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Hyundai Elantra 5-door

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What is this discussion about? Hyundai Elantra, Hatchback, Sedan

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#1 of 4929 too bad edmunds by occupant1 Jan 02, 2001 (7:20 pm)
isn't showing the first post in any topic. Can you repeat what you said? A 5-door Elantra, isn't that the wagon? Are they offering the wagon at all in the 2001 year? I haven't seen any at dealers or on the road, just the 4-door sedan with the XG300-style grille and large taillamps.
#2 of 4929 occupant1 by lngtonge18 Jan 02, 2001 (9:32 pm)
A 5-door hatchback Elantra will be offered sometime in spring 2001. It will be taking the place of the old wagon model. It is supposed to be touted as more of a sporty model, with standard alloy wheels, fog lamps, 4 wheel disc brakes, and spoiler. I think it looks very good, much sportier than the sedan and with greater cargo space to boot. It should be a great addition to Hyundai's expanding lineup.
#3 of 4929 Any pix? by otis12 Jan 06, 2001 (9:03 am)
Nothing from the LA Auto show on Edmunds site? Will it be unveiled at the Detroit auto show? Any photos at any websites?
#4 of 4929 pictures... by mangohaggis Jan 06, 2001 (5:59 pm)
The car makes its North American debut in Detroit next week. You can see pictures at www.hyundai.nl, and www.hyundai.au, as it seems to be for sale in Europe and Australia. The specs look nice: rear discs with ABS, upgraded suspension and interior (you can get leather in Europe but I doubt we'll have that option). I'm thinking about buying a Golf, but I must admit this car looks enticing.
#5 of 4929 Thanks for the info by otis12 Jan 07, 2001 (1:50 pm)
I agree with you, the Elantra looks great and offers an alternative to the Golf. I know the Kia Spectra is available as well, but I admit that I have concerns about its quality.
#6 of 4929 Quality? by rdrunner Jan 11, 2001 (2:57 pm)
I've been looking at small cars and I find it interesting that people are saying they're concerned about Kia's quality, but not Hyundai's Hyundai has owned Kia for quite some time now and it was Kia that had better quality than Hyundai... but that's not saying much. I see people saying the '01 and '00 Hyundai are doing ok, but Consumers is full of black circles for Hyundai and Kia. Frankly, from what I've seen they're both still pretty much behind in the quality realm and not worth spending hard earned money on.
#7 of 4929 rdrunner by lngtonge18 Jan 11, 2001 (11:10 pm)
And from what are you determining that Kia had better quality than Hyundai?? The reason people have had more reservations about Kia is because they have had terrible reported quality from 97-99. Hyundai, in this same time frame, had average if not above average quality and much fewer reported problems. Go look at the NHTSA website and look at the number of recalls and complaints on Kia versus Hyundai and you will see what I am talking about. When Kia switched to its own design on the Sephia in 98, many teething problems occured, including poor quality control of outsourced parts like the disc brakes. Hyundai did not have those problems as their cars were already at least half-way through their production cycle and had the bugs worked out already. As far as Hyundai owning Kia, that has only been in effect for roughly 1 year, not a very long time to implement big changes. Lastly, Consumer Reports is the biggest load of crap I have ever seen in a magazine. I find it so funny how much stock people put into that publication when it is backed by simple journalists, not knowledgable car people. Do you realize that their ratings scale is based on a very small sample of roughly 30,000 people?? Gee, how accurate could that possibly be seeing as Hyundai sold over 200,000 cars in 1999. Their also heavily biased based on who gives them the biggest money. Not to mention, I have never actually seen a bunch of black circles as you stated. All the articles I have seen says "insuffient data to determine reliability", meaning not enough people responded to the polls to rate it. The only black circles I have seen refers to expected depreciation, which is a given.   At any rate, I have to disagree with your assessment of Hyundai. They have caught up to the competition in terms of initial quality and their reliability in the long run is also comparable. I chose Hyundai over Kia because of how much more solid and refined they felt. My 2000 Hyundai Accent was rated higher in JD Power's intial quality survey than many well known cars, such as the Toyota Celica and Subaru Legacy (it was rated in the middle of 200 possible places). The Kia Sportage has been rated dead last 2 years in a row, with the Sephia barely any higher. That is why people are more afraid of Kia than Hyundai and they have good reason to be. However, Kia is making improvements now that Hyundai has taken over. I have had no problems with my car in 11K hard driven miles, which included at least 3 jaunts to over 100mph (my sister's 2000 Honda Odyssey has had over 20 visits to the dealer in the same mileage with numerous failures of important parts). I'm very satisfied with my Hyundai, enough so that I plan on being a return customer. I paid more for my car than I should have and yet I feel like my hard-earned money was well spent. The Accent is solid, refined, and built just as well as any Japanese car. I suggest you actually go test-drive one before claiming they are behind the competition.
#8 of 4929 Not to stir the pot but.... by otis12 Jan 13, 2001 (3:27 pm)
Consumer Reports accepts no advertising and they buy the cars they test, they do not accept test vehicles assigned to automotive journalists from the manufacturers. So I put great credence in their reviews. Now, your points about Hyundai buying Kia about 1 year ago are correct...the Sephia/Spectra predates Hyundai's takeover of Kia and that is why I have concerns about quality. However, your defense of Hyundai is a bit overdone, lngtonge18. Sometimes you sound like a shill for Hyundai. Personally, I am not a "Hyundai man" or a "Pontiac man." I'll buy what product on the market at the time meets my needs.
#9 of 4929 otis12 by lngtonge18 Jan 14, 2001 (11:15 pm)
I will have to look closer to see if they really do buy the cars they test, but honestly, I don't see why they would buy every car they test. It wouldn't make economic sense and would cost them a whole lot of money to do so. I think they get the cars from the manufacturer or the dealer. Anyway, lets say they do buy them, that is only for initial testing purposes, not to long-term test the car. They derive their reliability grading scales from a survey of owners. When it comes to Daewoo, Hyundai, and Kia, those cars aren't rated at all because there is "insufficient data to rate", in other words too few people responded to the poll to properly rate the car. So I was simply stating that it was wrong to say they rated the cars with all black circles, when the cars haven't even been rated except for depreciation and initial tests. I find their initial tests to be overly opinionated based on their distaste for anything that doesn't carry a well-known Japanese brand name on it. At least car magazines back up their opinions more logically.   Secondly, you can think what you like about my defense of Hyundai, but you couldn't be further from the truth. I am much more educated in this topic than the average jo person. I have been studying cars, all cars, since 1992. I read everything I can about every single one. I am not a "Hyundai man" either. I would buy whatever car I think is honestly the best out there for me. I love all sorts of different cars, including my 84 VW GTI and 84 Mazda RX-7. I have also owned and loved a 93 Mitsubishi Diamante, 87 VW Fox, and 85 Honda Civic Wagon. As you can see, my tastes are very broad. I just have been so pleasantly surprised by the all around goodness of my Hyundai that I feel the need to spread the word and help get rid of the crappy image that they have carried from the days of the 5 grand Excel. My whole reason in being here is to educate people who don't know much about cars to not just look at one source of info and let them know that Hyundai is not the terrible quality car some people would like them to believe. When I bought my '00 Accent, I also test drove the Kia Sephia, VW Golf, Ford Focus, Suzuki Swift, and Daewoo Lanos. I liked all but the Sephia. I got the Hyundai simply because the dealer could get me financed and I was impressed with its solid feel compared to the tinny Lanos, Swift, and Sephia. Since than it has continued to impress me and dispelled any fear I had about buying a Hyundai.   Here's a little interesting tidbit of info: I went to JDpower's website and looked up the mid-term quality surveys. The second quality survey done on the 99 Accent after 1-3 years of ownership was pretty good. They rated mechanical quality 3 stars, which is average, whereas the Civic and Protege got 4 stars and the Sentra and Corolla got 5. However, they rated feature and accessory reliability at 5 stars, the highest, for the Accent and Corolla, whereas the Sentra, Protege, and Civic all got 3 stars. They also rated body and interior reliabilty 5 stars for the Accent and Corolla, compared to 3 for the Protege and 4 for the Sentra and Civic. So, in other words, in most areas the Accent was on par quality wise with the cream of the crop Corolla while mechanical reliability has proven to be competent if not outstanding. The Kia Sephia in the same test got 2 stars in every category. Just thought it was interesting to see Hyundai catching up in the surveys. Guess more and more poeple like me are happy with their Hyundais
#10 of 4929 New 5-doors! by selove Jan 15, 2001 (1:14 pm)
I'm particularly excited that the 5-door hatchback is making a comeback in this country and as soon as I see the elantra hatch in the dealers I'm going to check it out. I have seen pix on various websites; it looks kind of SAAB-y. In other news, Kia will have a 5-door Rio and it looks super cute from pictures on Edmunds. Also, Mazda is set to bring out the 5-door protege.   Thankfully, these 5-doors all are more "hatchbacky" than station-wagon. I'm 25 with no kids, but I've always driven hatches. I think sedans are weird. All the new 5-doors that don't look like mommy mobiles are giving me hope that one day, I might be able to find my perfect car!

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