These days, it seems like every manufacturer in the automotive industry is trying to sell their cars based on the attributes of sportiness, aggression, and luxury.
As a result, the grilles get bigger, the styling gets weird, and the interior controls get confusing.
Not so with the Hyundai Elantra, which is a modest and handsome little car. Park it next to a Honda Civic, for instance, and while the Elantra doesn’t exactly fade into the background, it also doesn’t look like it’s trying too hard.
Achieving without trying too hard isn’t an easy trick to pull off, but the compact Elantra manages it well. Never mind the flash, let’s have a look and see if Hyundai’s compact sedan delivers where it counts.
Design
Previously fully reworked for the previous year, the Elantra still looks fresh in a market segment where many rivals look just plain weird. The worst that can be said about the Elantra is that it’s a little derivative of Audi’s current styling. At this price point (a little more than $21,000) accusations of imitation should be taken as flattery.
Yes, the grille is broad, beyond what the modestly powered engine behind it needs for cooling. Regardless, the Elantra’s recognizable “face” doesn’t look needlessly angry.
In profile, things are toned down quite a bit, with only a slight uptick at the tail lending a sense of sportiness. Chrome has been blessedly kept to a minimum, and my tester’s largest-available 17-inch alloy wheels weren’t oversized. Smart-looking, sharp, snappy, not overdressed.
Environment
Less perfect is the Elantra’s interior, which impresses initially, and then falls a bit short in the material department. In terms of features, everything you’d wish for comes standard from close to the middle of the range, including a heated steering wheel.
That’s a proper heated steering wheel, by the way, heated around its entire circumference as opposed to other manufacturers who tend to skimp on heating the top and bottom. Further, the heated seats on their highest setting feel like they could fry bacon.
Elsewhere, the Elantra’s reliance on a simple button-based layout is to be praised. The touchscreen is well-placed, with easy-to-use icons, and comes with Apple Car Play and Android Auto, making it easier to pair for smartphone functions.
The seats are comfortable but not over-bolstered. Rear seat room is adequate, although strapping in a pair of child seats showed that distance-to-seatback was a little on the tight side. The stalwart Corolla is tough to beat here.
Other niggling issues include a relative lack of USB charging ports (just the one, and a 12-volt power point), and a slight cheapness to the plastics used on the doors. For the most part, however, the Elantra is feature-heavy and straightforward.
Performance
Small-displacement turbocharged engines are all the rage – although not here. In the U.S. market, a 1.4-litre turbocharged engine is available on the Eco version, and it’s supposedly quite peppy. Further, the Elantra Sport is a hidden gem, far quicker than you’d expect.
The standard Elantra isn’t quite so spicy. It gets a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine making a reasonable 147 horsepower and a humble 132 foot-pounds of torque at 4,500 r.p.m. If you’re dawdling up a hill, you’ve got to get the revs up on the engine in order to keep the Elantra scooting along.
However, the six-speed automatic transmission is well up to the task (a six-speed manual is also an option), and if the Elantra isn’t exactly a rocket, it also doesn’t burn fuel like a rocket.
Handling is quite good, though not such that you’ll be testing the limits on a backroad. Instead, it’s suitable to the task at hand, and the suspension is nicely compliant. If road noise wasn’t a little too high, it’d be the perfect highway cruiser.
Taken all together, the Elantra strikes a decent balance between comfort and economy, leaving a sporty-to-drive flavour to the aptly named Sport model, and the GT hatchback model. That might not get the gearheads’ pulses racing, but it will please most people.
Features
The aforementioned Apple Carplay and Android Auto make the Elantra even more attractive to the tech-minded buyer – why pay for navigation when you can just use your phone’s system? However, if you want stand-alone navigation, Hyundai has you covered, with an eight-inch touchscreen system. Further, the backup camera is bright and clear.
Driver assists are also an available feature. Everything from forward collision warning to lane keep assist comes on the GLS model, making your Elantra that little bit safer.
The 2.0-litre four-cylinder isn’t power-packed, but it does get the job done in the economy department. Official economy figures for the automatic transmission are 8.3 (litres/100 kilometres) in the city and 6.4 on the highway. Hitting city mileage was relatively easy, even with the cold weather.
Green light
Lots of features; attractive design; economical.
Stop sign
Engine lacks zip; plasticky interior materials; road noise.
The checkered flag
A solid all-rounder that doesn’t overdo things – a crowd pleaser.
Competition
Honda Civic: We can’t rubbish the Civic’s wild looks up front without giving it a chance at a closer look. Canada’s perennial bestseller remains so for a few reasons: it’s great to drive, the resale is strong, and the fuel economy is solid.
Despite overdoing the styling a bit, the Civic is quick and eager even in the base model. The interior design is a little more confusing than the Elantra’s straightforward approach, but the quality is there, even in the way the doors sound when they close.
It’s a close matchup. Then again, when the competition is fierce, it’s the consumer that benefits.
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