FIRST DRIVE ~ 2011 HYUNDAI ELANTRA

LA JOLLA, Ca.: Hyundai intends to be the leader in the Canadian compact segment by this time next year.

At the press launch of the 2011 Elantra in California, Hyundai Canada president and CEO, Steve Kelleher, said, “this car is now the face of our brand in Canada.

“We expect it will become our volume leader, replacing the Accent.”

Kelleher said he believes the Elantra can, and will, knock off Toyota Corolla, Mazda3 and the perennial compact car king, Honda Civic.

Tall words indeed, but he is betting not only on the company’s record sales performance this year, but also that the Canadian public now equates Hyundai with value for the money as opposed to being simply cheap and cheerful.

The 2011 Elantra is the fourth vehicle in Hyundai’s 24/7 version 2.0 product initiative in which the Koran automaker plans to launch seven new models in 24 months.

Elantra is the next step in this plan following the

Tucson CUV, Sonata family sedan and Equus luxury sedan.

It makes the most of Hyundai’s signature “Fluidic Sculpture” design principles first seen on the Sonata.

But there is more to it than just the looks. It is also very aerodynamic, featuring a drag coefficient of an exceptionally low 0.28, comparing favourably to the Chevrolet Volt’s 0.29.

Elantra was designed at Hyundai's North American Design Center in Irvine, Calif.

Under the hood there are wholesale changes starting with the switch to the latest generation four-cylinder engine known in-house as the “Nu”. At 1.8-litres, it replaces the 2.0-litre Beta engine in the outgoing Elantra.

Also new is a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission that replaces the former five-speed manual and four-speed automatic.

Along with an overall weight reduction and low rolling resistance silica tires, Elantra achieves estimated fuel economy ratings of 6.8 L/100 km in the city and 4.9 L/100 km on the highway with the standard six-speed manual.

The six-speed automatic adds only 0.1 L/100 km to the vehicle’s city fuel consumption rating while the highway rating is the same.

Hyundai claims best in class fuel economy, power and power-to-rate ratio in the class.

According to Hyundai Canada, the new Elantra should be good for 1,000 km on a single tank of regular fuel.

The Nu engine develops 148 hp and 131 lb/ft of torque. While weighing 34 kg less, it achieves a 16 per cent improvement in highway fuel economy over the outgoing model.

The lines of the Elantra are interesting the closer you get to it. Looking along the flanks of the car, especially at the rear, the side panels rise and then tumble over the back wheel arch towards the rear.

Inside, the 2011 Elantra looks very modern with a host of features such as (depending on model) front and even rear heated seats, Bluetooth and a seven-inch colour monitor for the optional navi/info system.

I don’t care what Hyundai says, this is not a compact car on the outside. Inside it is classified as “mid-size” but it approaches that of a large car.

The engine, for 1.8-litres, is pretty powerful but what makes it is Hyundai’s in-house six-speed automatic.

You can shift it sequentially, but I never bother. The auto box in the Elantra (thanks to all the computer mapping these days) invariably picks the right gear.

At one point on the drive portion, my usual co-driver and I were up over 5,000 feet in the Cleveland National Forest east of San Diego.

Had this been a 1.8-litre and a four-speed auto, I’m pretty sure the Elantra would have been out of breath after the climb. On the two times we passed, the transmission shifted down two speeds without a clunk in the drivetrain.

The 2011 Elantra is equipped with just about every safety and drive aid you can think of such as six airbags, electronic stability control with traction control and four-wheel disc brakes that stop it shorter than a Civic and Corolla according to Hyundai.

The unibody chassis makes extensive use of high-strength steels. Did you know, by the way, Hyundai is the only automaker in the world with this own steel plant?

As is usual with Hyundai, there are four basic trim levels (L, GL, GLS and Limited) starting with the base L, manual at $15,849. The volume leader will probably be the GL automatic with air and cruise at $19,999. With everything, and that includes leather and navigation/audio system, the most you can spend on the Elantra is $24,699 for the Limited with Navigation.

In fact, prices for the 2011 models are unchanged from 2010.

As noted at the top, Hyundai has set itself a lofty goal of being number one in the compact car segment and that represents almost 50 per cent of total sales in this country.

But if I’ve learned anything about Hyundai over the years, is that once they set a target, they invariably achieve it.

 

BODY STYLE: Compact sedan.

DRIVE METHOD: front-engine, front-wheel-drive

ENGINE: 1.8-litre DOHC four-cylinder (148 hp, 131 lb/ft)

FUEL ECONOMY: Six-speed manual, 6.8/4.9L/100 km city/highway; six-speed automatic, 6.9/4.9L/100 km city/highway

PRICING: L manual, $15,849; L auto, $17,049; GL manual, $17,999; GL auto, $19,999; GLS manual, $19,799; GLS auto, $20,999; Limited manual, $22,699; Limited Navigation, $24,999.