Ride Report - '15 Hyundai Elantra SE
Nov 2, 2014, 2:14 pm
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Ride Report - '15 Hyundai Elantra SE
Just took a quick day-trip up to Burlington, VT. Was initially offered a 2014 Corolla, but upon begging for anything else, was given this. I thought I'd share with you all what I thought of it, especially since I haven't done one of these in a while!
www.hyundaiusa.com/elantra
Car Description: 15 ELANTRA N
Class: C - INTERMEDIATE 2 OR 4 DR
This car was in the base SE trim, without any real bells or whistles (other than the XM radio), with an MSRP of $19,060. I picked up the car with 4,217 miles on it, and added around 127 more.
I refer to the 2012 Elantra in this report several times -- you can read my report on that car here.
Powertrain: The Elantra is still powered by the 1.8L inline 4-cylinder "Nu" engine. However, its power output has slightly decreased since 2012, now only producing 145 horsepower and 130 lb-ft of torque. That said, it's still a somewhat peppy little engine. It is paired with a 6-speed automatic transmission with a nicely-responsive manual mode and an Active ECO driving mode.
Generally it's a quiet engine, but give it any real gas and you will certainly hear it. The gripe I had with the cruise control disengaging with the 2012 model is no longer an issue; however, it sometimes struggles to remain at the selected speed.
Even with the power output reduction, it's still rated at 28 mpg city and 38 mpg highway. Even with a majority of highway driving (and 90% of the driving with the Acive ECO mode engaged), I only averaged 30.35 mpg.
Ride/Handling: The Elantra handles as you would expect a cheap imported midsize car to handle: nothing special. It absorbs bumps in the road well, although at the expense of body roll when turning -- not quite Crown Vic status, but I'd say above normal.
The Elantra now has a steering technology program called "Driver Selectable Steering Mode" (DSSM), which has three options: Comfort, Normal, and Sport. I kept it in "Normal" mode for the majority of the time, and it was perfectly fine. It certainly didn't feel as light as the 2012 one did.
Road noise is quite intrusive, to the point that I had to turn up the radio volume on several occasions.
Interior: The seats are comfortable enough for a quick day-trip like I had. The Gray Cloth trim looks good, much better than the Beige cloth in my last Elantra. All seat adjustment is manual, except lumbar adjustment which does not exist. Two DC outlets, a single USB port, and an aux jack are present and accessible. Storage is also abundant, with slots along the sides of the center stack.
The gauge layout has not changed since the 2012 model. However, the clock and infotainment screens now have blue text with a black background, which is a welcome improvement. The button layout is also different, but still functional. Climate control knobs are now separated, and the air vents are in more effective locations.
That said, a lot of the interior still looks and feels cheap. The top of the dashboard is a softer, almost rubbery material, but everything else is hard plastics. The buttons to the left of the wheel look and feel cheap. The contrast between the glossy plastic frame and the matte plastic buttons around the infotainment screen wasn't well thought-out from an aesthetic perspective. The audio quality has not improved since 2012, but this particular Elantra did not have Bluetooth either. The sun visors felt especially hard and cheap, and the vanity mirrors are no longer illuminated. Finally, the top of the center console no longer slides forward to act as an armrest, much to my disappointment.
One of my biggest gripes was with the windshield wiper control stalk. If you flicked it up so they would run a single time, unless you guided it back to the off position, it often "fell" to the intermittent setting, which proved to be really annoying
The wipers themselves were also noisy.
Exterior/Design: The outside, on the other hand, looks even better than the 2012 model. I especially like the headlamps. The Silver paint suited it very nicely, highlighting the Elantra's sleek curves. The driver-side mirror also features a spotter mirror, which helps in negating the blind spot created by the huge C-pillar; unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the passenger side.
Features: This Elantra was pretty bare-bones, with only the basic features, such as a tilt-and-telescopic adjustable steering wheel, two DC outlets, a USB port, and an aux jack. Although not marked on the Hertz paperwork, this car did have active satellite radio ^
Value: On a midsize reservation that cost me $19.82 all-in, this was acceptable. Since Five Star renters are entitled to a one-class upgrade dependent upon availability, I was kind of hoping for something nicer, but this was certainly adequate.
Summary
PROS:
CONS:
In addition to that...
Final Verdict: It could be worse. What happened?
-J.
www.hyundaiusa.com/elantra
Car Description: 15 ELANTRA N
Class: C - INTERMEDIATE 2 OR 4 DR
This car was in the base SE trim, without any real bells or whistles (other than the XM radio), with an MSRP of $19,060. I picked up the car with 4,217 miles on it, and added around 127 more.
I refer to the 2012 Elantra in this report several times -- you can read my report on that car here.
Powertrain: The Elantra is still powered by the 1.8L inline 4-cylinder "Nu" engine. However, its power output has slightly decreased since 2012, now only producing 145 horsepower and 130 lb-ft of torque. That said, it's still a somewhat peppy little engine. It is paired with a 6-speed automatic transmission with a nicely-responsive manual mode and an Active ECO driving mode.
Generally it's a quiet engine, but give it any real gas and you will certainly hear it. The gripe I had with the cruise control disengaging with the 2012 model is no longer an issue; however, it sometimes struggles to remain at the selected speed.
Even with the power output reduction, it's still rated at 28 mpg city and 38 mpg highway. Even with a majority of highway driving (and 90% of the driving with the Acive ECO mode engaged), I only averaged 30.35 mpg.
Ride/Handling: The Elantra handles as you would expect a cheap imported midsize car to handle: nothing special. It absorbs bumps in the road well, although at the expense of body roll when turning -- not quite Crown Vic status, but I'd say above normal.
The Elantra now has a steering technology program called "Driver Selectable Steering Mode" (DSSM), which has three options: Comfort, Normal, and Sport. I kept it in "Normal" mode for the majority of the time, and it was perfectly fine. It certainly didn't feel as light as the 2012 one did.
Road noise is quite intrusive, to the point that I had to turn up the radio volume on several occasions.
Interior: The seats are comfortable enough for a quick day-trip like I had. The Gray Cloth trim looks good, much better than the Beige cloth in my last Elantra. All seat adjustment is manual, except lumbar adjustment which does not exist. Two DC outlets, a single USB port, and an aux jack are present and accessible. Storage is also abundant, with slots along the sides of the center stack.
The gauge layout has not changed since the 2012 model. However, the clock and infotainment screens now have blue text with a black background, which is a welcome improvement. The button layout is also different, but still functional. Climate control knobs are now separated, and the air vents are in more effective locations.
That said, a lot of the interior still looks and feels cheap. The top of the dashboard is a softer, almost rubbery material, but everything else is hard plastics. The buttons to the left of the wheel look and feel cheap. The contrast between the glossy plastic frame and the matte plastic buttons around the infotainment screen wasn't well thought-out from an aesthetic perspective. The audio quality has not improved since 2012, but this particular Elantra did not have Bluetooth either. The sun visors felt especially hard and cheap, and the vanity mirrors are no longer illuminated. Finally, the top of the center console no longer slides forward to act as an armrest, much to my disappointment.
One of my biggest gripes was with the windshield wiper control stalk. If you flicked it up so they would run a single time, unless you guided it back to the off position, it often "fell" to the intermittent setting, which proved to be really annoying
The wipers themselves were also noisy.Exterior/Design: The outside, on the other hand, looks even better than the 2012 model. I especially like the headlamps. The Silver paint suited it very nicely, highlighting the Elantra's sleek curves. The driver-side mirror also features a spotter mirror, which helps in negating the blind spot created by the huge C-pillar; unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the passenger side.
Features: This Elantra was pretty bare-bones, with only the basic features, such as a tilt-and-telescopic adjustable steering wheel, two DC outlets, a USB port, and an aux jack. Although not marked on the Hertz paperwork, this car did have active satellite radio ^
Value: On a midsize reservation that cost me $19.82 all-in, this was acceptable. Since Five Star renters are entitled to a one-class upgrade dependent upon availability, I was kind of hoping for something nicer, but this was certainly adequate.
Summary
- 1.8L I-4 engine (145 hp, 131 lb-ft)
- 6-speed automatic transmission w/ manual mode and Active ECO mode
- 28/38 mpg (regular fuel, 12.8-gallon tank)
- SE (base) trim
PROS:
- Looks cool
- Some improvements since 2012
- Responsive manual mode
CONS:
- Road noise
- No Bluetooth
- Obnoxious wiper control stalk
- Regression of some features since 2012
Final Verdict: It could be worse. What happened?
-J.
Nov 3, 2014, 12:13 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Bristol, UK
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Interesting to see that not all changes during a model's life are "improvements".
The Elantra has just passed the 10 million sales mark, making it 1 of only 10 model names ever to do so. So, it can't be all bad. I believe a 6th generation model is not that many months away - will Hyundai blandify the styling like they have done to the Sonata, I wonder?
The Elantra has just passed the 10 million sales mark, making it 1 of only 10 model names ever to do so. So, it can't be all bad. I believe a 6th generation model is not that many months away - will Hyundai blandify the styling like they have done to the Sonata, I wonder?