POPULAR SEDAN TWEAKED TO STAY A STRONG CONTENDER
Any time you check up on the top-selling passenger cars in Canada, the Honda Civic usually leads the list, while the Toyota Corolla takes second and sometimes trades places for the crown. But the third spot usually goes to Hyundai’s Elantra, a good little car that more than holds its own in the marketplace — and which, in November 2019, edged out the other two for that highest point.
A hatchback is available, known as the GT, but I drove the sedan, which has four trim levels with a naturally aspirated 2.0-litre four-cylinder that makes 147 horsepower. If that’s not enough, the sedan also comes as the Elantra Sport, using a 1.6-L turbo-four with 201 hp.
For 2020, Hyundai has swapped out the Elantra’s six-speed automatic for a CVT. Hyundai would prefer I call it an IVT — for intelligent rather than continuously variable transmission — but that ain’t my style. However, I will say it is indeed a pretty smart unit, and it’s set up so that it basically mimics the shifts of a conventional transmission, without any of that rubber-band feel.
The CVT is the sole choice on the upper three trims, while the base Essential trim starts at $17,099 with a six-speed manual, and can be optioned to the CVT for an extra $1,700. I was at the other end — right at the top with the Ultimate, which rang in at $27,549. The Sport can be had with a six-speed manual, or a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.
The 2.0-L engine’s power numbers might not sound that impressive on paper, but it’s up to the task — after all, this is a commuter car, not a sporting machine. The engine and transmission only get noisy when you ask to go all-out; the rest of the time, the Elantra is very quiet. The CVT also improves fuel economy. Previously, the Elantra was rated at 7.4 L/100 kilometres in combined city/highway driving with the six-speed automatic, while the CVT drops that to 6.8. I’ve got a light right foot, and during my time with it, I averaged 6.2.
There’s a button to change the drive modes, which include Normal and Sport settings, but there’s also a Smart mode that automatically adapts to your driving style. It’s a nice car to pilot, with its light-but-not-too-light steering, it smoothly tucks in around corners and it has a confident stance on the highway.
Lane-keep assist is standard on the two top trims, and combined with the adaptive cruise control that’s exclusive to the Ultimate, the Elantra obediently keeps its distance from the vehicle in front and stays between the lines. It’s meant to be a driver aid rather than autonomy, of course, but I found the lane centring to be so aggressive that the wheel squirmed unpleasantly in my hands. I usually kept it disabled.
The Elantra is a good-looking vehicle, too, with its sharp-edged nose and uncluttered rear end. It took a trip into the owner’s manual to find the exterior trunk release, which is cleverly hidden in the trunk logo: You push the logo’s top panel to pop the latch. The two top trims include a hands-free function as well. The trunk is larger than the Corolla’s, but smaller than the Civic’s.
The Elantra’s cabin is the smallest of the three, and the seats got a bit hard when I was behind the wheel for a couple of hours. The wide centre console can cut into front passenger knee space for those who like to sprawl out. Rear-seat legroom is relatively generous, though, and there’s room to put your feet under the front seats for some extra space.
Hyundai’s deal is to provide a lot of features for the price, and the Ultimate trim includes LED headlights, a sunroof, leather upholstery, an eight-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel, an eight-inch touch screen with GPS navigation, an auto-dimming mirror, park-distance warning, and wireless charging. Other items, found on some of the other trim levels, include blind-spot monitoring, Apple Carplay and Android Auto, satellite radio, and dual-zone climate control with automatic defogging.
I’m very keen on the simplicity. If a smartphone is considered a distraction, so should accessing all your functions through tiny screen icons. The Elantra has physical dials and big buttons for the climate controls, console-mounted buttons for the heated seats and steering wheel, and more physical buttons to bring up the menus on the touch screen — and when you’re looking for items in it, it’s equally easy to use. Bonus points go to a navigation system that puts the icons for guidance volume and route cancellation right on the map, rather than burying them in the “settings” menu as so many automakers do.
The Elantra feels solid and substantial but not heavy, and the new transmission gives it good performance while cutting back on fuel. Its Japanese competitors may have a stranglehold on the top two sales spots, but it’s not hard to see why the Elantra consistently rounds out the trifecta.