No Surprise: 2008 Hyundai Tiburon the Last

With the all-new Hyundai Genesis coupe coming down the pipeline in 2009 as a 2010 model, the current Hyundai coupe, the Tiburon, will cease to exist. This isn’t really a shock, since there’s not enough room in the line-up for two coupes. The 2008 model year will be the Tiburon’s last, and it will stop production as the Genesis goes on sale in the spring of 2009, according to the Automotive News.

However, company executives aren’t calling the Genesis coupe a replacement for the Tiburon. There is a chance that a smaller front-wheel-drive two-door coupe could be sold right next to the larger, rear-wheel drive Genesis coupe.

We can’t say we’ll miss the Tiburon — its time has come. During the first quarter of 2008 its sales were down 28.7%.

What do you think? Should Hyundai produce a small coupe like the Veloster concept we saw in Los Angeles last year? That’s the one the company is hinting at. Or do you think it should stick to the Genesis coupe as its sole sporty car?

Cars.com Reviews the 2007 Hyundai Tiburon

The revised 2007 Hyundai Tiburon got a thorough thrashing by our staff, winding up in Kelsey Mays’ hands for the full Cars.com review treatment. The sports coupe is one of those models that’s often forgotten when talking about cars like the Mitsubishi Eclipse, Scion tC and Honda Civic coupe. After reading Kelsey’s review, now we may know why.

2007 Hyundai Tiburon Expert Review (Cars.com)

Friday Fleet Notes: 05.25.07

We’ve got a healthy list of staff reviews this week, as we’ve been flooded with some particularly interesting cars, such as the 2007 Chevrolet HHR Panel and a couple of new models from Saturn. Senior reviewer Joe Wiesenfelder gives his take on the Audi RS 4 and 2008 Saturn Vue that we recently posted full-length reviews of earlier this week.

2007 Chevrolet HHR Panel

I’m not sure who would buy this car. A florist in Malibu? A contractor in the Hamptons? Purely as a delivery skiff, it didn’t impress me. I hauled my mom and her luggage to the airport one morning, and the rubber floormats could’ve used some dividers to keep things from shifting around. We didn’t mess with the dual storage bins behind the front seats, but they seemed large enough to swallow a bag or two.

Not that anyone looking for serious storage would choose this. With a starting price north of $18,000, you could easily ramp up to a Dodge Caravan cargo van — it has more than double the room in back, and with the current discounts the outgoing 2007 model starts in the same price neighborhood.

Granted, the HHR panel has a higher cool factor than the Caravan, but some of its features have more style than substance. The two rear doors unlatch with the push of a dashboard button, but that requires you to climb up front first. I wish the buttons had made it onto the key fob, or — imagine this — Chevy had left the handles on the back doors. The paneled windows, meanwhile, make for a wicked blind spot. My advice: Change lanes reeeaaal slow.

• Kelsey Mays, assistant editor

2007 Hyundai Tiburon Prices Higher Than Outgoing Model

We’re not that enthused by Hyundai’s new look for the 2007 Tiburon, as it’s simply a cosmetic change to an otherwise unaltered vehicle. Prices for the new model went up — which is common for new models — but because there aren’t any significant changes to the Tiburon’s standard features, we’re a bit turned off by the $500 increase in the base GS’s price, now $16,595, the $700 increase for the GT, now $18,595, or the $800 increase on the SE, now $21,995. At least the SE gets electronic stability and traction control standard, but for an automaker that usually prices vehicles below the competition, the Tiburon seems strangely out of sync with the rest of the market.   

Related: The 2007 Hyundai Tiburon's Face-lift