FastMotoring Motor News In Speed
It is an exciting season for the compact cars (C-segment) in Malaysia. Think about the Honda Civic, Mazda 3, Toyota Corolla Altis, Chevrolet Cruze, Kia Forte and many more in this category. The all new Hyundai Elantra is Hyundai’s answers to compete. While all other competitors strive to create the best styling, performance, handling, comfort, fuel economy Hyundai did not lose out at all. In fact, just like the Korean pop band – Girls Generation, the Hyundai Elantra is sexy to look at, attractive, energetic and at the same time comfortable. It is a mixture of good feeling for the Hyundai Elantra.
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The Hyundai Elantra also known as Inokom Elantra, it’s a CKD product by Sime Darby Motors. The design of the Hyundai Elantra are based on the “fluidic sculpture” design philosophy found in the Hyundai Sonata that we report a while ago. With this design theme & incorporating a new “Wind Craft” concept grafted into the 5th generation of Elantra, the car’s design is well balanced and looks really competent to the segment. The distinctive hexagonal grille and fluidic designed head lights with sporty looking bumper gives the Elantra an unique attitude. This is one of rare cases we look at and didn’t find a part that looks like other competitor in the market.
The rear tail lights design continuing the body line from the front certainly looks handsome and sporty. In fact, this is probably my personal favourite part of the Hyundai Elantra. The boot space of the Elantra certainly looks big and definitely one of the few largest boot space car in the compact segment. The Elantra coupe-ish sleek design and low roof line resulting good aerodynamic and good looks.
Once you stepped inside the Hyundai Elantra, you will immediately feel the spacious & comfortable. The fluidic design continues to the interior. There’s soft-touch material on the top part of the dashboard but the plastics on the below. The center part of the dashboard is crafted as it is from a sexy lady body line. There are some glossy black and silver theme to highlight the high-tech look and feel. However, with this choice of material used for the dashboard, this may not be everyone’s cup of tea. The steering is leather wrapped with and equipped with basic audio control as well as some function for the Multi-info display in between the speedometer. As the car we tested was the 1.6L High Spec model there’s no auto cruise, the 1.8L Premium Spec Elantra will be the one to go for if auto cruise it’s a must for you. The electronic power steering is light and very easy to manoeuvre. The audio system supports AUX, USD and iPod connection, however we believe special connection cable is required from Hyundai for your “i” devices.
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The Hyundai Malaysia packs the push-start button as standard across the Elantra variant line up other than the manual transmission model. Aligned with the trend, the Elantra also equipped keyless entry system. Between speedometer there will be a green “ECO” word to indicate if you are saving earth (driving economically). Hyundai has also specially design the 6-speed automatic transmission with shiftronic themselves. The smaller and lighter designed gearbox gives better performance and reliability. Hyundai also claims the gearbox it’s maintenance-free for life. When we drive the Elantra, the gear change was smooth and quiet, each higher gear changes gives the Elantra a continuous seamless pickup resulting a near no performance loss. Drivers that like to take control once awhile can switch plus-minus gears on the gear lever. There is a manual transmission model but only in the 1.6L variant.
