Hyundai Elantra 1.6 > Reviews (2)

I bought a new Elantra Hatchback 1.6 GSi three and a half years ago and have covered about 20,000 miles. Previously, I had had a 1.8 Ford Mondeo for three years from new. Although the car was good to drive, I was dissatisfied with the reliability and the dealer service, and following correspondence with Ford decided not to buy from them again.

So I wanted a car with proven reliability above anything else and was attracted to the Five Year Warranty. The fact that there was a local Hyundai dealer helped even more.

The car had a lot for the money, £10,000, including Air Conditioning, Four Electric Windows, Remote Electric Mirrors, Electric Sun Roof, Metallic Paint and plenty of space - equal to the 'old style' Mondeo. I like the driving seat well back and often find this a problem in cars.

I have had the car serviced by the Dealer annually to maintain the Warranty, and so far there have been no extras. Costs between £140 and £190 per service. Most of the driving is local so there is probably a fair bit of wear and tear. The front tyres will need replacing soon.

I spend a fair bit of time in Spain and can compare the Elantra with a variety of Hire cars like Fiesta, Polo, Corsa and overall driveability is not up to modern standards. There is too much engine noise, 'loose' steering with very little feedback, and too much general body noise. But all this was apparant on the Test Drive so I can't complain. You get what you pay for, but the equivalent sized Toyota or Honda would have been 60% more expensive, and still not have that Five Year Warranty! Brakes are very good.

The main drawback with the car is that it uses too much petrol - about 35 mpg on the motorway and 29 mpg locally. I don't know whether this is a general problem with these engines, but as I do only about 6,000 miles each year I'm not too concerned. Three other snags, trip computer seems to calculate mpg in US gallons and rear brakes stick if left parked with the handbrake on for a few weeks - this sometimes takes a few days to free itself completely, and Bonnet Safety Catch fails to return automatically - potentially dangerous.

Good points:-

Five Year warranty - tranferrable to subsequent buyers
Reliability - tops Which magazine poll most years
Electric mirrors - for parking
Electric sunroof and rear windows - alternative to aircon
Air Conditioning - good in really hot weather and for demisting
Brakes - Antilock and very effective
Paintwork - no marks at all

Bad points:-

High Depreciation
Relatively poor handling
High fuel consumption
Engine noise
Imprecise steering
General body shake

So overall I'm still satisfied with the car because it does what I expect it to without any unpleasant surprises. A better buy may be a good second-hand one with two or three years Warranty because of the high depreciation. But even if you buy one from new, you've got relatively predictable costs for five years. I would certainly consider a Hyundai again unless I was a high mileage driver