2009 Hyundai Elantra User Reviews

Pros

Great value. loaded, great gas mileage, outstanding warranty, usb

Cons

Gauges, speed sensitive volume control is off

Purchased As New

I waited a month to review because everyone loves their week old car. Another clunker story here so it was a great deal for me. But it would have been a great deal without the extra rebate. You can't beat the standard features and safety options this car offers in its class. Add the warranty and I couldn't justify the extra money for a Toyota or Honda. Especially with the reliability rating the elantra has. Like my last car, I'll drive this car into the ground so resale isn't an issue.
Positives
This is a comfortable car with good room in the cabin and in the trunk. My family of 4 has plenty of room. I'm still waiting for an auto manufacturer to wake up and put a divider between the front and back seats like a limo so I don't have to hear the kids. You gotta dream. The gas mileage is fantastic. This was a main key in our purchase. The stereo sounds great, the ride is adequate. I knew I wasn't buying a Cadillac. The aesthetics inside and out are pleasing. The safety features are uncompromising on the se- traction control, stability control,front and rear side curtain airbags, abs, etc..
The USB port is awesome. I have a blackberry and no iphone\pod and it does not work with the blackberry.I was disappointed at first. However, if you get a usb flash drive (which are dirt cheap) you can stick it in the usb port and the stereo automatically finds all the music. Just copy all your music folders from your computer to the drive. Navigation through folders is easy and I have a large majority of my music catalog at my finger tips. 16gb flash was lying around not in use.

Negatives
I find the speedometer is not marked off well. The gaps between numbers is too large. I find I have to figure out my speed instead of glancing down to see it. It marks off speeds in intervals of 20 and there is no difference in the marks for speeds on the 10's. It doesn't have to say 30 but a larger tick for 30 would help. Look at a picture of the dash and you will see. Not major and I'm getting better at it.
The speed sensitive volume control I think is a little off. I don't think they give themselves enough credit for how quiet the ride is. At stops the volume adjusts a tad too low and high speeds a tad too loud. Again not major, wish i could turn it off. Maybe I can but I'm male and not reading the owners manual.
The engine seems to have less pep then the competition. It was noticeable to me. So I rated it lower. But it is not as important to me. 30mpg avg so far is.

Overall I'm very happy with this purchase. I've heard only good things about hyundais from current drivers so I wanted to get in on it before they became toyota and honda where you are paying for the name (well deserved though). Overall I gave the car a 5 because I believe that the value of the car in price and gas mileage is weighted far heavier than the smaller engine and the minor issues I have with it. As far as reliability I'm only basing it off of what I have heard. In the past month I have not had an issue but that means nothing.