Maybe we should just call it Tra.

Hyundai's Elantra doesn't have much Elan.  It's a workaday car, almost the definition of basic transportation.

That said, the Elantra can be dressed up.  The station wagon we drove came with cruise control, power windows and mirrors, and all the options you could find on any larger car.  It totalled about fifteen thousand dollars, which may seem a bit beyond basic transportation.

Unfortunately, mating the Elantra's engine to an automatic transmission results in disappointing performance.  On the other hand, fuel economy was quite creditable -- well into the '30s even in city driving.  These days, that's a difference that matters.

The little wagon proves you don't need a giant sport utility vehicle to get a useful car.  You won't want to carry more than four people for any length of time in the Elantra, but with the seat folded down, you can get that antique chair home safe and dry.

We'll have more on the improvements at Hyundai in our next WTOP car report. 



Hyundais are getting better.

I can hear you snickering, and saying they didn't have anywhere else to go.  And you have a point.  But the fact is, Hyundai is now where Honda was in the early '80s. 

Hyundai is a vast conglomerate, a combination of General Motors, General Electric, and General Dynamics.  Their first generation of cars was unrefined and had little to offer aside from purchase price.  Hyundai was then a good choice for people seeking basic transportation, but trying not to buy a Yugo.  Now, though, Hyundai has improved its interior materials, worked on its noise and vibration, and become a better car in every way.

While neither the midsize Sonata nor entry-level Elantra is an exciting car, and the Tiburon’s styling is, well, iconoclastic, they offer decent value for the money and are good enough to worry a lot of competition.  After all, everybody saw where Honda went once it figured out what cars should be.