seat as the 2011 Hyundai Equus downshifts from 6th gear to 2nd and its 368-horsepower 4.6-liter Lambda V8 yanks the big sedan toward the Pacific. I look at the tach. Its needle is sweeping quickly through its arc as a muted V8 rumble chases us from behind. At 6,500 rpm, the transmission delivers a quick but smooth upshift just as we reach the traffic lanes of Interstate 10.
"Is that floored?" I ask, one eye still on the dials.
"That's floored," says John Krafcik.
He should know — he's driving. The left seat of the Equus is still off-limits to American journalists. But Krafcik is more than just our chauffeur; he's the president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America, and the man basking in the glow of the company's recent success. He's also the guy who's going to sell the Equus in the United States, taking Hyundai north of the $50,000 barrier for the first time.
On Sale in a Year
With John's right foot still buried in the thick carpet of the Equus, the sedan delivers another smooth shift at redline. I check the speedometer; it's reading about 140 and climbing. Can't be, I think to myself. The car feels quick, but not that quick. I clutch the door panel while my brain tries to catch up. Then I realize the speedometer is in kilometers per hour, so I start doing math.
Krafcik keeps his foot down and his mouth moving. "The car is still about a year away," he says, talking about the possible timetable for the introduction of the Korean-built luxury sedan in the U.S. "And we'll most likely sell it here as the Equus." Equus is Latin for "horse," and the car's entry into the U.S. market has been the worst kept secret since Henry Ford leaked word about the flathead V8 back in 1931. We're told the official official announcement of the car's sales future in the U.S. will come in mid-August.
Read more...
edit by Admin: Please add some of the article to posts when you link to reviews at other sites.. Thank you..
P.S. Are we already having this discussion in another thread? I could have sworn this was already posted but I can't find it at the moment...
We hang a right and head west onto the 10 freeway in Santa Monica toward the beach. The on-ramp is downhill, two lanes wide and drag-strip straight.
Suddenly I'm pinned to the large leather seat as the 2011 Hyundai Equus downshifts from 6th gear to 2nd and its 368-horsepower 4.6-liter Lambda V8 yanks the big sedan toward the Pacific. I look at the tach. Its needle is sweeping quickly through its arc as a muted V8 rumble chases us from behind. At 6,500 rpm, the transmission delivers a quick but smooth upshift just as we reach the traffic lanes of Interstate 10.
"Is that floored?" I ask, one eye still on the dials.
"That's floored," says John Krafcik.
He should know — he's driving. The left seat of the Equus is still off-limits to American journalists. But Krafcik is more than just our chauffeur; he's the president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America, and the man basking in the glow of the company's recent success. He's also the guy who's going to sell the Equus in the United States, taking Hyundai north of the $50,000 barrier for the first time.
On Sale in a Year
With John's right foot still buried in the thick carpet of the Equus, the sedan delivers another smooth shift at redline. I check the speedometer; it's reading about 140 and climbing. Can't be, I think to myself. The car feels quick, but not that quick. I clutch the door panel while my brain tries to catch up. Then I realize the speedometer is in kilometers per hour, so I start doing math.
Krafcik keeps his foot down and his mouth moving. "The car is still about a year away," he says, talking about the possible timetable for the introduction of the Korean-built luxury sedan in the U.S. "And we'll most likely sell it here as the Equus." Equus is Latin for "horse," and the car's entry into the U.S. market has been the worst kept secret since Henry Ford leaked word about the flathead V8 back in 1931. We're told the official official announcement of the car's sales future in the U.S. will come in mid-August.
Read more...
