Those who have read any of my car reviews, here or anywhere else, will find this one somewhat different, primarily because it does not follow my comparative scoring system. Please allow me to explain that from the outset, I did not consider it fair to compare a nine year old, £1000, car directly with the modern machinery that I usually drive, more often than not, worth at least twenty times as much. In motoring terms, for many of us, 2001 was simply a different era, yet, at the same time, many, myself included, would not regard any car manufactured since 2000 as actually being “old”.
In 1980, when I first hit the road, almost any nine year old car would have been referred to as a “banger”, words such as “shot”, “clapped out”, “rust-bucket”, “heap” and, more crudely, “knackered” would equally likely to have been applied to describe such a vehicle. In 1980 you saw bangers on the road everywhere now, thanks partly to much tougher MOT regulations, an ‘old school’ banger is a very rare sight in deed.
However, 20 years is a very long time in automotive terms and any car produced since the late 1990’s would display incomparable build quality, not to mention rust proofing technology, over its’ predecessor of a mere ten years before. I guess we can thank computer design and precise robotized assembly for all of this, but the end result is that in 2010 it is possible to buy a really decent, reliable and comfortable ten year old car for peanuts.
The following review is of, probably, a slightly exceptional example of the above, but it does prove that if you know what you are looking for, there are terrific bargains to be found out there. To make the most of this review you will need to abandon all notions of brand snobbery, after all a 3-Series BMW or C-Class Mercedes of this era will cost you far more to buy and run and, in all likelihood, will be far less reliable, and be in much worse cosmetic condition, having been thrashed by previous owners.
RICHADA MAKES HIS GRAND ARRIVAL......
......“What did they give you then?” Asked a curious Mrs R, stepping out of the shower and peering through the hall window to see what I had just parked outside. I had, you see, just left my Subaru for a 36,000 mile service at Gatwick Subaru, who are only a service agent rather than full main Subaru dealer. At Gatwick they actually sell Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Kia. Having never driven any of these brands of car, I was eager to see what they were going to loan to me, whilst at the same time actually desiring most to try a Hyundai!
“I’m driving a ten year old car that I doubt you’ve ever heard of, one of the ugliest cars ever to have been manufactured indeed......”
......LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO THE HYUNDAI ELANTRA SALOON 2.0 CDX AUTOMATIC
“How old? Well it doesn’t look all that bad from here, it’s nice and clean, there don’t seem to be any scrapes or dents!”
“Actually,” say I; “it really isn’t all that bad at all, it’s a long time since I’ve driven a car as old as that and I am surprised at how well it goes.
”
“What size is it?” She asks - Mrs R has never liked “small cars” and, for whatever reason, she associates the Hyundai badge with small cars;
“Well it’s plenty big enough inside (for five adults), a little more roomy than a Focus I’d say, probably a bit bigger outside too”. On looking it up the Elantra is an impressive 14ft 9ins long and a usefully narrow 5ft 8ins wide (4496mm x 1727mm). As a reference point a Ford Focus is 4337mm (14ft 3ins) in length, 1839mm (6ft) wide. Whilst interior space is indeed generous, boot space is rather limited, although can be usefully extended by folding down the rear seat, which splits 30 / 70 allowing a long load and two passengers or a wide one and one passenger.
CHEAP AND CHEERFUL, OR CHEAP AND NASTY?
Having guessed at a value of £1000, assuming it has a full MOT certificate, my next move was to jump straight onto eBay, and then Autotrader, in order to ascertain what one of these would actually cost you. My original guess was not far out, taking into account the low (51,000) mileage, you would need to add maybe 20% to that figure, at £1200 that is far less than you would lose on a comparable car, registered today, as you drove it through the showroom door. Keep it in this condition, drive 20,000 miles in it over the next two years and then sell it for the same price.
A very cheap motor then!
Interestingly if this were a manual gearbox, diesel engine version of this car you could double that price – ironic really as diesel fuel is now so much more expensive than petrol - although around town, 16mpg from the car I am driving is a clue to its lack of value perhaps. Having said that, once cruising comfortably at 75mph, back on A roads and motorways, the trip computer rapidly climbed back up to 27mpg, I would hazard a guess that 27mpg would be representative of day to day running, find one with a manual gearbox and that would be 30mpg.
I should not really have been surprised at the fuel consumption indicated by the Elantra’s own trip computer. A CO2 rating of 206g/kg is another indicator of just how far things have progressed over the last decade, the average 136bhp, 2.0 automatic would these days be registering around 165g/kg, although the latest 2.0 Hyundai Sonata’s 179g/kg is not much to write home about – that from a less powerful engine.
That 206g/kg is going to hit you hard on road tax – which has for several years now been based on the CO2 level - £245 is the charge for 2010/2011. My much more powerful Diesel Subaru only sets us back £125 yearly.
Group 13 insurance on the old 20 group classification is also going to cost more than average, although one would probably only take out third party insurance on a car of this age and value.
Whilst still on the area of costs, everything that I have read about Hyundai would indicate that their service costs are below average, a sheaf of invoices in the glovebox, kept fastidiously by this cars’ only previous owner, tends to back this up. I say tends to, as he worked for a local Citroen dealer who took care of the servicing, certainly the parts that he paid for, from wiper blades to brake disks and pads look very reasonable to me.
Bearing in mind that total service history and all those receipts, this particular Elantra would certainly be a safe bet for a potential purchaser, and I would have every confidence of it lasting for a good several years without requiring expensive mechanical work done. With a car of this age and low value, expensive mechanical work spells a final run to the scrap yard; however this one felt good for another five years and 50,000 miles to me.
DID I HEAR HIM SAY POWERFUL?
Well, yes, in 2001, 136bhp and 134lbs/ft torque (produced at 4500rpm) was more than class competitive and even today that translates into performance figures that are far from an embarrassment on the road. Although the steering is perhaps a touch heavy and lacking in feel, the Elantra is a relatively light and “natural” car to drive, the power and torque outputs suiting the four speed automatic gearbox. Even on a cold engine and gearbox, changes are acceptably smooth and the general air is one of mechanical refinement, at least around town, where as you would expect, the automatic is in its element.Out on the motorway and open road, things become somewhat more hectic. The handbook describes the top two ratios as overdrive gears, this is not the impression that I had travelling at the legal limit on the motorway. At 70 mph the engine is turning over at just under 3000rpm, which represents quite high gearing, yet your ears and, to some extent, accelerator pedal foot, tell you otherwise. This car felt happier cruising at 55 – 60mph, not being my car, and largely being in brisk motorway traffic, I did not exceed 80mph a speed at which I would describe the Elantra as noisy. Bearing in mind its advancing age, I did check for any exhaust blow when idling with a hot engine – under such conditions you are barely aware that the engine is running, so smooth and quiet is the tick-over.
Nobody who ever bought one of these cars new, or second hand, would have done so for the last word in performance and driving enjoyment, it simply is not that kind of car. However as smooth, dependable and comfortable transport, at the current value, it would prove hard to beat. Indeed the fact that these cars did appeal to a more restrained type of driver are the very reason for their continued existence – and in such good condition – now.
SAFETY
This is another key area of advance over the last decade in terms of car design. Any new car purchased today is going to protect you better in a crash than its predecessor ten years ago would have done. Before the Elantra ended production in 2006 the Euro NCAP (crash test) authority had awarded it a three star crash rating, even in its day that was below par. The crash test takes into account all factors of how the car deforms in a crash – the supply and efficiency of airbags – and ultimately how seriously you are going to get hurt should the worst come to the worst.
For a 2001 model, the Elantra is actually extraordinarily well equipped with air bags, front passenger and side airbags were only just becoming commonplace at the turn of the century and at this price level were still regarded as unusual.
Five proper seat belts are also standard equipment.
Dynamically I find the Elantra to be a safe handling car, even through fast, commonly regarded as dangerous, bends on the A23 south of Pease Pottage I had no reservations at keeping up with the faster moving traffic in the outside lane. The Elantra rolls surprisingly little through the bends, although, as already mentioned, the steering feel is lacking, merely replaced with a slight gritty quality along with above normal weight. In hindsight it may be that the power steering reservoir on this particular car could do with topping up. Mrs R also came up with the extraordinarily perceptive suggestion that on better tyres (than the Hankook’s that this car had from new) this car could actually be transformed – especially in terms of road noise, probably braking performance and steering feel too.
THE BELLS AND WHISTLES
At around £13,000 new in March 2001, this top of the range CDX Elantra must have been by far and away the best equipped car you could buy – for anywhere near that price. Items of equipment that are vastly expensive options on many quite expensive cars today came as standard here, including metallic paint, an electric sun roof AND full leather interior. Many items such as alloy wheels, fog lights, all electric windows, electric mirrors and a CD player which we tend to regard as the norm, certainly were not in 2001, yet this car had the lot! I was particularly surprised to note the multi-adjustable driver’s seat, lumbar support, separate tilt control front and rear; along with the adjustable steering column (reach not height); you are able to achieve a very good and comfortable driving position. Surrounded in all that leather, not only on the seats but the door panels, steering wheel and gearlever, you feel cosseted, in a sense, in a way that you would not in a German car costing three times as much, but then the Korean’s who designed and built this car obviously had very different ideas to the European manufacturers who they now strive to copy – and beat – in sales terms.
The downside is that the interior and, to a lesser extent, exterior styling, is highly 1980’s Toyota Carina / Avensis derivative. The basics are right, the Elantra has a very good driving position, fine visibility to the front and sides, but seriously restricted to the rear thanks to a shallow rear window and spoiler mounted on the boot.
The dashboard, whilst attractively shaped and well stocked with instruments, is over burdened with that dreadful plastic fake wood to which I am so averse, the Koreans must have loved the stuff as there are swathes of it around the door mounted electric window switches too. The interior is very well planned with storage and oddments spaces, even the large central armrest in the back opens to provide a useful storage box – big enough to use as a picnic table almost. The front armrest has two useful covered hinged storage spaces, whilst the small glovebox is lockable.
BANGER OR BARGAIN?
It is hard to actually define the word “banger”.
I tend to think of a six to ten year old ex-taxi, star-ship mileage, nasty smell inside, no service history and driving with a tendency to pull hard to the left. The Hyundai Elantra, when new, was clearly a well made and finished car, apart from the clock, every item of equipment on this car works as intended, even the air conditioning, which was just as efficient as it would have been when new. A weekend spent with a decent valeting kit would have had this car looking like a low mileage two year old – especially inside where the upholstery, dashboard, door liners and roof lining were in remarkably good condition.
On the outside, a tiny graze on the front nearside corner of the bumper and a similar blemish on the nearside door mirror was all the evidence the metallic blue paintwork had to show for the fact that it first took to the road nine and a half years ago. I have read that Hyundai suffered with paint problems with this model, apparently with flaking of the lacquer coat, there was no sign of this, nor any evidence that any part of the car had been re-sprayed at any time during its lifetime. Truly this car was a tribute to its previous owner, but also to Hyundai who produced it in the first place.Those of you my age, or older, may well have raised an eyebrow by now that the dreaded “R” word has singularly failed to appear in this review. Ten years ago, show me a ten year old car without a spot of rust on it and I would have shown you a near miracle. In 2010, show me a car made in 2000 that is rusty and I’ll show you a car that has not been cared for properly by its owner. On this score the Hyundai is probably no better than any number of cars of its age in that there is no rust on it at all. Knowing old cars of old though, it still impresses me that modern cars are so well protected from the dreaded tin worm.
DEAL OR NO DEAL?
In 2001, when new, I would not have given the Hyundai Elantra, especially this one, an automatic, a second look, and for several reasons. Firstly, although being the “right” size, it just is not my “kind” of car. I am an enthusiast, I enjoy driving and particularly enjoy driving a car that is refined, yet handles well. When new, the depreciation on this car would have been crippling, although the owner, by holding onto it for nine years, has undoubtedly negated that. So far, four and a half years is the longest that I have run a car. Given a choice of new car I would have chosen something more fuel efficient – even then, in 2001, my 2.5 litre V6 Vauxhall Omega was averaging better consumption than this far less powerful, less refined car can manage.
A simple rule of thumb amongst car buffs states that a really good car when new will remain a really good one after 10 years. The Elantra was not a really good car new, but I am going to argue that it is an exception to the rule. As a well cared for car, after all these years, this one makes an awful lot of sense and represents a great deal of very well equipped car for the money.
The fact that I found no real fault with it, or hardship in driving it, in a wide variety of driving conditions, and that Mrs R was quite comfortable travelling in it too, tell me that under the right circumstances I could offer a very strong argument in favour of purchasing this car. That is not to say that I would have done so when it was new, to this day I would still be very wary of recommending larger Hyundai or Kia models, although their smaller cars have become more than class competitive. Now it is just a matter of waiting a couple of years for their image to catch up with the reality.
A LESSON FROM RICHADA IN BANGEROMICS 
Great review!