Seeking small two-door coupe under $25K to replace Jetta
Anne Desjardins is a registered emergency nurse in Hamilton. For the past eight years, she has driven a 2007 Volkswagen Jetta City. The front-wheel-drive compact sedan suited her needs for her relatively short daily commute to the hospital she worked at until 2013, as well as weekend trips near Grand Bend, northwest of London, Ont., where she shares a family cottage with her two older brothers.
Overall, Desjardins has been generally happy with her Jetta. She likes its “city-friendly” compact dimensions. All of its interior controls are “simple and easy to figure out” and she is not a “speed demon,” so the Jetta’s 115-horsepower, 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine offers “just enough performance” for her driving.
However, after 200,000 kilometres of not-so-faithful service and getting to know her local VW repair shop all too well after the Jetta’s warranty expired, Desjardins is now ready for a replacement.
While many small-car owners are looking for more space and practicality and turn to crossovers, SUVs and pickup trucks, she is looking for an honest-to-goodness two-door coupe.
At one point in history, almost every model lineup had a twodoor coupe. But with buyers migrating to vehicles that offer more cargo and passenger room, coupes are going the way of station wagons.
Desjardins admits that beyond having two doors, her new-vehicle wish list is fairly short. She never really learned how to drive a manual gearbox properly and has no intention to start any time soon, so an automatic transmission is a must, along with heated front seats, a feature from her Jetta she is loathe to give up.
In regards to passenger and cargo capacity, Desjardins is single with no kids. There’s no need for four doors, but she would like a big enough trunk to hold the groceries and “stuff” she regularly takes to the cottage. Plus, she wasn’t thrilled with the fuel economy she would typically get with her Jetta. She’s hoping her next new car will be better on gas.
“I have also become addicted to a couple of satellite radio stations I have at home,” she wrote, so Desjardins is hoping to score that audio feature in her new coupe, too.
Finally, she needs to keep the purchase price of her Jetta replacement under $25,000.
Despite the dearth of new compact coupes available, I’ve been able to scrounge up a trio of 2015 two-doors: the Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra and Kia Forte Koup. All three are two-door versions of their respective (and more popular) four-door variants.
My first recommendation is the 2015 Honda Civic Coupe. Prices range between $20,519 (including freight and pre-delivery charges) for the base DX to $28,419 for the high-performance Si. All non-Si Civics come with a 1.8-litre four-cylinder gas engine that makes 143 horsepower and 129 pound-feet of torque. For $21,819, you can get a mid-range Civic Coupe LX that includes heated front seats and a continuously variable automatic transmission.
Next is the 2015 Hyundai Elantra Coupe. In base GL form, the Hyundai two-door starts at $20,594. It comes with a 2.0litre four-cylinder engine, with 168 hp and 148 lb-ft. of torque. The Hyundai includes heated seats and satellite radio for that price, so we only need to add $1,250 for the six-speed automatic transmission.
Finally, there’s the 2015 Kia Forte Koup. Although it shares a corporate platform and powertrain with the Hyundai, the Forte Koup offers more power: 173 hp and 154 lb-ft. of torque. Like the Elantra, the base model Forte Koup EX comes well equipped, meeting all of Desjardin’s requirements for $24,030.
Of the three, the first to go is the Honda. While the Civic Coupe’s 7.6 L/100 km city fuel economy estimate is the best of this trio, and it is rated at 6.1 L/100 km on the highway, Honda makes you jump to the $27,519 EX-L Navi to get satellite radio. Admittedly, you also get leather seating and GPS, but the Civic’s trunk is also the smallest, at 331 litres.
Next to go is the Kia Forte Koup, because it has the highest asking price, middle-of-the-pack trunk space (376 L) and relatively poor fuel economy (9.7 city and 7.1 highway).
We’re left with the 2015 Hyundai Elantra Coupe GL, my pick as the most qualified of this trio to replace the aging Jetta City. With fuel economy ratings of 8.3 city and 5.6 highway, the Hyundai two-door is slightly less efficient in town but better on the highway than the Civic, a compromise Desjardins can live with. With a rear trunk capacity of 419 litres, the Elantra can also carry the most cottage flotsam and jetsam of the three. The final kicker? The Elantra Coupe offers the same five-year/100,000-km factory warranty as the Kia, which is two years and 40,000 km more than the Civic — for $2,189 less.