2011 Hyundai Elantra review

This won’t be an entertaining post, more of an informative one.  Sorry, fans of sarcasm.

We bought a 2011 Hyundai Elantra on March 31, and now that I’m 6 months into my ownership and almost 15,000 (yes, 15k in a half year!) miles into driving it, I think I’m ready to write a review.

Wow, I’m impressed.  We have a black Elantra with gray interior and the Limited Premium package, which basically means it has literally EVERYTHING you can buy in the car…leather, XM, navigation system, Bluetooth, iPod port, heated seats front and rear, sunroof, steering wheel controls and all the normal stuff like power doors, windows, ABS, etc.

I bought it at Dave Hallman Hyundai in Erie, and they did a great job just finding me the car, they couldn’t keep them on the lot when I was looking for one.  That’s the only reason I have the Limited Premium, I just couldn’t get another car with less in it – they weren’t around anywhere in the tri-state area.  Trust me, we called everywhere and checked the web.  They had it driven down from a dealer in Buffalo (2 hours north) and still sold it to me for less than MSRP and at a ridiculously low interest rate.

I wanted a Volkswagen Jetta TDI wagon, but New Motors in Erie (whose service department I love) wouldn’t budge from MSRP and was pretty cocky about it.  I have never, and will never, pay MSRP for a new car.  I understand supply and demand, and that you can get MSRP from the next guy, but I’m not that guy. It’s a shame, I threw a lot of money at the service department on my Volvo XC70 and would have liked to have purchased there.

Anyway, back to the Hyundai.  Here are the few negative points:

Rough ride – easily fixed by getting the air in the tires down from the factory set 40 psi (?!) to the recommended 32 psi.  Smoother, quieter ride, for sure.

Gas mileage – I bought the car because it was quoted at 40mpg highway, to as much as 47!  It’s possible, with a tailwind, no passengers, no air, and going downhill.  Or getting pushed off a long cliff.  Beyond that, the 40 mpg claim is complete bullshit.  I still average 31-32 mpg on my mostly highway commute with a ½ dozen stops.  I can get 33-35 on highway rides if I’m insanely careful on the start and baby it around 65 mph.  40 mpg, on any regular basis, won’t happen.  I was angry about it for a while, but I’m getting about 7 or 8 mpg better than I was before, so I’m over it.

Steering wheel - it’s fraying/peeling.  I’ve never seen this in my 26 years of driving many, many cars.  It has to be a supplier defect.  I’m told Hyundai will cover this under the bumper-to-bumper warranty, so I’m not freaking out about that either. 

So the car rides nice and looks GREAT for an econobox (seriously, have you seen these things? ).  Really nice looking car, inside and out, very stylish.  You’ll forget you’re driving a pretty cheap car.  The gas mileage is decent enough, the amenities are ridiculously good for the price. The warranty is fantastic, and one of the main reasons I ended up in this car.

I plan to have this car through the 200,000 mile mark if it stays on 4 wheels through the snow on my commute.  Or buy a winter Jeep and still run this thing over 200,000.  Now we're talkin'!