Hyundai Take on the Establishment in Local Car of the Year
The Hyundai Elantra has just been announced as the North American Car of the Year, and I’m not surprised. In fact, I reckon it’s the hot favourite to win here, come the announcement of the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists’ COTY on March 14.
I suppose I should ‘fess up and admit to being an Elantra fan: my wife drives the previous version and it’s a great car for a suburb-bound working mom who specifically wanted a sedan and not a SUV/MPV/crossover kind of thing. The Elantra ticked all the right boxes and has everything you could possibly need. The 1.6-litre engine is perky and frugal and overall the car never fails to do what it is designed to do, and that’s get from A to B, if necessary with a full complement of gangly teenagers and their school baggage on board. We think it is pretty stylish too and it certainly doesn’t have a budget interior which was a trademark of earlier generations.
But the latest one really raises the game. For my money it is the best looking car in the C-segment and Hyundai has moved away from competing merely on price and now considers itself capable of taking on more established brands on quality and overall value. Yet it is still surprisingly affordable. This year’s COTY evaluation is going to be an interesting one because three of the cars in the competition are C-segment sedans and while not really direct rivals, it is going to be fascinating to see how the judges find some R60 000 of extra value in the VW Jetta 1.4 TSi (R274 500) and Ford Focus TDCi (R285 320).
The Elantra 1.8 GLS is priced at R219 900 and it combines sensible and stylish like no other Hyundai which has gone before. In fact, you could be forgiven for mistaking it as a sports car, so sleek is its appearance. Both the windscreen and rear glass are dramatically angled and a low roofline (some 40 mm less than its COTY rivals) coupled to a long wheelbase and short overhangs make it about as sexy as any self-respecting family sedan can expect to be. Styled in California, Hyundai describe the overall look and feel as ‘fluidic sculpture’ and that sums it up pretty well, the shape also endowing it with exceptional wind-cheating ability.
Even with its sleek and taut-fitting lines, the Elantra remains competitive in terms of luggage capacity despite being fitted with a full sized spare wheel, though the sacrifice comes in the size of the fuel tank - a modest 49 litres. Interior space is impressive both front and rear, and the choice of materials won’t offend snobbish types. Indeed, the cabin architecture and ambience is appealing and tasteful (though some may feel they’ve overdone the faux aluminium finishes) and appears to be of near-flawless quality.
The latest version of the four-cylinder 1.8-litre engine is impressive in terms of refinement and when mated to six-speed manual gearbox, there’s a gear for every eventuality. If there’s a question mark in the choice of drivetrain hardware it is the use of overly large wheels and tyres (215/45 on 17 inch wheels) which compromises ride quality as they are more than a little niggly on poor surfaces. But Hyundai isn’t the only one to bow to pressure from the marketing department in this regard, who seem convinced that consumers want ever-larger rubber which ‘fills the wheelarches’ - despite the replacement cost, weight and boot space implications inherent in a wheel/tyre combination of these dimensions.
But other than that, there’s little not to like. Factor in a 150 000 km warranty and a decently comprehensive service plan and to me it’s a no-brainer.
