I was a potential buyer for Elantra
The vehicles I drive on a daily basis from last 3-4 years are 2002 2.0D Saloon, 2016 Grande, 2018 Civic X, 2020 city base model.
I've seen elantra pass by in my street on my evening walks on first two occasions when it was coming from front, The LED headlights look so beautiful I thought it was some German Sedan Approaching me, only the 2nd time I was able to make out ifrom back side that it was an Elantra.
And those days, I was about to book our next car,
I axed civic as the one I drive has already gone through 1 gearbox failure and 1 steering rack replacement
Corolla? Although a Toyota guy, I was bored of it.
So I went to visit Hyundai Showroom with a friend who wanted both ABS module recall and activation of mobile mirroring app on his tuscon
, Elantra looked beautiful (Although I have my reservations with large black glossy panels like in front bumper of Corolla X or back bumper of elantra).
I asked for parts availability, nope
I asked for a test drive, nope, Hyundai Sialkot doesn't offer test drives, company policy. Am I to book a new comer without a test drive?
So as my only option, I sat in the car, and I was like what's this? The interior is very off putting, it is different but no matter how bad PKDMs we have, it doesn't come close to Corolla or Civic. Period. I don't have issues with handbrake, with if I've to leave kids in A/C for a while I'd rather have a lever than a button.
But the plastics, color scheme? it isn't the premium sedan hyundai is trying to market it as. It's just a regular alternative to Corolla and Civic with its own disadvantages, Nishat should learn how Koreans themselves position against Japanese in every market. With Sonata they have done that, with Elantra they have failed. With Tuscon they have done that too because Toyota Rush or Toyota Corolla Cross cost more for less features, and BRV is just a City in a crossover body.
Yeah on the way back, visited KIA too and the showroom manager knew we decided for Tuscon so we weren't actually there to buy anything, despite that, we took free test drive of top spec KIA Sorento. The guy along told us company policy was to allow customers to drive aggressively so we did. It was fun and the test car did show the signs, e.g. tyres were finished and alignment was out. The guy showed us new tyres and said it's the last day on these tyres from tomorrow test vehicle gets a new set.
now that's what a premium brand does. I don't own any KIA, I don't endorse buying one. I know a kia sportage disabled for 3 months due to unavailability of parts so they are same as Hyundai but at least they are better in training their staff and with policies.
I booked a 1.6 Altis X Auto (Delivery in Sept) that I may exchange with a top of the line variant when newer gen civic or corolla are launched here.
Later I got to test drive an Elantra at private showroom (used car dealer), I won't comment anything negative about it just interior and that the 2.0 liter engine isn't any different from driving a 1.8 Sedan. (But I knew that already from Tuscon, Hyundai / KIA engines have a quite generic drive, I just hope they are reliable in the long run)
