Hyundai Elantra X20 – Full ingredients, and then some

The car is priced just shy off RM100,000 and makes it quite a worth purchase if you consider all other cars within the 2.0 liter segment. As a matter of fact, very few cars in our market these days are 2.0liter and priced below that, so this would be quite a gem. If you must, you will realize that Hyundai is taking a slightly different approach in its branding of this car. The X20 seemed to be the word of the day.

The design of this car have gone through many phases of changes and today’s Hyundai cars are way more fine and nicely done as compared to the earlier generations. The curves, the lines, its combination of door knobs and such all gives you quite a continental feel to it. This seemed to be the way forward for most car manufacturers these days. Just turn around and grasp at the new Honda Accord and you will know what we mean.

The interiors of the car is also very much fine-tuned to almost perfection, you get a sense that the parts will not fall out (unlike some other cars which do) over a couple of years. Very much like most cars around the market these days, you get the MP3/WMA, CD Players which also gives you the flexibility of plugging in your iPod or other music players if you like.

This car comes fitted with the 2.0liter, 16 Valve DOHC engine where you get 143 horsepwoers at 6,000rpm and torque of 186Nm at 4,600rpm, controlled nicely by its 4 speed automatic gear transmission which is equipped with Grade Logic and VFS which is meant to give you gear change in the smoothest way possible. Having said that, the handling of this car leaves much to be desired, probably because of the market segment Hyundai is after. This is not the car for you to race, so you will find that tackling curves might just be where you start slowing down. Suspension wise, you will find that it is pretty much tuned and made for comfort and not so much on performance.

Safety features here are pretty much standard with SRS Airbags, ABS and EBD, all of which are quite the same set you get with most cars around this segment. The Elantra also comes with a voice reverse warning sensor as well as the distance display where you get a clearer picture of how far before you need to stop, which is pretty useful.

The X20 Elantra is a decent car if you really need to put a finger to how well it performs, the price is enticing but it do take a bit more convincing to get the neutrals to buy, but for the Hyundai loyals, this would be quite a gem.