Hyundai Elantra 2020 Review

Looking at the bare, year-to-date VFACTS data for October 2019, you would surmise that the Australian small-car segment is currently owned by Toyota’s Corolla, and certainly not the Hyundai Elantra.

The latest-generation Toyota, running at 25,462 sales in the most recent count, is credited with having a small advantage over the second place-getter, Hyundai’s i30 (24,104) – and a more significant lead over the new Mazda3, which bagged 22,219 sales for the period.

But the small car segment positioning is readjusted when you compare sales performances like-for-like.

Take the fact that the Corolla and Mazda3 embrace both sedan and hatch variants, where Hyundai has separate i30 hatch and Elantra sedan versions of essentially the same car. VFACTS lumps Corolla sales and Mazda sales together but that obviously can’t apply in the case of the Hyundai i30 and Elantra.

Combine them though, and Hyundai is lifted to year-to-date small-car leadership, around 1000 units ahead of Toyota.

All this invites some examination of what car-makers think of the relative merits of hatchbacks and sedans.

Mazda talks about a 60:40 sales breakdown favouring hatchback Mazda3s while Toyota, having just launched its four-door variant of the new Corolla hatch, can be expected to spruik similar relativities.

Hyundai’s experience with i30 and Elantra is nothing like that: the former accounted for 24,104 sales to October 2019 and the latter for just 2328.

All academic, really. But, in today’s tooth-and-claw market any statistical advantage over the competition, even if it might be short-lived, is savoured by car-makers and captures the attention of both the press and the statisticians monitoring the ebbs and flows of the industry.

Upgraded in late 2018 the Hyundai Elantra sedan is pretty much today’s generic small car.

Its price range spans $21,490 to $33,490 (plus ORCs) and with a mix of available engines and transmissions it can be tailored to light the fire of just about anyone shopping in the segment.

As experienced by other brands that offer five and four-door configurations of essentially the same vehicle, there are still customers out there who prefer sedans. The tendency toward quieter cabins, and the security that comes from clear separation of luggage and interior space, are often cited as factors overruling the unarguable versatility of five-door hatchbacks.

So what better way to check out the Elantra’s broad-spectrum appeal than having a look at the extremities of the range, from the entry-level Go, to the top-spec Elantra Sport Premium (pictured)?

The Hyundai Elantra Go, which starts at $21,490 (plus on-road costs) for the six-speed manual-transmission version, best demonstrates the essence of the company’s small sedan.

It uses an unadorned, normally-aspirated 2.0-litre four-cylinder producing a competitive 112kW at a quite lofty 6200rpm, along with 192Nm of torque at an also-high 4200rpm – all sufficient to move the 1365kg Elantra along at a respectably zippy pace.

Its only deficit when compared to some competitors is it’s a tad thirsty. It quotes 7.4L/100km where a lot of rivals sneak comfortably below 6.0L/100km, and also emit less CO2 than the Elantra’s official 167g/km.

More relaxed in suspension behaviour than the dynamic Sport Premium variant, the Elantra Go’s MacPherson strut/torsion-beam suspension and small 195/65R16 tyres make for a tidy, well-balanced and satisfying small sedan with no vices – neither in the quality of its ride comfort, nor its handling/roadholding.

The Elantra is a handy size. It runs a 2700mm wheelbase which is equivalent, for example, to Toyota’s latest Corolla sedan and sister brand Kia’s Cerato, basically equalising both in overall body length, height and width (4620mm, 1450mm and 1800mm respectively).

Interior space is competitive rather than class-beating and the boot, measuring 458 litres is, once again, par for the course among small sedans.

Bearing in mind this is the entry-level Hyundai Elantra, the interior – though awfully monotone in our review car – doesn’t scrimp too much on materials. There’s soft-touch surfacing on the upper dash and, as you’d hope, on the door armrests, a deep centre cubby with a cushy armrest and a clean, user-friendly dash layout with simple round instrument dials, a touch-screen centre display (no sat-nav here) and an intuitive array of control buttons on the steering wheel.

Downgrading the base Elantra are the key-start ignition, a lack of venting to the rear of the cabin and, behind the front-passenger seat, only one storage pocket.

What comes as a nice surprise though is that rear passengers are offered a centre armrest and the 60:40 split-fold ear seat conveniently locates its release buttons in the boot where they are available to give easy access to the interior. The 458-litre boot is bigger than the Mazda3 sedan (440 litres), and smaller than the new Toyota Corolla sedan (470 litres). And the boot floor, though the lining looks as cheap as chips, does conceal a full-size spare wheel.

A downside is that, if you want the safety technology that’s standard from the Sport variant upwards (it’s missing at Active level too), you need to pay $1700 for a SmartSense pack that brings camera/radar-based high and low-speed autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, rear cross-traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring and a driver attention monitor.

The driving experience, helped along no end by Hyundai’s utilising of Australian input to fine-tune the suspension, is one of solid predictability.

The nicely-judged spring/shocker rates, the well-weighted and relatively quick steering (2.5 turns lock-to-lock), and the balanced blend of engine torque and responses from the six-speed auto transmission all contribute to an unfussed dynamic nature. Just like Goldilocks and the three bears, the mix is “just right”.

It was also gratifying to note the review Elantra Go’s fuel consumption bettered the official 7.4L/100km figure, averaging out to 6.5L/100km over a week and at times dropping to as low as 4.6L/100km when there wasn’t too much urban driving.

If the base Elantra Go was characterised by its predictable, easy nature, the more tied-down and aggressive Sport Premium could almost be described as a half-way house to the highly-strung, 202kW/353Nm Hyundai i30 N hatch and Fastback.

With the power jumping to 150kW and the torque stepped up to 265Nm via the turbo 1.6-litre engine – familiar elsewhere in the Hyundai range – a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, lower-riding and firmer suspension, as well as a lot more electronic fruit, the Hyundai Elantra Sport Premium verges on visually spectacular via its sharp-looking 18-inch alloy wheels wearing 225/40R18 tyres.

There are no questions raised about its $10K price uptick.

The exterior also offers more glitz via added brightwork including chrome trims around the side windows and elsewhere, while inside there’s inbuilt sat-nav, a bit of added faux-leather on the seats (as well as power-adjustability on the driver’s side) and rear-seat passengers are oxygenated by vents set into the back of the centre console.

In addition to the go-fast additions, Hyundai’s SmartSense safety pack – well, most of it – is standard from Sport level upwards.

A funny thing about the Elantra Sport and Sport Premium is that adaptive, smart cruise control and high and low-speed emergency braking – though included in the optional SmartSense pack available for Go and Active variants – hasn’t so far been engineered for the 1.6-litre turbo.

Also, the autonomous emergency braking is low-speed only and is informed by camera, not the combined camera/radar system in the SmartSense pack.

Compensation in some ways comes from the greater urgency of the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission-assisted power delivery and the lower, stiffer suspension setup where a multi-link rear end replaces the Go’s simple but effective torsion beam layout.

The Sport Premium is responsive across the whole engine-speed range (the maximum 150kW comes in a bit lower too, at 6000rpm) and, though the lower-riding, tighter suspension is less forgiving, you would not call the Sport Premium uncomfortable or tiring to ride in.

It’s agile and nicely responsive to the steering with, for good measure, just a hint of turbo mongrel thrown in.

Quoted economy and emissions figures favour the turbocharged Sport Premium over the normally-aspirated Go as well. The claimed fuel consumption, at 7.0L/100km, compares more than favourably with the Go’s quoted 7.4L/100km, as does the 165g/km CO2 reading, which is slightly better than the Go’s 167g/km.

Hyundai says both engines are okay to run on regular 91 RON unleaded fuel.

Yes, the Hyundai Elantra sedan, in either entry-level Go form or as the sportier, rortier Sport Premium, is effective, competent and competitively-spacious in the Australian small-car segment and is priced more or less lineball with its four-door rivals.

It’s unlikely to ever approach the sales volumes of the Hyundai i30 hatch, but at least it’s there to offer a choice for small-car buyers who may be averse to anything with more than four doors that doesn’t have a boot.

Price: $23,790 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol
Output: 112kW/192Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.4L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 167g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP (2017)

Price: $33,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 150kW/265Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch
Fuel: 7.0L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 165g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP (2017)