Yeah... Original....

It looks good, IMO, although the current one has been on the market since only the 2007 model. This one looks better than it in virtually all respects. Not the most original car, obviously, but bound to be cheap, reliable, and comfortable.

It could pass for an American design from Ford.

looks great--i like the rear centre armrest in an economy car

the front resembles the avalon, and the back a fusion of lexus ES and IS...not bad for $15000

The grille looks like a subaru. Looks nice and will probably sell well if its cheap.

Nope, at it's price range I would rather have a Honda Fit or Honda Civic LX.

Though the interior in this new Elantra looks better than anything from Ford or Chrysler (and all GM models except the new Cadillac).

Looks better than current Mazda/ Corolla/.......anything
Sufficient 2.0 L fuel efficient engine
Cheap, Very very safe, nice interiors
Seems like a right car at right time of fuel crisis.
Best buy in midsize section according to consumers reports.
It would be difficult to ignore this one.

Hyundai is turning heads!

Finally justice is done...............
to a very well deserving car.

Looks very good actually

front looks like a TL, rear looks like a BMW, interior looks like an M series infiniti. Interesting mishmash of designs

@Noya:

You would buy a Honda *FIT* over this?

@Noya:

did you just compare the new Cadillac to a Hyundai Elantra???

I have driven the current generation Elantra. It is a very nice car with great economy, value, and fit and finish. The remodel looks like a proper evolution of the current model.

I like how Hyundai these days are getting better & better with their designs. A few years ago I thought Hyundai cars were either really ugly or plain Jane. But, starting with the Tiburon back in 2003, Hyundai cars keep looking better and better. The designs I like are: Tiburon '03-06, Sonata -07-on, Tucson '07-, and Elantra '07-on.

The Elantra should sell well again due to increasing quality and Consumer Reports giving the Elantra its Top Pick for its class of cars.

Hyundai sure has come a long way.

@ Noya

I m sure ur ex owned a hyundai................. good choice!

Well, in any case, I'm sure the majority of us will agree that it looks better than the 2009 Corolla.

I rented the current model Elantra for a week. The car was surprisingly nice. Good for long trips on the highway, nice and quiet. Good room for its size and easy to drive around the city.

What it isnt is a Mazda 3 or a Civic EX, it doesnt have the handling to compete for the spirited drivers that frequent here, and I dont think it targeted like that anyhow.

The only concerns I had about the car are

1.) When I plug my cell phone into the AUX port of the car stereo to listen to MP3s I cant play them with my cell phone plugged into the cigarette lighter as a power source, I get engine static into the car stereo. So I either drain my cell phone while listening to tunes or listen to the radio while my cell phone recharged.

2.) Current model doesnt have the option of ordering built in GPS from factory, hopefully the 2009 model has the option.

3.) Long term reliability. Its not that hard to see more than a few Chevy Cavaliers on the road more than 10 years old, I cant say the same about the Elantra or Hyundais in general. I have read that Hyundai has improved the quality of their cars so maybe its not an issue anymore, only time will tell.

@SEALBoy

2009 corolla?

Font end looks different... the rear end looks similar.

I like both cars. the Corolla ain't bad. Theres dozens of more horrid designs out there like the Buick Lucerne

I like it!

@Tim

Take a look at Consumer Reports' reliability data. Hyundai is at as reliable as anything GM puts out there, and more so in some cases. If you are truly looking for long term reliability, there is no choice but to buy either a Toyota or a Honda. Even at the 3-year mark, these two blow every other manufacturer out of the water. But Hyundai is moving up in the world, in terms of performance and reliability. I would buy a Hyundai over any "American" made car any day.

@Tim

Take a look at Consumer Reports' reliability data. Hyundai is at as reliable as anything GM puts out there, and more so in some cases. If you are truly looking for long term reliability, there is no choice but to buy either a Toyota or a Honda. Even at the 3-year mark, these two blow every other manufacturer out of the water. But Hyundai is moving up in the world, in terms of performance and reliability. I would buy a Hyundai over any "American" made car any day.

While Hyundai might be getting better and better, they have yet to develop a long term track record of a reliable product. Like Tim pointed out, how many 98+ Cavailers and Cobalts do you see still on the road? Better yet, how many Corollas, or taking it up a notch 98+ Corollas with the 1ZZ-FE engines?

From what I've seen of car companies if they are willing to put that engine in multiple models for multiple years, you are probably working with a fairly proven design, like the 1ZZ-FE. Or if you see multiple versions of the same engine being used, like the 2.0 turbo, 2.2L and 2.4L Ecotec series, or the Mazda 2.3L and turbo 2.3L.

Frankly I've had a Cavalier, and now drive a Corolla. After 65k miles the "looks" are wearing about the same. I have a hole in the floor mat right below the gas pedal, minor dents and dings, interior is beginng to get dingy, and in general they were/are both simple daily drivers. It's a Hyundai, not an M5.

Very sad to see Hyundai surpassing the Big 3 in design, reliability, and affordability.

Not another Hyundai with all looks borrowed from other manufacturers.
The front grill reminds me of a Honda.

I bought a new car 3 weeks ago. I almost when with an Elantra. In the end I read many reviews on the net and was worried about long term reliability/ warranty hassles.

For the guy who said there are many Cavaliers on the road theregor GM has better reliability. lol GM sucks man. Go into a garage someday and count the GMs. I've owned many and all are horbid.

I really liked the 2009 Corolla S. The others are plain jane, but the S adds the body kit and moonroof that make it look more Mazda 3ish. In was a close sale.

In the end I went for the Honda Civic EX-L. Love it. And I am not worried about Honda long term reliability and quality.

@Brian:

Speaking of re-using engines, Toyota's light trucks from the late 70's through the mid-90's all used the same 22-R four banger. It was a great engine. I had a '85 Toyota truck that got 220K with absolutely no real maintenance done, other than tires, oil every 10K miles whether it needed it or not, and basic tune-ups. When we sold it to a friend's son, he liked taking things apart, and told us that the timing chain and sprockets were barely worn at all. This was a work truck that carried over a 1000 pounds of tools and equipment every day for probably 200K of its miles. When it came time to get a new truck, we got a '93 model of the same truck. Same engine and it ran beautifully as well for over 110K before we traded it for a Tundra. One of the best things about Toyota is that they re-use not only engines and trannys, but everything else to. The brand new Corollas are using an older Camry chassis. Toyota simply uses hand-me-down designs, especially between the Camry and Corolla. That probably aids in their excellent reliability.

Anytime a foreign car manufacturer releases a car, everyone says it's a great car, better than anything American. If you haven't driven it then don't judge the car!

This is a rather nice look car. Some of you say it's a mash up of different cars, but there's a reason for that. In the early years, Hyundai had to work out the reliability and durability problems of it's vehicles. It seems as though they've done that in the past few years. However, so far the Elantra has looked like no other small compact in the market concurrently. In spite of this, it's been losing sales to Civics and Corollas since it was introduced. The formula of looking different doesn't seem to work for the Elantra buyer, so Hyundai decided to go with what sells. This is the truly just common sense.

Cheap reliable cars and the ability to grow in the market alongside adaptability is how Toyota became the top. It seems Hyundai is where Toyota was in the early 90's. In a decade perhaps Hyundai will overthrow Toyota...

they should make a version of this car to steamroll the cobalt SS the interior looks more expensive it just needs a turbo 4 banger with like 270 hp with a trick front diff.

Watch-out GM and FORD this may be the car company that puts you out-of-business

Let me save all the trouble. Elantra is a budget car and it feels/drives like a budget hence rental agencies have it available for rental. Try Sentra or Mazda3 it's a whole another story in the budget car market...

A very cheap, reliable, extremely safe commuter car. It's a great value. Hyundai's are known for having the most standard safety equipment. My ex drives my daughter around in a current Elantra, and for $15K, I think it was the safest choice.

Looks very generic, but still pretty good, typical Hyundai of late. As long as their reliability continues to improve this should sell well. Watch out everyone, the Koreans are taking over.

Also, I saw the new Corolla XRS at the Vancouver auto show a couple weeks ago and I thought it was one of the better cars out there (if slightly underpowered). The Lancer would still be my pick though, it I trusted Mitsubishi.

The reasons why the American car companies sucked for the longest time in reliabilty in the U.S., is because they never globalized their plaforms, up until recently. While the American Cars built in the U.S. were still being built on old technology, the American Cars being built in Europe were being built on the latest technology and because of that, the American Cars built in Europe were built better if not much better then their counterparts in America. American car companies are finally getting the memo that other car companies around the world have been doing for years and that is by using a global platforms. Not only is it cheaper, but every car around the world shares the same latest technology.

@SteelCity1981:

If i'm interpreting correctly; In order for American companies to have better reliabilty they had to abandon their current platform and use platforms developed by their overseas subsidiaries?

Remember, you couldn't really call the cars in Europe "American" cars since they shared almost nothing, due to lack of globalization as you mentioned.

Ford's newest American compact cash cow, the Focus, was designed and built entirely by their European branch. The Focus thrived in Europe, all the while Ford kept saying it wouldn't do well in the US market.

It just seems that American automotive engineers and accountants are overpaid and lack common sense. I think more-so the accountants/administration rather than the engineers, but why not take pride in your work? I'd be embarassed to be one of the engineers that said "I helped design the mid-90's Ford Taurus".

Let's see. Which will age better, this Hyundai or the gallon of milk in my fridge? My money is on the milk. Come on, cheap cars are cheap. There is very little difference in financing a cheap car, unless you are leasing it. In that case, the Hyundai, Kia, Suzuki, and even the Mazda have horrible residual value. You could get a Toyota or Honda that stickers for $2000 more with a lower payment? "How?" you might ask? Because when the car is 5 years old, there will still be a demand for it.

Not with the others; sorry Hyundai, Kia owners.....

@ Jason

That is exactly what i'm saying. If you are a global company don't isolate your products, combine them so that all of your cars can share a unified technology. This is what the new prez of Ford Allan Mullally understands and this is why he wants to globalize Ford products in the next couple of years. He understands that's it's not only better but cheaper as well then to produce many diff platforms for the same model in diff parts of the world.

Well regardless, they were still american owned, but that's where the similarities ended. You're right, the American cars in the U.S. almost shared nothing in common with their counterparts in Europe which was the problem. Europe has built better cars then the U.S. for years. The 1960's where the last great era for American built cars, after that the quality went down hill fast up until the last 10 years when American car companies started to globalize more of their cars platforms.

Well that was Ford's mistake considering they already had proven that European styling would work in the U.S., the first generation Taurus was a prime example of that.

Well the 96-99 Ford Taurus was a radical design. Ford wanted to break the mold again with its flagship Taurus but the problem was it was too radical. I agree that they were ugly as hell. It wouldn't have looked as bad if everything wasn't designed like a oval.