The 2019 Hyundai Elantra wears a fresh face and packs lots of features
Cars
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Despite what you may have heard about crossovers taking over the world, Compact sedans are still popular and pretty important.
They're affordable, efficient, and practical forms of every day transportation.
This generation of the Hyundai Elantra was introduced for the 2017 model year and the 2019, it gets its most major updates so far The face lifted look of the Elantra is really really bold.
It's quite a lot more striking than the old car.
Look up front, for instance, we've got all these crazy triangle shapes all intersecting with each other.
And then when you move around the back, the trunk is new, the fascia is new, the tail lights and wheel designs are all updated as well.
Now I'll be honest, this is a pretty strong look for a car like the Elantra and I wasn't really sold on it initially when I first saw photos.
But you know what, walking around it in person, it actually kinda works.
There's freshened look inside, too.
With this much tinier and smarter center stack.
With new climate control knobs and a restyled instrument control cluster.
I probably wouldn't pick the light-colored upholstery of this tester, but overall the Elantra's cabin looks and feels well-designed.
Although there are some cheaper elements, like these manual releases on the floor for the trunk and gas cap.
The Elantra is a small sedan, so don't expect to lounge out in the back seat Most adults will be fine back there, but it's worth noting that by the numbers you get about two inches less rear legroom than in a Honda Civic or Volkswagen Jetta.
And at 14.4 cubic feet, trunk space in this small sedan is very good for the class, but again, not quite as roomy as the Tardis like Civic and the Nissan Sentra.
The Elantra drives pretty well, overall, with calm and kind of unremarkable road manners.
Its 2 liter in-line four engine has 147 horsepower and 132 power feet of torque, so there's not a whole lot of excitement.
Silent from behind the wheel.
But the engine is pretty quiet and the 6-speed automatic transmission shifts pretty smoothly which is kind of what you want in a car like this.
The only real downside though that it's a little bit loud on the highway and the ride is perhaps a little floatier than I'd like.
But it's nothing untoward for a car in this segment.
Window price range.
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A decade ago, economy cars like this didn't come with many features at all, but that couldn't be further from the truth in 2019.
I'm driving the Elantra's top trim level, the limited, and on top of that, we've got the ultimate package.
So I've got a ton of goodies, things like a sunroof, heated leather seats, push button start, LED head Headlights, built in navigation, safety tech like active cruise and blind spot monitoring, even wireless phone charging.
That's a really generous feature set that compares well with a lot of other compacts at hand.
Although, of course, it's worth noting that not all of those features are offered on all of the larger Much as trim levels.
Infotainment technology is also really good in the Elantra.
Every model except for the base SE trim level comes standard with a 7-inch touchscreen, and an 8-inch touch screen like in this car, is optional.
Those systems work really well, and for a closer look at all the in-car tech in the Elantra, be sure to check out our separate tech-check video.
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Fuel economy is rated at 28 miles per gallon city and 37 miles per gallon highway and I found that it's actually pretty easy to hit those numbers in everyday driving.
Now those are best in class figures the newest Volkswagen Jetta can get 30 miles per gallon city 40 mpg highway.
The Civic sedan can even do a little bit better.
But all things considered I would say the [UNKNOWN] efficiency ratings are nothing to complain About.
Nor is its pricing strategy.
The 2019 Elantra SE starts at a very reasonable $18,000, albeit with a manual transmission instead of this automatic.
Now, my test car is fully loaded.
It costs about $27,000, but considering all the features I've got, I think that's a pretty reasonable sum to pay.
But for my money, I'd probably go with the rather appropriately named Elantra Value addition still gives you a lot of tech and features, but it starts at just $21,420.
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The 2019 Hyundai Elantra may not be the newest or best driving small car around.
But with a long list of available options, very good fuel economy, attractive pricing, and this kinda cool new design, it's still an excellent choice in the compact sedan class.
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