HYUNDAI COUPETiming chain or Belt?

The Hyundai Coupe is a sports coupe (C-segment in Europe) manufactured by the South Korean marque Hyundai. It was produced from 1996 to 2008 for 2 generations —and several restylings—. Originally, the Hyundai Coupe was called Hyundai Tiburon. However, the Korean marque had problems when marketing this brand in Europe, since the name is already registered by Citroën.

The first generation Hyundai Coupe was sold between 1996 and 1999. It was sold with a petrol engine exclusively. The 1.6 variants were developed in collaboration with Mitsubishi, while the more powerful variants came from Hyundai itself. Subsequently, the RD2 model came with an exterior redesign. In Spain, this model is known as Bifaro, while in the rest of the world, the Hyundai Coupe RD2 is known as Turbulence.

The second-generation Hyundai Coupe / Tiburon arrived in North America in 2001, taking one year to reach the European market. This generation was equipped with much more powerful engines thanks to variable valve timing and V6 engine variants. Later, the model underwent a new aesthetic redesign, both interior and exterior.

In 2010, Hyundai decided not to keep this model in production, although it had an excellent reputation among lovers of tuning, thanks to its affordability despite being a sports car. Currently, its natural successor is the Hyundai Veloster, although these two vehicles don’t share the same philosophy. Other followers of the Korean brand believe it more logical to consider the Hyundai Genesis Coupe as the natural successor of this model.