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| Sweet. And Cheap. And pretty darn good. |
Surprisingly well made and quite decent to drive, the Hyundai Elantra Touring is a solid used wagon choice. You can even have a 5-speed! The 138 hp, 136 torques 2.0 4-cylinder only had to motivate just over 3100 pounds and returned 23/30 mpg. The brakes are surprisingly good, with a firm feel and quite short stopping distances.
The looks are up to you. Personally, I find it clean, understated and functional looking. Tint the windows if you don't want anybody to see you. The 65.3 cubic feet of very comfortable interior space with the rear seats down is slightly less than yesterday's feature, the Volvo V40, but the rear set leg room increases by much needed and appreciated nearly four inches in comparison. Plus...bumper height; 'nuff said.
Known as the Hyundai i30 in other parts of the world where it won multiple awards, current KBB private party values range from $6K for a 2009 up to $9.3K for a loaded 2012 SE (top o' the line) with leather, heated seats and just about every doodad the Korean company had on tap at the time. There may even be some of the factory warranty still available and you can certainly buy a CPO, if that makes you sleep better at night.
The Touring lived on as the smaller, more sporty Hyundai Elantra GT hatchback, which was clearly aimed at cars like the Mazda3.
This car has appeared on my short list for a while now. I have helped a couple of people who have wound up purchasing Elantra Tourings. Surprisingly, I have not actually driven one. A couple of people have commented that the gearing of the manual transmission is too short for highway use, and that fuel mileage suffers as a result. K2, by any chance do your super-research powers extend to finding the RPM at 60 mph for this model?
ReplyDeleteOnce again you are correct, Bobinott. The RPMs are around 3Kish at 60 mph with the manual. That's not terrifically comfortable and obviously it needed a overdrive sixth gear. No such problems with the automatic(s); they're around 2-2.5K.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware of this. Nessa knew the answer - thanks!
Thanks K2 and Nessa. That is an interesting oversight on Hyundai's part. No one like a busy cruising experience. By the way, I just happened on a site that has a gold mine of spec data. Useful for all kinds of answers:
Deletehttp://www.automobile-catalog.com/
Thanks! It's an awesome reference and I do refer to it a lot.
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