Hyundai Elantra

Description

Body
The “Korean origin” of Elantra is clearly revealed from its appearance. The entire body looks gentle and delicate, but the redesigned front face is very aggressive. The two thick ridges on the hood extend forward to the small and protruding water tank grille, giving it a strong sense of forward thrust. The redesigned wedge-shaped headlights are more sporty and aggressive than the Sonata’s peanut-like shape. The headlights even use what the modification industry calls “fog black headlights” effect, which looks very much like the modified version, but The radiator grille, which is squeezed by the headlights, looks too stingy. The polyhedral shape of the tail is a bit like Buick’s Excelle (which is of course Daewoo’s new nubira). Is it because Koreans have similar aesthetic standards? Or is it because Korean companies like to look for Italian designs? unknown.
interior
The interior lines of the Elantra are relatively simple, and the beige color combination looks very fresh. The center console and door armrests are also equipped with matte metal decorative panels, which looks very fashionable. The plastic parts on the instrument panel are of decent quality and don’t feel particularly cheap. Of course, if you look carefully at the faults, the assembly quality is still poor in some places. But generally speaking, the craftsmanship and quality are no different from some domestically produced European or Japanese cars.
The length, width and height of the Elantra are 4495mm, 1720mm and 1425mm respectively. Its wheelbase reaches 2610mm, which is quite outstanding among cars in its class. Its interior space is also at the level of its class. The interior width of the car is outstanding, and there is ample legroom and headroom in the front and rear seats. Only the headroom in the middle rear seat is too small, making it easy to bump your head. The reason for this situation is that there is a telescopic cup holder under the rear middle seat. In fact, it is better to place it in the rear center armrest.
engine
Beijing Hyundai Elantra series has two models equipped with 1.6-liter and 1.8-liter engines respectively. Among them, the 1.6l model is equipped with an in-line 4-cylinder dual overhead camshaft, 16-valve engine. In actual driving, the car’s power seems to be unsatisfactory, making it difficult for people to get a consistent driving experience. Someone once complained that even if the accelerator is pressed to the bottom and the engine roars, the speedometer still climbs slowly.
Relatively speaking, the performance of the Elantra equipped with a 1.8dohc engine is much better. Its displacement is 1.795l, its maximum power reaches 96kw/6000rpm, and it achieves the highest combustion efficiency while outputting a torque of 162nm/4500rpm at 4500 rpm. In the actual test, the 1.8L Elantra showed better high-speed stability, with a gentle start and softer acceleration. It could not show a strong sense of sportiness like its body shape, but its 12.3 seconds of acceleration from 0 to 100 kilometers was also impressive. There is nothing wrong with that.
Chassis
The Elantra uses a front MacPherson strut and rear multi-link suspension system, and is also equipped with air pressure shock absorbers, which are adjusted to be soft. When driving on ordinary roads, road vibrations are filtered very cleanly, and the cabin noise reduction is also good, so the overall ride comfort is completely comparable to that of a mid-sized sedan of a higher level.
However, the soft suspension will inevitably affect its handling performance. When cornering at high speed, the suspension with excellent shock absorption effect obviously becomes a burden at this time, causing excessive body roll. In addition to seriously dampening the driver’s confidence, it also really reaches its limit early. In addition, the soft suspension also leads to the inertia of the body, and the response to the steering wheel is delayed, giving people the feeling of controlling a larger car, and it is not easy to remedy a sideslip.
When it comes to design trade-offs, more models of this level may choose neutral chassis tuning to take into account both comfort and handling. If it is a European car, it will be more focused on handling. The Elantra holds high the banner of comfort, which is obviously more suitable for the needs of stable families.