From the June 2016 issue

It’s hard to think of a car company that is striving as fervently as Hyundai. Each generation of product isn’t just a leap; it’s an Olympic pole vault. A British consultant living in Seoul once told your author that all Korean engineers do is work, smoke, and occasionally sleep. If so, then their sacrifice is at least not without tangible results.

Take the new Elantra, which addresses our long-standing beef about the structural weakness of Hyundais. The old Elantra was a styling standout as well as a tidily packaged sedan with decent performance. But every bump sent shivers through the body, making it feel cheap and disposable. Hyundai heard our cries and fixed it.

View Photos The Hyundai Elantra is a sensibly powered, sensibly sized sedan with a sensible interior wrapped in a sensible exterior. Very sensible.

Besides some suspension revisions, the new Elantra uses almost 400 feet of structural adhesive to tightly bind the skeletal stampings, meaning that it feels much more hewn from hardwood than the previous car. Close your eyes (in the passenger seat, please) and the Elantra feels substantial and well-made as it hums along, sipping fuel at an observed 31 mpg.

We found other things to like: The instruments are clustered into a jaunty hooded binnacle that evokes old BMWs; big bins under the armrest and in front of the shifter recognize the need for clutter parking space but don’t compromise the elegant design; at night, the new body’s six-eyed-taillight signature will have Syd Mead jotting notes.

Running a 147-hp 2.0-liter four, this is not an overtly sporty vehicle, delivering 0.83 g on a skidpad and huffing and puffing to 60 mph in 8.5 seconds. But it flows with controlled roll from corner to corner and with steering effort that rises and falls commensurate with the angles. A sport/eco button can summon the mildest of sporty shift maps, but you won’t notice much difference. Firm brakes, the Elantra’s best performance asset, produce a laudable stopping distance of 166 feet.

Like all cars in this densely populated class, from the Toyota Corolla to the Honda Civic to the Chevy Cruze, the Elantra wants to be a mini mid-sizer. Which means buyers can now have most of the amenities of the larger vehicles but without the girth. That includes such formerly fancy equipment as radar cruise control, lane-keeping assist, and swiveling HID headlights. But at $27,710 as tested, this Elantra Limited is priced like a Sonata. Knock off the $2500 Tech package (a big bundle, including sunroof, navigation, and premium audio) or the $1900 Ultimate package (the aforementioned fancy stuff) if you want a small mid-sizer priced like a compact. Even so, in the $23,185 Limited you get leather seats, 17-inch wheels, and a power driver’s seat.

The back seat has good kneeroom, the trunk is commodious, and the new styling looks swift. The Elantra’s a winner except for one thing: a nauseating new-car stink so intense you can taste it. Best described as plastic puke, it infects many vehicles we get from Hyundai-Kia. Well, at least it gives those guys something to fix next time.

Specifications VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan

PRICE AS TESTED: $27,710 (base price: $18,985)

ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 16-valve Atkinson-cycle inline-4, aluminum block and head, port fuel injection

Displacement: 122 cu in, 1999 cc

Power: 147 hp @ 6200 rpm

Torque: 132 lb-ft @ 4500 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic with manual shifting mode

DIMENSIONS:

Wheelbase: 106.3 in

Length: 179.9 in

Width: 70.9 in Height: 56.5 in

Passenger volume: 96 cu ft

Cargo volume: 14 cu ft

Curb weight: 2967 lb

C/D TEST RESULTS:

Zero to 60 mph: 8.5 sec

Zero to 100 mph: 23.0 sec

Zero to 110 mph: 29.7 sec

Rolling start, 5-60 mph: 8.8 sec

Top gear, 30-50 mph: 4.1 sec

Top gear, 50-70 mph: 5.8 sec

Standing ¼-mile: 16.6 sec @ 87 mph

Top speed (governor limited): 122 mph

Braking, 70-0 mph: 166 ft

Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.83 g

FUEL ECONOMY:

EPA city/highway driving: 28/37 mpg

C/D observed: 31 mpg TEST NOTES: A sewing machine if ever there were one, but that's a good thing in this class. It turns in decent braking and skidpad performances with no drama.

Expand Collapse

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io