Hyundai Excel – Driving Test – From the Old Box

The English ‘to excel’ means ‘to excel’, so in that context the model name Excel was one that brought high expectations with it. In practice, however, it turned out that the Hyundai Excel was not really a star, although there were certainly cases with which the South Koreans scored points. To begin with, its price: for 26,295 guilders (1.5 GLS) you had quite a bit of car in front of the door for relatively little money. The Excel was a sedan based on the compact Pony and was on the market between the Opel Astra sedan and Volkswagen Vento. Of these, the comparable models cost about or even well over the fl. 30,000.

The Excel was also quite convincing with its handling. We wrote the following about this exactly 30 years ago: “The Excel stays on course remarkably well in fast corners and can be ‘put’ on the asphalt very neatly at the right angle with the accelerator pedal. The opening photo of this file illustrates this very nicely; a front-wheel drive can also go through the bend with oversteer.” The fact that the Excel did not have power steering improved the feeling in the steering wheel at higher speeds. At lower speeds, the South Korean was less easy to maneuver. A third point that we found positive was the appearance. At least, we were reasonably pleased with that in relation to the price of the Excel. The facelift that the Pony had undergone a few years earlier ensured that its sedan brother also looked fairly contemporary. In the interior, however, slightly less. Although it was nicely equipped, it looked ‘sober’ to say the least.

What further justified the price difference with the competitors was the motorization. In this case we tested the 1.5 GLS, with the 1.5 with a carburettor from the Mitsubishi Colt. A carburettor engine in 1992 was already somewhat of a setback. With its 72 hp, the Excel was not only relatively slow, the consumption and noise level were not necessarily a point where the Excel excelled. However, there was also a 1.5 with injection, but that reduced the price difference to the competition, of course. In that sense, this 1.5 was an attractive option if you could live with less refinement and especially liked to keep some money in your pocket. Then the Excel was certainly not a bad choice. He actually had at least everything you could expect for that money and was well put together. It was not a star, but a great car for a ditto price.