2021 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid review: Where style meets efficiency

As the old saying goes, you will find a lot more than just one way to skin a cat. Whatsoever vitriol the individual that coined this adage experienced in opposition to felines is not known, but their logic is sound, in particular if you might be searching to save income at the pump. There are a great deal of super-thrifty automobiles to decide on from and you will not even have to get a plug-in design or anything that’s totally electrical. You could seize a Toyota Corolla Hybrid or even Honda’s affordable Insight. And then you will find the Prius, a house title and a tested performer. But have you viewed as the Hyundai Elantra Hybrid? If not, you certainly need to.

In Blue trim, its most efficient form, this tiny sedan returns some whopping fuel-economy figures. Be expecting around fifty three mpg city, 56 mpg freeway and fifty four mpg combined. The leading-shelf Limited design I am analyzing here, nonetheless, is four mpg considerably less efficient in each individual driving cycle. That seems like a large hit, but on a percentage basis it seriously is just not, in addition in genuine-entire world driving I am averaging about forty eight mpg, which is nevertheless phenomenal. Those people amazing figures are robust adequate to make the Elantra Hybrid a lot more miserly than some of its opponents, but penny-pinching parsimony is just not the only rationale to contemplate just one of these Hyundais.

What seriously sets this vehicle apart from the pack is its avant-garde design and style. With its intricate entrance end that remembers a multifaceted gemstone to its crisply creased flanks to that angular rump, this sedan has some severe model. No, its seems will not be for anyone, but the Elantra stands out from almost all the things else on the road right now. The only opportunity dilemma is longevity. This vehicle seems terrific in the instant, but I concern no matter if it will continue to be as desirable a couple a long time down the road or if it will age like unrefrigerated milk.

Those people suave great seems carry by way of to the Elantra’s interior, which is as upscale as it is perfectly equipped. The techy-searching dashboard is angled slightly toward the driver so a lot more of the controls are within straightforward achieve. Painted silver accents brighten up the cockpit, which or else might be a bit also severe in black, even though a grey color plan is obtainable, also.

The car’s sprint is constructed of desirable hard and gentle plastics and the entire shebang seems a lot more upscale than you’d normally hope from a auto in this course. Of training course, some value-reducing is noticeable, even though none of it is egregious. The headliner is of iffy high quality and there are no air vents or electrical power retailers for rear-seat travellers. Also, you will find a unusual applique to the remaining of the steering wheel, a gear-like circle with a line in the middle. If you envisioned this component to function, you’ll be sorely let down since it truly is purely decorative, even though on N Line variations of the Elantra this is wherever the travel method button is located. 

The Elantra Hybrid’s entrance seats are snug adequate, in addition they’re heated and ventilated in the Limited design, but the rear accommodations are spectacular for a vehicle of this dimensions. There is stretch-out quantities of legroom and you will find approximately as significantly head house. On leading of that, the cushions are properly positioned with a comfortably angled backrest and even a fold-down centre armrest. This Hyundai’s cabin is airy and open up, with 99.four cubic feet of passenger quantity, which will make it a lot more capacious than its sedan rivals. Even the trunk is significant, clocking in at 14.2 cubes, a little bit considerably less than the Insight gives.

Two 10.three-inch screens are conventional on Limited-trim Elantras. This includes a reconfigurable digital instrument cluster and a crisp touchscreen that’s household to an outstanding infotainment system. Not only is it colourful and straightforward to use, this multimedia array is super responsive, virtually never lagging or stuttering. Embedded navigation is included here as perfectly. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are conventional across the Elantra range, even though they require the use of a cable on Limited styles. Curiously, decrease-end examples guidance wireless smartphone mirroring on their smaller sized eight-inch infotainment display, anything I have professional in other Hyundai and Kia autos.

As for driver aids, the Elantra Hybrid arrives conventional with the common suspects. Automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind-place assist, rear cross-targeted visitors notify, lane-trying to keep assist and automatic substantial beams, between others, are all accounted for. The Limited trim also includes adaptive cruise command with end-and-go capability as perfectly as Freeway Drive Support, which throws lane centering into the combine. All of these amenities work as marketed and are intuitive.

The Elantra Hybrid is powered by a one.six-liter 4-cylinder engine that’s matched to a 6-velocity dual-clutch automatic gearbox. This engine is augmented by an electrical motor that delivers 43 horsepower and 125 pound-feet of torque to the social gathering, although a lithium-ion polymer battery pack serves as an electron reservoir. Overall system output is a modest 139 hp, but the twist is a lot more outstanding at 195 lb-ft. Peaceful and refined, this sedan accelerates far better than you might hope soon after looking through all those numbers. No, it will not established the entire world on fireplace, but it has a lot more-than-respectable scoot for day to day use, in particular when you contemplate just how affordable it is. The powertrain’s paucity of ponies is only seriously noticeable at freeway speeds wherever it feels to some degree asthmatic. Switching to the Activity driving method from possibly Ordinary or Intelligent does liven factors up slightly and marginally stiffens the steering.

Slowing your roll, this car’s brakes are a minor rubbery underfoot and the first chunk of regenerative deceleration is a little bit abrupt, but or else the pedal feels good and the changeover to friction braking is rather significantly imperceptible. Experience high quality is on the stiff side, which is stunning thinking about the hybrid design is about two hundred lbs heavier than a conventional Elantra Limited. Probably engineers had been seeking to make the vehicle experience as sporty as it seems.

Underway, the interior is impressively hushed, besides for the substantial-effectiveness Hankook Kinergy GT tires mounted to 17-inch wheels. Relying on the surface area, they tend to sing, in addition they also experience a minor greasy although cornering, squealing with minor provocation. The Elantra’s steering is sleek and exact, if or else unremarkable. When Freeway Drive Support is activated, the lane-trying to keep assist does a phenomenal occupation trying to keep the Elantra Hybrid involving the lines. In reality, this set up performs far better than some systems offered in significantly a lot more pricey luxury autos. The only genuine dynamic draw back to this vehicle is the transmission, which on extremely unusual situations can experience befuddled. Generally, it truly is super sleek and reasonably quick to change, even though not as speedy as other dual-clutch gearboxes.

An entry-stage 2021 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid starts off at $24,555 like $one,005 in vacation spot costs. That will make it about $three,700 pricier than a conventional 2022 Elantra sedan, an appreciable variance. The leading-of-the-line Limited design reviewed here rolled off the assembly line in Ulsan, South Korea wearing a $29,260 selling price tag, which is suitable in line with an Insight Touring and, frankly, not unreasonable thinking about the average new-auto transaction selling price these times is around 41 grand.

If maximizing fuel effectiveness is as essential to you as modern design and style, your chariot awaits. The Elantra Hybrid can stretch a gallon of gasoline like the best of ’em and it seems significantly far better although performing so.