Nothing has gone wrong with the car. I bought it used and it wasn't certified, but nothing has gone wrong. I drive about 700 miles a week and its run perfectly everytime.
I have the 5-speed manual version. It shifts quite nicely and has a good feel to it. It really should have a 6-speed; on the highway the engine can be a little bit loud and you can feel it labor a bit. I average about 40 mpg.
Its handling isn't anything special, and the steering is a little vague, but nothing unbearable.
Original reviewer here! I'm up to 54,000 miles and I'm still loving it! There are some things I forgot to mention in my original review that I would like to add.
First of all, I bring my dog around with me a lot, and I've never had a car with an interior that is so easy to clean! My dog sheds a lot and sheds all the time, but getting the hair off the seats is as easy as vacuuming it, no hair sticks to the upholstery! Plus my seats get stained a lot because of my dog, and getting the stains out is a snap! I just use a little carpet stain remover and a scrub brush and the stain is gone! In my previous vehicles it would take hard scrubbing and multiple times vacuuming to get the stains and hair out, but this upholstery is so durable and easy to clean, I love it!
I'm also very happy with how long my brakes have lasted. In my Ford Focus I owned before this, I went through brakes every 30,000 miles or so, and I don't make short stops and brake hard. I always come to a controlled stop and I never went to fast. I'm a very responsible driver I think, I almost never exceed 55 MPH on any highway and highway driving is what I do mostly, my cars almost never get driven around town, my Elantra doesn't and my Focus rarely did either. So the fact that I didn't have to replace brakes so often was a huge plus! Overall, I'm also more happy with the build quality in my Hyundai than any of my domestics. After driving this Elantra, I now see why domestic vehicles are in decline and the Big 3 are going bankrupt, they just don't hold up as well as these imports.
Just an update from the original reviewer:
My son has borrowed my car a number of times now. He has learned how to "pop the clutch." I guess this means to rev the engine high and then step off the clutch quickly and spin the tires. Something I would NEVER do, but alas, my son has done it a few times. The first time he did it was out of our driveway, (and yes I was quite unhappy with him for doing so) but still, I was surprised at it's power. It spun it's tires for a good 50 ft or so, smoking them like crazy. It was pretty amazing considering it's just a little 4-banger. And even with my son doing this on occasion, there has been ZERO problems. It's nearly bullet-proof this thing is! I plan to drive this sucker straight into the ground.
Original Reviewer here:
...Spoke far to soon. Car broke down on me today. Was going around a corner and easing back onto the gas when the engine began to sputter and die. Check Engine light started flashing at that point. I'm only at 56,600 miles. I'm not sure what went wrong as of yet. It's in the shop as I write this. I guess Hyundai hasn't quite caught up with Honda and Toyota as I originally thought. What's more embarrassing is that I had to be picked up from the repair shop by my son in his '95 Neon. First time I've ever had trouble with an import, but then again all of my imports except this Hyundai have been Honda's. I guess Honda is still king. Will definitely be going back to them next.
Would "popping the clutch" have anything to do with it?
"Would "popping the clutch" have anything to do with it?"
Original Reviewer here!
No that had nothing to do with it. It turns out I had a cylinder 4 misfire. The problem I was having had absolutely nothing to do with the clutch.
Original Reviewer again.
I'm at 58,000 miles. The cylinder 4 misfire has not resurfaced, and I haven't had any problems since. Will be bringing it in for a timing belt change, coolant flush, transmission fluid change and oil change at 60,000 miles.
The cylinder 4 misfire was caused by some water getting into the cylinder head and shorting out the plug wire (probably my fault because I checked the sparkplugs and might not have gotten the wire pushed down all the way. Allowing water to get in under the seal.) So after cleaning that out, I haven't had anymore trouble. Still very happy with it.
Original Reviewer again.
Brought it in for its 60,000 mile service (had it done at my son's tech high school, gave up on Hyundai warranty after the cylinder misfire issue, was treated very poorly by Hyundai.)
Have had no issues since the cylinder 4 misfire, and still very happy with it. Have been getting around 40 MPG, but I expect it will go up soon as I just switched over to synthetic oil.
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