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2003 HYUNDAI TIBURON GS R

2003 HYUNDAI TIBURON GS-R. The Tiburon has a slick new skin—appropriate to say, since tiburon is the Spanish word for shark—for 2003. Hyundai took this opportunity to increase some measurements: 5.5 cm for the wheelbase, 3 cm for the width, 1.5 cm for height and 5 cm for the length. The best innovation is found under the hood, which finally houses a V6 engine—the same one that’s available in the Sonata and the Santa Fe. The Tiburon remains a frontwheel drive, and is available in the Base, SE, GT and GS-R models. As are all sports cars, the Tiburon is low-slung and has a small door opening, both of which make access more difficult. In fact, one has to be fairly flexible to be able to insert oneself into this car, especially into the rear seats.

The bucket seats prove very comfortable and the driver enjoys a very good driving position. Aside from that,headroom is limited for people of average height and up, while visibility is awful from ¾ behind, from ¾ forward, and toward the front right side due to the blind spot created by the side-view mirror. Further, claustrophobic people will be somewhat uneasy since the belt line is quite high. Elsewhere, the side-view mirrors that extend a bit toward the rear make life difficult for those of average height and below. Lastly, the rear spoiler can interfere with visibility out the back. It almost goes without saying that the rear seats are only for small people—and even then, just for short trips—since there is precious little headroom and legroom. Actually, this area is much more useful for storage than for passengers. The trunk is rather roomy and easily accessed thanks to the lift gate’s large opening and the reasonable liftover. Load capacity can be increased by folding down the rear seat’s 50/50-split seatback.


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