Hyundai Elantra Long Term Review – First Report

The reason I am making a comparison with the previous generation car is because we had the previous generation model in our long-term fleet and the improvements in the current generation model are immediately obvious. I am so used to driving diesel cars that I rarely need to make frequent stops at the fuel pump, but it is a given that petrol-powered cars are frequent visitors to the gas station. The Elantra is currently delivering a fuel economy of around 10 km/l in mixed conditions. It delivers a driving range of around 450 kms on a full tank of fuel in the routine driving cycle.

The 6-speed manual gearbox is a charm to work with. The cogs shift into position effortlessly with butter smooth precision. The clutch is on the lighter side, so driving in bumper to bumper traffic is not very stressful but I would prefer to drive the automatic, just for the comfort and convenience it offers. Having ticked over 1500 kms in the Elantra, I am munching the kilometres quite effortlessly. The petrol powered Elantra has immensely impressed with its performance, refinement and practicality and there is no denying that I am absolutely loving this car so far.

However, one of my concerns is the frequent visits to the fuel pump and I do miss the automatic gearbox when I am stuck in stop-go traffic on my frequent trips to Andheri and Bandra. Fret not, Hyundai does offer an automatic transmission for both petrol and diesel powertrains and the diesel-powered car is extremely fuel-efficient too. Moreover, the Elantra is quite aggressively priced as compared to its competitors and makes a compelling buy in the segment. That’s all we have been dealing with now, we will be talking more about performance and service related aspects in our next report.

Further Reading –

Hyundai Elantra Test Drive Review
Hyundai Elantra Video Review