Design Hyundai Elantra Limited

Design Hyundai Elantra Limited

As we gaze out our office window at the 2011 Hyundai Elantra compact sedan, we are prepared to forgive Hyundai for ever uttering the phrase “Fluidic Sculpture,” the company’s intensely awkward tag line for its current styling.

This is because Hyundai’s fifth-generation Elantra is the one car in this reinvigorated class that actually looks like anything at all.

That the Elantra’s jutting-jaw face has a passing resemblance to the Montauk Monster, the half-decayed and unidentified creature that washed up on a New York beach and into internet notoriety, is actually not at all a bad thing.

We suggest, though, that Hyundai consider describing the Elantra’s styling as “Pelt-ic Sculpture,” since it appears that an extremely strong headwind has peeled back the dermis from its face and sent it flapping and undulating down the side of the body. And somehow, it looks great.

Interior Hyundai Elantra Limited

The Elantra is powered by a new 1.8-liter four-cylinder that makes a competitive 148 hp and is named after the cutest Greek letter of them all, Nu. This all-aluminum DOHC engine with variable valve timing delivers 29 mpg city and 40 mpg highway, according to the EPA, trouncing everything in the class except the expected fuel-economy ratings from the fuel-sipping, low-volume versions of the Cruze and the 2012 Ford Focus. (We got 26 mpg, driving with very heavy feet; drivers with less fire under their butts should get better.) Our Elantra hit 60 mph in 8.6 seconds and stopped from 70 mph in 172 feet, 0.3 second quicker and nine feet shorter than did a Cruze LTZ.

Specifications

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan

ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 16-valve inline-4, aluminum block and head, port fuel injection

Displacement: 110 cu in, 1797 cc

Power: 148 bhp @ 6500 rpm

Torque: 131 lb-ft @ 4700 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic with manumatic shifting

DIMENSIONS:

Wheelbase: 106.3 in

Length: 178.3 in

Width: 69.9 in Height: 56.5 in

Curb weight: 2821 lb

C/D TEST RESULTS:

Zero to 60 mph: 8.6 sec

Zero to 100 mph: 26.1 sec

Zero to 110 mph: 37.2 sec

Street start, 5–60 mph: 9.0 sec

Standing ¼-mile: 16.6 sec @ 84 mph

Top speed (governor limited): 118 mph

Braking, 70–0 mph: 172 ft