Wheels in Korea

I forgot that I had taken these pictures, but this is the car that I'm driving while I'm here. Its called Hyundai Tuscani, but its basically the Hyundai Tiburon that was released in the United States for a few years. My version (pics below) looks about the same as the car at the link, except that its grey. I was thinking that it would look more like the Tiburon that was released in the states, however it's a bit different styling. The lines are a little bit longer but that reflects many of the styling changes that have taken place since that model was released. Look at how the Ford Focus has changed over the years... 2001 ... 2008 .... 2010 (thankfully they got rid of that goofy chrome grill...)


I've learned that its considered the "Korean sports car" since buying it, even if it really isn't all that sporty.... The vehicle has the 2.7L V6 engine, which puts out about 170 horsepower, which wouldn't be too bad, except for the car's weight and the automatic transmission. Because of these it's 0-60 time is about the same (8 seconds) as my ZX2 in the states.

The car is pretty nice though. Its got all of the creature comforts though: power sunroof, 6-disk cd changer in the dash, radio/cd controls on the wheels, AC (that you can set to a temp), etc. All of the things that my car in the states doesn't have. Overall its a good car, but I doubt that I would buy one with my own money. If the interior of the new Hyundai Genesis Coupe is anything similar to this I will probably take it for a test drive whenever I look for a new car. I have a bit more respect for Hyundai vehicles than I did when I came over, but not much more.

Driving in Korea isn't too bad either. They drive on the same side of the road as us. The biggest change is that they are more aggressive behind the wheel. They will tailgate and beep at you if you're in their way. And a turning signal means they are turning, not they are looking to turn, so you have to be ready for that. If you don't use it, they will assume you're going straight too, so watch for that. They do follow many of the same laws though. The biggest differences are that they will run red lights if no one is around and you cannot make a left turn on a green light, you have to have a green arrow to go.

They really don't speed though, maybe a few km/hr over, but not a lot. Definitely nothing like the United States. They are probably more aggressive because of there really aren't that many traffic cops on the roads. They work mostly in crosswalks making sure that its safe for pedestrians. They monitor speeding with cameras, which are most everywhere. However if you have an in-car GPS (like most people do) it will ding to let you know where the camera's are, so you can pop the brakes and not get ticketed. I don't know why they mark them, but they do.

Other than the car, nothing too much to report. My VISA process is still a mess, but hopefully that can get sorted out this week and I will know what's going on with it. I'll try to update that whenever I know more information.