Hii
I had a brief 22 km test drive of the Hyundai Elantra 1.6 CRDi SX diesel
My observations are as follows
-The car looks great, its not timeless in nature but super stylish, lot of character lines running along the side and it makes the car extremely stylish at most angles
-The built quality is not the best in segment, its as good as the Cruze but not better than Fluence and Jetta and Octavia
-interior fit and finish is awesome, minimal panel gaps, lot of sculpted plastics and the blue lighting to speedo and guages and buttons give it a sci fi look inside, like the exterior the interior also flows, very good indeed
-Rear armrest is brilliant, large and has buttons for stereo adjustments, its probably the best chauffeur driven car in this segment, good space inside, excellent under thigh support, and soft but not overtly soft cushy rear seats, its still no 3 seater at the back, still it can accommodate 3 without complaints
-front seat coolers and 6 way power adjustable seats too a great feature, to get these features in competition one has to shell out some extra 4-5 lakh Rs, that felt like a real luxury feature for the Elantra,
-The Reach and rake adjustments are easy and lots of adjustments and good ergonomics make the car easy to live and very friendly in operation.
-the 1.6 CRDi is extremely quiet but the car has lot of tyre noise entering cabin at speeds excess of 40 kmph, wind noise is minimal upto 80 kmph past that wind noise too enters cabin making cabin a bit boomy
-there is turbo lag till 2000 rpm, once past 2000 rpm there is good pull, still no way near as good as Jetta and Octavia, still very respectable since the car is much lighter than Jetta and Octavia
-Clutch has good feel, so are the brakes ,throttle response is poor but its OK not as bad as the Cruze, same as the Fluence, not as good as Jetta and Octavia
-Nice smooth gear shifts, it dosent like to be hurried but as a chauffeur driven car its excellent, no after gear shift kicks like in Jetta and Octavia and Cruze, specially during down shifts where the Jetta and Octavia apply engine braking that upsets the cabin
-Ride quality is good but not great, its very softly sprung car, it glides over bumps and poth holes at speeds below 40 kmph, if we are above 40 we will feel some of the unsettling mannerism of car, above 100 kmph its definitely not as composed as Jetta/Octavia/Fluence but it is better than Verna still no way a dynamic car to drive, steering lacks feel and it weighs inconsistently
It maybe Hyundais best handling car yet still no way near as good as Europeans
Suspension works silently unlike in Octavia and Cruze
-6 airbags including side curtain airbas and ABS,EBD,ESC ensure safety
-On road price tag of just 1701800 Rs for the fully loaded SX variant is much much better value for money than the German siblings, Cruze and fluence post some threat still its a better car some how as Hyundai is better wide spread and fit and finish and ergonomics and interior quality is easily better than Cruze and at par with Fluence(petrol)
-The Elantra petrol is even better deal, couldnt drive one but it gets the 1.8l gamma petrol with 148 hp @6000 rpm and 181 NM @4500 rpm, and its lighter than 1.6 CRDi by 33 kg, so it will definitely feel better when not fully loaded and petrol cost just Rs 1618600 on road, compared to this Jetta 1.4 TSi and Octavia 1.4 Tsi and even Corolla petrol is no match, but its our country India naa, nobody will even dare to look at the better petrol Elantra,
I had a brief 22 km test drive of the Hyundai Elantra 1.6 CRDi SX diesel
My observations are as follows
-The car looks great, its not timeless in nature but super stylish, lot of character lines running along the side and it makes the car extremely stylish at most angles
-The built quality is not the best in segment, its as good as the Cruze but not better than Fluence and Jetta and Octavia
-interior fit and finish is awesome, minimal panel gaps, lot of sculpted plastics and the blue lighting to speedo and guages and buttons give it a sci fi look inside, like the exterior the interior also flows, very good indeed
-Rear armrest is brilliant, large and has buttons for stereo adjustments, its probably the best chauffeur driven car in this segment, good space inside, excellent under thigh support, and soft but not overtly soft cushy rear seats, its still no 3 seater at the back, still it can accommodate 3 without complaints
-front seat coolers and 6 way power adjustable seats too a great feature, to get these features in competition one has to shell out some extra 4-5 lakh Rs, that felt like a real luxury feature for the Elantra,
-The Reach and rake adjustments are easy and lots of adjustments and good ergonomics make the car easy to live and very friendly in operation.
-the 1.6 CRDi is extremely quiet but the car has lot of tyre noise entering cabin at speeds excess of 40 kmph, wind noise is minimal upto 80 kmph past that wind noise too enters cabin making cabin a bit boomy
-there is turbo lag till 2000 rpm, once past 2000 rpm there is good pull, still no way near as good as Jetta and Octavia, still very respectable since the car is much lighter than Jetta and Octavia
-Clutch has good feel, so are the brakes ,throttle response is poor but its OK not as bad as the Cruze, same as the Fluence, not as good as Jetta and Octavia
-Nice smooth gear shifts, it dosent like to be hurried but as a chauffeur driven car its excellent, no after gear shift kicks like in Jetta and Octavia and Cruze, specially during down shifts where the Jetta and Octavia apply engine braking that upsets the cabin
-Ride quality is good but not great, its very softly sprung car, it glides over bumps and poth holes at speeds below 40 kmph, if we are above 40 we will feel some of the unsettling mannerism of car, above 100 kmph its definitely not as composed as Jetta/Octavia/Fluence but it is better than Verna still no way a dynamic car to drive, steering lacks feel and it weighs inconsistently
It maybe Hyundais best handling car yet still no way near as good as Europeans
Suspension works silently unlike in Octavia and Cruze
-6 airbags including side curtain airbas and ABS,EBD,ESC ensure safety
-On road price tag of just 1701800 Rs for the fully loaded SX variant is much much better value for money than the German siblings, Cruze and fluence post some threat still its a better car some how as Hyundai is better wide spread and fit and finish and ergonomics and interior quality is easily better than Cruze and at par with Fluence(petrol)
-The Elantra petrol is even better deal, couldnt drive one but it gets the 1.8l gamma petrol with 148 hp @6000 rpm and 181 NM @4500 rpm, and its lighter than 1.6 CRDi by 33 kg, so it will definitely feel better when not fully loaded and petrol cost just Rs 1618600 on road, compared to this Jetta 1.4 TSi and Octavia 1.4 Tsi and even Corolla petrol is no match, but its our country India naa, nobody will even dare to look at the better petrol Elantra,
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