About the Author:
Argus, Vehicle Interior and Exterior Module Development and Quality Control Engineer
Of the several MPV launched in 2021, Custo is the least famous. On the one hand, affected by the overall decline of Beijing Hyundai, Hyundai's new models are not optimistic; on the other hand, this is the first time that Beijing Hyundai has launched MPV products in China, compared to GL8, Trumpchi M8, Odyssey, Xena, Jiahua and other familiar names, many people are not familiar with Kustu. Judging from the sales volume of three consecutive months after November last year, the average performance can reach about 2,000 units per month, and there is no good market sign, so what is the product strength of Kustu that survives in the cracks? Today we take a closer look.
The front face gas grille of Kustur still uses the classic wing flap embellishment that is currently the most popular in the modern family, but the width of the grille is too large, and the horizontal connection with the shape of the headlights is not obvious. The bumper uses an X shape, but the upper and lower are asymmetrical, and the left and right upper corners extend upwards to Z, and do not expand horizontally, so these two factors make the width of the entire body much narrower than the competitors, but in fact, its body width size is larger than that of the Odyssey.
The wheel eyebrows are available in black and body-colored configurations, and the hub's branch shape will make you feel that this is an MPV.
The taillights of the Kustu are still in the very radical style of the modern family, with a whirlwind design running through the back of the car.
However, the stitching lines in the combined area of taillights, tailgates, and side walls are somewhat redundant, and they are slightly messy after matching.
The design inside the trunk is not like an MPV, more like an SUV, and there is no sunken space like Odyssey and Xena, the lower layer is occupied by spare tires and tool boxes, so the three rows of seats cannot be flush with the floor like Odyssey and Xena.
After entering the car, you will first see that the dashboard of Kustu is particularly flat, so that the front seat has a particularly wide field of view, the middle uses the popular through-type air outlet modeling decoration, the central control screen and the sub-dashboard are connected into an integral style, and there is an angle of deflection to the driving side, and the one-sided armrest is connected with the cover plate of the sub-dashboard, so that the entire line is smoother.
It can be said that Kustu still has quite fashionable elements in the design of the entire cockpit interior, which looks closer to the shape of an SUV or sedan, unlike the GL8 and Odyssey. Personally, I think that if you don't color separation in the position of the dashboard brim, it will be better to keep the same color as the top cover of the dashboard.
The width of the steering wheel adopts the latest design of the current modern automobile family, and the outer ring also uses the flat-bottomed shape rarely used by MPV on the market, eliminating the traditional style of MPV stability. The leather steering wheel that comes standard throughout the series is also a very high configuration, neither the GL8, the Xena nor the Odyssey have done this, but the overall size of the steering wheel is small.
In order to connect with the left and right air outlets, the size of the screen is designed to be a little small, more like the style of new energy cars.
There is a card slot designed next to the air outlet on the left.
Kustu did not use the current popular organ-style throttle pedal, or the same suspension type as ix35, from this point it can also be proved that it is borrowed from its ix35 parts, which is a reason why it has been complained by many netizens that "Kustu is actually the skin product of ix35".
There is also a storage slot on the outside of the glove box and a hook on the left side.
With the exception of the steering wheel and door panels, the rest of the places are decorated with false stitching.
Kustur designed this special geometric element to decorate the air outlet knobs, door handles and skirts. The air outlet knob can indeed enhance the texture through such decoration, but the design on the door handle is a bit of a snake.
Kustu's standard 10.4-inch full touch screen on the central control is not as large as the screen size of the GL8 and Jawa, and it is a vertical arrangement, which looks a bit small. But it's much better than Xena's mid-to-low fit of 8 inches. The gear shift handle has also been replaced by hyundai's latest push-button design. To its credit, Kustu is also the only MPV on the market that currently has a wireless charging panel for mobile phones in the front and rear rows. But there is only one choice in the atmosphere lights, blue, which is not as good as Toyota Xena.
The 10.4-inch large screen is full LCD touch, so many physical buttons in the front row are also eliminated, and many operations, including air conditioning, are touch operations. The UI design of the interface adopts the format of the upper and lower arrangement, and from the aesthetic point of view alone, there is still a certain gap compared with the multimedia display of several popular models on the market.
However, its large-screen design also has unique features, the two functions of rear seat mute and back seat call are placed on the main interface, which is convenient for one-click retrieval, and the addition of these two functions will also take care of the feelings of the rear passengers in the process of business use.
The armrest box of the sub-dashboard is very deep, and both Japanese and Korean cars like to use this cheaper mat at the bottom to dampen the shock, unlike the rubber pads commonly used in European and American cars.
Kustu designed a lot of features at the end of the sub-dashboard, but there was no multifunction display. In addition to the regular rear exhaust air outlet and charging interface, the secondary top is equipped with adjustment buttons for seat ventilation and heating, wireless charging function for the rear mobile phone, and two cup holders. There is also a boss button next to the occupant side seat, which crushes Odyssey, Alexand and Xena.
The right guard plate of the sub-dashboard is designed to be higher than the left side, but it is not sealed, leaving an opening, if you want to use it as a gripper, the width is a little too wide.
The front door panels of the Kustur are relatively simple, there are no complicated elements, but no mood lights match the dashboard. The surface of the bottom door bag cover plate is designed with many three-dimensional geometric shape decorations.
The driver's side seat of Kustu does not have a lumbar adjustment function, and can achieve high and low four-way electric adjustment except for the minimum configuration.
The height of the platform entering the second row is about 40cm, which is medium among the MPV sold on the market, and the elderly and children still need to use the gripper on the B-pillar when entering and leaving.
As one of the few MPV equipped with two rows of small table panels, the silhouette of the table board in Kustu is all hidden in the back of the front table and chair, unlike the GL8, which is high and has no electroplated decoration.
The width of the table board is not as large as the GL8, but it can meet the basic routine needs of simple dining, makeup, iPad placement, etc., if you want to put the size of the laptop is not enough. There is a slot on the far side for easy-to-roll objects, and a hidden cup holder on the left.
The wallet on the back of the front seat also has a small mesh pocket that can be used to store small items such as mobile phones.
Both rows above the low-end are provided with sunshades, but they are not as standard as the Xena and Jawa. The area of the sun blind is much larger for the race, but this hook is designed to face the outside of the car, which is not as convenient to hang as the design of the race.
The cup holders in the back row of the Kustu are designed in the middle of the door panels, which is more convenient for access.
The armrests of the rear seats are designed to be larger, which improves comfort but also sacrifices a little space in the middle passage.
In addition to the front and rear, left and right, high and low and leg rest adjustments, his back angle can be achieved through three buttons on the inside of the armrest to achieve a key to select the standard mode, viewing mode, sleep mode. Although the second row of the Kustu does not have a rotation mode, it can change the view of the ride by adjusting the height of the seat, which is stronger than many MPV.
The headrest of the seat is a wrap-around aviation seat shape, somewhat similar to the Odyssey's.
The left and right distances of the two independent seats in the second row can be adjusted, and even when adjusted to the maximum, the aisle distance into the third row is still less than 20 cm, which is a bit crowded.
When the second row of seats is adjusted to a very generous position, the third row still has a very large knee space.
However, the cushions of the three-row seats are relatively thin, the height is not too high, the backrest angle cannot be adjusted, and the comfort is not as good as the GL8 and Odyssey.
Since there is no separate air conditioning adjustment panel in the second row, the side wall of the third row seat has a separate air conditioning adjustment knob in addition to the cup holder and USB interface. In addition, the size of the air outlet can also be changed by rotating the button of the outer ring of the air outlet on the ceiling, and there is also a logo symbol of the switch on the air outlet.
In addition to the minimum match, Kustu is equipped with this large segmented skylight, and sitting in the third row will not look so depressing. The front section of the sunroof can be opened, and the rear section can only open the visor. The electric adjustment switch of the sun visor is designed as one with the lighting lamp, which has a certain texture.
The view of the third row of side windows is average and not wide enough.
epilogue:
In general, Kustu is not like a traditional MPV, there are many beautiful places in the shape design such as the combination instrument and the central control, but there are some ordinary body shape designs; there are also unique features in the treatment of details such as glove boxes, small tables, etc.; the surface treatment of the interior and exterior decoration uses a suitable area of imitation wood grain, black chrome, and high-gloss paint to enhance the texture; the additional functions of the seat, steering wheel, rear exhaust air outlet, skylight, sunshade and other components are relatively high. For 200,000, you can have a lot of features; in a body space that is not too big, the storage and riding space can also be well arranged.
Although this is the first time that Beijing Hyundai has launched an MPV model in China, it is better than the reputation of the previously sold more mature sedan and SUV products. In terms of fuel consumption, the official publicity is 6.9L, the actual measurement is about 7.0, the economic utility is also very good, and it is a good choice for family use. But the only bad place is that not too much sales is also a car is difficult to find, many places to pick up the car to wait for three months, some stores also directly sold the exhibition car, hyundai car although can not reach the point of price increase, in the hot MPV market is basically no discount, do not understand why Beijing Hyundai in decline is not willing to increase a little production capacity to meet market demand, may still be less confident in the future expectations.
Finally, according to the A (excellent), B (excellent), C (average), D (poor) grades to score it -
| Argus
Photo | Argus
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