Hyundai Elantra reviews

2000 Hyundai Elantra Driving Impressions

Let's face it folks we aren't talking a luxurious limousine here. The Elantra is a small sedan that will carry two adults and two or three children to work, the grocery store or a PTA meeting comfortably, economically and free of worry.

Its engine performs better than many in this class. Elantra's twin-cam four-cylinder engine produces 140 horsepower and 133 foot-pounds of torque, which is impressive power in this class. It can get a bit raucous when run at high revs for an extended stretch. But it launches quickly from a stop and offers good acceleration performance for passing other cars.

Our drive took us from city streets to the Interstate to mountains roads near Lake Tahoe, California. Everywhere but up the steepest grades, the Elantra held its own, and even in the mountains it had no trouble keeping with the flow of traffic. As is often the case with small cars, we recommend the manual transmission when performance is a priority. Yet even with the automatic, Elantra is up to the work-a-day grind of commuting and running errands. The available automatic transmission has four forward gears, while some competitors offer only three.

The suspension is fully independent and quite sophisticated for the economy class. Plenty of cars that cost $10,000 more than Elantra don't have multi-link rear suspension, or speed-sensitive power steering. The steering assist gives the wheel a light touch at low speed, for easy parallel parking, yet it's not overly sensitive at highway speed. Feedback through the steering wheel gives the driver a pretty good idea of how well the front tires are gripping.

In general, Elantra's ride is compliant and well controlled, and it handles twisting mountain roads in fine fashion. Only on the most uneven stretches of freeway, where joints and undulations can get the suspension hopping does the Elantra get bouncy. With truly aggressive stops, we were able to heat Elantra's brakes to a point where they began to fade. But in our estimation, drivers will rarely, if ever, experience such conditions in normal use.

Noise and vibration control in Elantra's cabin is average for the subcompact class. As noted, the engine can get loud when run wide-open. Yet overall, Elantra is smoother and quieter than its predecessors had taught us to expect. Hyundai's efforts to dampen shakes and limit cabin noise have paid dividends.