I always loved the sleekly, sexy, and sporty design of Hyundai Elantras I see on the road. I told myself my next car change would be a Hyundai Elantra. I was already driving the Hyundai Accent 1.5 (Aeroback) 2007 Model. Over the years, I have owned Proton Saga 1.3 (Aeroback), Proton Wira 1.5 (Sedan), Proton Satria1.3, Exora 1.6(MPV), and before this Proton models, I did own a Ford Laser TX3 (Aeroback). And up to last year for work I used a 4x4 Pick Up, Isuzu DMax.
My Hyundai Accent was a very reliable car, but towards the 12th year being in service, it did give me some problems, I was forking out almost RM800 per month for repairs, which equalled to almost the instalment I was paying when the car was under bank loan. After discussing with my wife, we decided it is high time we get a new Sedan. Our budget is only within the B segment cars. My top priority was the Hyundai Elantra Sport 1.6L as I love the design. But did reiki on Honda City, Toyota Vios and Volkswagen Jetta, none of these cars’ designs attracted me. I was going to every other showroom except Hyundai first, to check out other brands.
It is a common notion that Hyundai cars not only do not have good resale value, but Hyundai parts are also expensive. Owning a Hyundai before I know for sure that some of these statements are indeed true. So, I kept Hyundai as my last choice. After walking in various dealers’ showrooms, none of these established models in the B-segment attracted me, especially the design. I came close to considering Honda Civic 1.8S, though I must say its specs maybe powerful than Elantra, I hate the back-portion design of the Civic. To me, somehow it loses touch in the design, the front appears to be sporty but back appears to mundane I would say.
After evaluating all the B Segment cars from established brands, we walked to Hyundai to check out the Elantra 1.6L Model, and to our dismay, we were told that the model is discontinued and introduced us to Hyundai Elantra Executive 2019 (2.0) model. Somehow on my first look at the design, I fell in love with it, I like to be young at heart and always went for Aeroback cars, now that I am approaching older age, I wanted a car, somewhat, sleek, somewhat sporty and somewhat a family sedan to cater for my growing kids. Before even looking at the features this car provides, I was already in love with the design.
Exactly a year ago around this time, we were constantly walking in and out of Hyundai showroom, in Old Klang Road, in Puchong and Bangsar, to always take a re-look at the car as we almost decided that we are going for this model, just unsure of the colour. Some branch does not carry the colour we are looking for, so we had to go to another branch to take look at it. Finally, we decided on the Lakeside blue colour. We compared the Machine Gray colour and the Lakeside blue and felt that Lakeside blue appeals to us more.
We submitted the relevant documents for loan approval, it was September and Car dealers were still riding on the Merdeka month promotions. There was a good discount being on Merdeka month, on top of that, there was a trade-in offer for my old Hyundai Accent car of RM 5000.00. The car was priced about RM 110.000 and with all the discount in place and including the rebate from my Insurance NCB, I managed to get it at around RM 93,000. I can’t remember if this is the exact figure, but it was close to this figure.
Let me talk about the features of this Hyundai Elantra that attracted me, apart from the design that I fell in love with. Let’s begin from the driver’s seat.
This is the interior of the Hyundai Elantra, I believe that most modern cars use switch button to start than keys, likewise with the Elantra. The steering has controls on the audio system as well as a few other controls. Like Continental cars, this car also has a tyre pressure checking feature and alerts you, each time any of the tyre pressures are low. This feature seems to be very helpful, I drove over an accident scene, ran over the accident debris, and one big screw from the scene was stuck on my tyre, I was able to see the pressure was dropping quickly on the particular tyre, I quickly googled to the nearest tyre shop and manage to get it fixed. Lucky for me I did not have to change the whole tyre. The signal indicator is on the left, I believe this is also basing on the continental car models, where signal indicator are placed on the left. The wiper control is on the right.
This is how the odometer panel looks like. Like I explained earlier, it has tyre pressure monitoring system. It also indicates the mileage that you can drive with the remaining petrol in your tank. At about 35km more, it will issue the Petrol filling indicator.
The Hyundai Elantra has a few modes that you can use to drive, Sports mode, Smart mode, Normal mode, and Eco mode. At eco mode you will get an average of 10.6-10.7 /per litre using RON95.
The sports mode gives the car good pick up and useful in hilly areas, I think it’s straight forward what a normal and eco mode does, however, the smart mode according to Hyundai brochures states “ Smart mode is possibly the most popular driving mode on the Elantra, as it gives your car maximum fuel efficiency. Your acceleration will be slower but smoother, and your steering will be gentler.”
The Hyundai Elantra comes with the 7” touch screen display for your audio. There is this Android Auto which you can download in your mobile phone and connect to the USB port and listen to music, including having your Navigation on the screen. However, I am not really satisfied with this feature as it has some flaws. The Bluetooth system also I feel has some flaws, constantly get disconnected from the Bluetooth connection. This is my sour point with the car, otherwise, the rest is perfect for me.
Moving on, Elantra has a blower for Air Cond for the passengers, passengers can adjust air-cond flow according to their needs.
So, this is an executive car, you will have the Executive feel, with the armrest and drink holder, as well as air cond blower. The seats are all pure leather and not PVC and Leather combined.
The Hyundai Elantra comes with a 17-inch alloy rim
The alloy rim is also included for the spare tyre. So in case you need to replace one of the tyres for an emergency, it would not feel odd driving with one tyre not having the alloy rim.
I must say that the reverse camera quality of display is very excellent. The reverse sensor light is only on the left side. This is the back design of the car.
The daytime running light is on all the time while driving. (Picture was taken when the engine is off)
You can open the car from both the left and the right front door if your remote in the pocket with you. Unlike many other cars not confined to the only right side.
I must say that overall, I am very satisfied with the Hyundai Elantra. It gives me a good driving pleasure. Also, constantly I have been told by many strangers that this car is beautiful. I don’t know if people get this often, especially people driving the continental cars, but I have seen many people walking towards me and saying this Hyundai Elantra is beautiful, since many are not familiar with Hyundai especially with this Executive model , they will check the logo to confirm what car model is this? I personally believe that with the Hyundai Elantra Executive 2L model, Hyundai has raised the bar for the Korean made cars sold in Malaysia. Check it out in Hyundai showrooms, there is Merdeka promotions till September.
