The 2018 Hyundai Elantra GT is all-new this year, offering a more refined look and better performance in a stronger, quieter and more efficient package. As with all Hyundai products, the Elantra GT is about giving consumers loads of features and value at an impressively low price. In the case of the Elantra GT, buyers will find a sporty and stylish 5-door hatchback with more interior room than most rivals and even some compact crossovers like the Chevrolet Trax and Mazda CX-3. The Elantra GT offers a choice of two engines, manual or automatic transmission and loads of equipment including an available Infinity sound system, a panoramic glass sunroof and standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
The Elantra GT Sport has a lot going for it. The suspension is composed and delivers a comfortable ride that's more on the firm side. The 1.6-liter turbo engine delivers 201 horsepower without discernible lag or drama, while handling is competent. The GT Sport feels like a refined and more powerful small hatchback. It doesn't light your hair on fire, but the driving experience still offers more engagement than a traditional compact car, especially with the six-speed manual.
Is the 2018 Elantra GT a bona fide VW GTI killer? No, not quite. But for those shopping the Mazda3, Ford Focus or Chevrolet Cruze hatchback, Hyundai's newest arrival is certainly in the same league, and none of its competitors can match Hyundai's 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty.
Behind the Wheel
Russ Heaps spent a day behind the wheel of the new 2018 Hyundai Elantra GT. Here are some of his impressions:
At the Charleston media launch, we were able to drive the Elantra GT on a variety of roads, as well as on dry and wet pavement. Hyundai set its sights on the Volkswagen Golf when planning the i30. Although it may not have quite hit the bulls-eye, it came close. It feels stable and well planted in the turns, and the turbo in the GT Sport is responsive, with almost no hint of turbo lag when goosing the throttle. Although the entry-level GT is a bit sedate, it performs efficiently and without drama.
Inside, the cabin is roomy and quite comfy. Rear-seat legroom would be a bit tight for taller folks, but that's about the only nit to pick. The cars we drove in and around Charleston, South Carolina at the GT's southeast regional media debut were well-constructed inside and out. The most striking interior change is the new infotainment system. Anchoring the new system is a larger 8-in touchscreen, now occupying its own standalone space in the center of the dashboard.
Standard on every Elantra GT are Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Other standard goodies inside the GT include full power accessories, a tilt-telescopic steering wheel with redundant audio controls, an audio system with satellite radio capability, Bluetooth connectivity, a rearview camera, seven airbags and remote keyless entry. Hill-start assist is also standard.
This is a stark contrast to cars like the Focus ST, which basically always feel as though they're straining at the leash and want to explode onto a two-lane road. Now, credit to Hyundai where it's due: it doesn't market this as a proper hot hatch to rival those cars. It never claimed that the GT Sport can compete, but that's almost worse. I wish it had the guts to chase the big guys, rather than creating a car held back because it was afraid of consumers and reviewers drawing the comparisons.
The Elantra GT Sport is fine, I just think it could have been great.
Safety
The Elantra GT comes with a number of advanced standard safety systems including electronic traction and stability control, hill-start assist, display for individual tire pressure and six airbags including front, front side-impact and front and rear side-curtain airbags.
In crash testing, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gives the Elantra GT four out of five stars, with a safety concern noted for rear-seat passengers experiencing elevated thoracic and rib deflections during side-impact testing. However, the independent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) saw no such issue, giving the Elantra GT its highest score of Good in every crash test and a Superior in the crash mitigation and avoidance test when equipped with the optional collision-mitigation systems. The IIHS also named the Elantra GT a Top Safety Pick.
Hyundai Elantra GT Sport
GTI of the Beholder
It takes more than crisply folded sheetmetal to challenge the hot-hatch royalty, however. So the Elantra GT Sport is armed with a 201-hp turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four that boasts an additional 39 horsepower over the base Elantra GT’s naturally aspirated 2.0-liter. The 1.6-liter also has a plentiful 195 lb-ft of torque available from a low 1500 rpm. And indeed, Hyundai’s hottest hatch in the U.S. never felt out of breath on our drive across the winding roads east of San Diego, and the engine displayed little turbo lag when launching hard from a stop. Merging onto Southern California’s sun-scorched freeways revealed a disquieting amount of road noise entering the cabin, however.
The standard six-speed manual transmission features crisp action and well-defined gates, but its throws are on the long side, like a Christopher Nolan movie. An optional seven-speed dual-clutch automatic swaps cogs smoothly but has a tendency to rush to a higher gear to aid fuel economy. Engaging the automatic’s Sport mode helps temper that behavior, or one can tap the steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters.
The Elantra GT Sport has larger brake discs than the standard car, and the brake pedal is firm and reassuring underfoot. In place of the standard GT’s torsion-beam rear axle, the Sport gets a more sophisticated multilink arrangement. Hyundai also revised the springs, dampers, and steering gear, but despite these upgrades, the GT Sport fell somewhat short of delivering the buttoned-down refinement found in the class leaders when attacking twisting tarmac. Its body leans more than we’d like in turns, and the electrically assisted steering lacks the precision and feel of the units found in the Honda Civic Sport hatchback and the GTI. The GT Sport also doesn’t quite measure up to the VW in terms of power, with the GTI boasting up to 220 horses and 258 lb-ft from its turbocharged 2.0-liter four. To properly establish Hyundai’s go-fast acumen, its N performance sub-brand will introduce a zestier i30 N hot hatch later this year for Europe and other foreign markets. While the manufacturer has stated that the U.S. Elantra GT will see no such fortification, the next-gen Hyundai Veloster is slated to get the N treatment and will share much of the i30 N’s chassis and mechanicals.
Mainstream Virtues
But even if the GT Sport can’t quite deliver sporty driving zen, it’s still a competent car and has other virtues to recommend it. The standard leather seats are supportive enough for daylong stints, and every example packs dual-zone automatic climate control and rear HVAC vents. With all seats upright, the 170.9-inch-long hatchback boasts a competitive 25 cubic feet of luggage space; folding the 60/40-split rear seatbacks expands that figure to 55 cubes. Both of those numbers are just ahead of the Volkswagen’s, but a tallish liftover height could make loading heavy items somewhat difficult. The Elantra GT Sport boasts a long list of included goodies, including LED head- and taillights, a blind-spot monitoring system, a proximity key with push-button start, and an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system that’s compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. An available Sport Tech package adds a navigation system, a panoramic sunroof, ventilated seats, adaptive cruise control, automated emergency braking, lane-keeping assist, automatic high-beams, and more, but unfortunately the package is available only with the automatic.
Pricing has yet to be released, but we expect the GT Sport to start under $24,000, or roughly $1000 more than the Elantra Sport sedan. While the Elantra GT Sport is poised to be a great value and is certainly a good car, it can’t quite match up to the vaunted and admittedly more expensive Volkswagen GTI in terms of driving enjoyment.
No comments:
Post a Comment