South Korean

Finding an affordable sports car with rear-wheel drive, a six-speed manual, performance aspirations and tuning potential has seemed like a Herculean task of late. The Nissan 370Z and Honda S2000 are solid sports coupes but break the $30k ceiling, making gear-heads on a budget frown. Scion has been producing fun and exciting cars that capture the tuning spirit for under $20k, but exhilaration from the driving experience there is not. It's taken an unlikely contender, Hyundai Motors from Korea, to bring to market a sport compact at a compelling price point which also serves as a launching pad for all kinds of modification possibilities.

Hyundai didn't just slip the Genesis Coupe into the mix as a replacement for the discontinued Tiburon, they hurled it into the product lineup while doing a power slide complete with smoking tires. You have to look no further than the press pictures taken at a track, as opposed to the typical scenic park (like ours), to see that there is no doubt that this model is aimed at 18 to 35 year old males looking to cause some havoc.

Here is a solid stop-motion video short done by the folks at Kia Motors to showcase the new Kia Soul. The car arrived on our shores in March as a 2010 model. Kia Soul Rock is a great ode to their newest MPV-style vehicle. The North American version of the car comes outfitted with either a 1.6-liter inline four-cylinder engine producing 122 hp and operated by a five-speed manual transmission or the 2.0-litre unit producing 142 hp mated to a 5-speed manual transmission with a four-speed automatic optional. The video shows a nice display of dozens of 2010 Kia Soul vehicles engaged in synchronized stunt driving with a few power slides here and there. Check it out after the jump.