Good value for the money

Update:
We have now driven some 8,000 miles. No complaints.

One note however. At speeds above 60 mph in intermittent crosswinds the handling is a bit "dodgy". Nothing bordering on dangerous, but you will notice a bit of a dip and swerve if you are really sensitive to such things.

In town mileage runs about 28 mpg. Highway and town runs about 36 mpg.

For the do-it-yourselfer, they have made changing the oil a snap with easy access to filter and plug.

The power of the 4 cylinder engine continues to surprise me.

4 people with luggage will max out the suspension. Still comfortable though.

I am continually impressed with how well thought out the car is, with nice little convenient touches about nearly everything.

As for speed, I have no idea how fast it will go (and won't find out) but it does 85 with little effort.

EASY to park.

Slightly noisier at high speed than our $30,000+ Passat but not by much.

Given the current economic situation, I am even sadder that GM and Ford seem unable to match this car. Is there something wrong with our training of engineers? I don't think so. Seems like bad decisions (more and more) by top management who are more (much more) interested in their bonuses than serving the needs of the public. I am looking forward to the "volt". Hope this is not another disappointment.

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Move over Toyota and Honda. Bad (and sad) news for US manufacturers. Drive a Ford Focus, then drive this. You decide. For some $2,000 less than a Toyota Corolla you get a much better car. More room, more zip, more comfort, better handling, MUCH better warranty, same mileage. I loved my 2004 Toyota Corolla, but it is 2008 and the competition has changed, and they haven't and they have raised the price.

We got the Elantra GLS with convenience package which seems to be more than adequate for our needs. This is such a nice car we may regret not having gone to the next model for $2,000 more and getting rid of our Passat.

To mention a few things:

Front leg and head room - more than adequate for someone 6'1". Reasonably comfortable.

Rear leg and head room - more than adequate for someone 6'1", quite comfortable for a rear seat.

Handling - a little better than the Corolla, not a sports car by any stretch, but adequate on windy mountain roads.

Mileage - We are getting 27 around town, 33+ driving on steep mountain roads, probably much better on trip, but in 4 hours of interstate driving you don't use enough gas to need to fill up and check.

Safety - Certainly one of our major considerations and the Elantra is very safe.

Power - I just don't know how they are getting so much power out of a fuel efficient 4 cylinder engine. I was concerned about an automatic with this engine since we live in the mountains, but I just came up the steepest one with the cruise control set on 60 and watched, and waited, and watched, and it just stayed at 60. Impressive.



We bought one because our daughter bought one in April (got a much better price than we did) and drives around DC and road trips and loves it. She is quite tall. Her experiences are the same as ours.

I have a friend who has had Hyundais for several years now and he kept telling me to try one. I did and bought it. My advice for you is to do the same. Try the competition and the Hyundai and decide for yourself. But with 5/60 and 10/100,000 you are not taking a big chance.