2018 Sonata and Elantra highly competitive
LA JOLLA, CALIF.
Hyundai has never gotten the acclaim it deserved for breaking the mold of midsize autos throughout the industry, and forcing all of the competitors to revise their concepts as well as their cars and powertrains. But in 2010, Hyundai brought out the 2011 Sonata, and it was thoroughly impressive from every perspective.
It had dramatic new styling, with contours covering both sides and a sleek shape overall; a new 2.4-liter engine and an expensive but impressive direct-injection system that could attain 40 miles per gallon at freeway speeds; a body that, while shapely, was amazingly strong because of the predominance of high-strength steel; a new 6-speed stick or automatic transmission, house-built. Plus, it was less expensive to buy than competing and dominant midsize cars such as the Accord, Camry, Mazda6, Altima, Malibu or Fusion.
That car thrust Hyundai into an elite slot in the car business, and forced its competitors to shake out of their lethargy and realize there were better ways to build cars and engines.
Several generations of updates and revisions have followed, and competition is more than just feverish as we compare impressive 2017 models and look ahead to 2018. All of the midsize competitors have improved greatly, and the smaller compact size has also seen remarkable improvements.
At Hyundai, that meant the last compact Elantra that came out in 2015 has moved up in station to challenge the larger Sonata for superiority as a useful family sedan.
With that, we drop in out of the friendly skies to visit Torrey Pines Resort in La Jolla, a suburb of San Diego that also includes a world-class golf course, along the Pacific coastline of California. It is a wonderful resort, and it is neighboring Hyundai’s U.S. base offices, which made it the perfect site for waves of automotive media to experience the first drive opportunities of the 2018 Hyundai Sonata, and the 2018 model of the Hyundai Elantra Sport and GT.
Understandably, Hyundai stressed the Sonata first as the flagship of the company’s stature in the U.S. market, and we had to wait until the next day to examine and drive the Elantra Sport and GT. That was an intriguing matchup, because the Elantra Sport and GT are entirely new for 2018, while the Sonata, looking more luxurious than ever, is really only a mid-cycle update, with stylish new front and rear designs.
Nevertheless, their close proximity forces me to introduce both of them together, with the caution that as a new-car buyer, you may be understandably sold on the roomy and stylish Sonata, but whatever you do, when you go into the Hyundai dealership, check out the new Elantra, too. Don’t be shocked, however, if the Elantra steals the show.
The current rush to SUVs and to the smaller, more-compact CUVs, has left the sedan market in a state of concern, if not panic. New models of Accord and Camry have jacked up the midsize segment, and into the midst of it all comes the seventh-generation Sonata as a 2018 model.
When the 2011 model hit showrooms, it was very popular but drew criticism from skeptics who thought the curvy bodywork would be too trendy and might look old before its time. That has proved erroneous, because while the company seemed to panic and go back to more conservative designs in every refreshening since then, it now looks more generic -- while the 2011-era Sonatas stand out as exclusive, recognizable at a glance.
Perhaps trying to recapture the magic, Hyundai hired a young designer named Edward Lee, away from Lexus. He addressed the assembled media and said his task was a mission statement, “to create an instant ‘Wow!‘ factor,” Lee said. “We aimed for a striking design starting with the side, where the shape starts with the tension of the nose that starts low, rises up and follows a horizontal roof to a short rear deck.
“The front and rear have a new, upright athletic appearance. My favorite views of the new design are the front corner, where the contour lines come across the hood and angle down to the outer edges of our cascade grille; and a high view of the rear corner, which is much cleaner and emphasizes the car’s width and have a fresh, modern look, in what might be called horizontal elements in vertical arrangement. I like the way the lines, which connect the headlights to the taillights, all meet at the taillights.”
Lee confided that he, too, liked the look of the 2011 Sonata, and while he couldn’t say that he was attempting to head back that direction, he said his first design charge for Hyundai was to try to make the Sonata more exciting.
John Shon, the senior product planning manager, talked about the signature cascade grille, which consists of horizontal bars aligned just right to amplify the hexagonal grille opening. With the broad horizontal top edge, then a short upper side bar, tapering down along longer lower side moldings to the bottom bar, the cascade term refers to the way molten steel flows out and downward. That, too, has meaning, because Hyundai is the only auto-maker that owns its own steel plant, which is why its cars are loaded with the costliest -- and safest -- high-strength steel.
As good as the new Sonata looks, it performed even better. My partner and I drove a Sonata Limited with the 2.4-liter 4-cylinder, and it handled the terrain and the curves very well. Switching to the Sport with the 2.0-liter turbocharged engine after lunch in the mountain-area town of Julian, proved conclusively that the quicker-revving engine and the wider wheels and Michelin tires was an improvement in handling and performance.
The range of Sonatas now consists of the bvase SE 2.4 ($22,050 base price); the Eco 1.6-turbo ($22,650); the SEL 2.4 ($23,700); the SEL Tech 2.4 ($24,700); the Sport 2.4 ($25,200); the Limited 2.4 ($27,400); the Limited UYltimate 2.4 ($30,300); the Sport 2.0t ($27,600); and the Limited Sport 2.0t ($32,450).
The 2.4 is naturally aspirated with direct injection -- the engine that put Hyundai on the international map as the joint venture still used by Fiat Chrysler and by Mitsubishi -- and delivers a solid 185 horsepower at 6,000 RPMs and 178 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000 RPMs. The 2.0-turbo has 245 horsepower at 6,000 RPMs, and 260 foot-pounds at a steady flow from 1,350 to 4,000 RPMs. And the 1.6-liter turbo has 178 horsepower at 5,500 RPMs, and 195 foot-pounds from 1,500-4,500 RPMs.
The 2.4 comes with a 6-speed automatic, built by Hyundai, and the 2.0 turbo comes with an upgraded 8-speed automatic, and both have Shiftronic to allow manual overrides. The 1.6-turbo has a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission, in the Eco, which will be out late in the year. A version with hybrid and plug-in hybrid will come out next year.
I liked the 2.0-Sport because it had paddles on the 8-speed automatic, and coming down from the mountains, the paddles allowed me to drop down to fifth, fourth, or even third, and negotiate switchbacks without excessive braking. There was some excessive braking at one point, when a line of about 20 cars was stopped for a lengthy delay because of a rockslide that had come down from the bluff and covered the two-lane highway. We didn’t mind pausing to let them clear that mess.
The Sonatas are built mostly at Hyundai’s Montgomery, Ala., plant, and because it had claimed the more prominent spot on the two-vehicle bill, we assumed that was the more newsworthy. But the smaller Elantra was big news one day later.
The Elantra came out early in this calendar year, and the Elantra Eco, with a new-generation 1.4-liter turbocharged engine, followed in April. The Elantra GT comes next, available about November, and it will be the prize of the litter for folks who appreciate sporty driving and vehicles that respond well to such input. At a base price of $21,650, the Elantra Sport is a strong value for bargain shoppers still craving some fun in their driving
Any question of the Elantra GT’s credentials are eliminated by realizing it began life as the i30 in Europe, a sporty hatchback that likes to take on the Golf GTI and the hottest Ford Focus RS. The best way to get the Elantra GT is the GT Sport package, which takes a large step up from the everyday Elantra GT. The Elantra GT takes the 2.0 engine without the turbocharger and with 162 horsepower at 6,200 RPMs, and 150 foot-pounds of torque at 4,700. It comes with either a 6-speed stick or 6-speed automatic.
The GT Sport parlays the 1.6-liter turbo 4 with a standard 6-speed stick or a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission and paddles. That package has 201 horses at 6,000 revs, and 195 foot-pounds of torque from 1,500-4,500 RPMs. The GT Sport also has multilink rear suspension and 18-inch wheels, compared to the torsion beam rear suspension and 17s in the Elantra GT.
Strangely, there are some impressive items available on the GT Sport that are unavailable on the Elantra GT, such as blind-spot detection with rear cross-traffic, lane change assist, lane keep assist, smart cruise control, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, and high beam assistance. Both vehicles have stability control, traction control, hill-start assist brake assist and rearview camera.
Otherwise, the Sonata has discontinued the very impressive, but possibly leaky, panoramic sunroof for 2018, but the Elantra GT and Sport will offer it. The Sport has more bolstered bucket seats up front. The cars are built using 53 percent high-strength steel, leading to an 18 percent increase in the GT’s torsional rigidity, and the GT Sport is 22 percent more rigid and 61 pounds lighter than the previous model, with under-car cladding to improve aerodynamics to a 0.30 cd.
Driving on a hot day in the California mountains, we appreciated finding ventilated front buckets with cool air coursing through the seats. And the Infinity audio system has seven speakers and a subwoofer with plenty of power.
Along with all the contemporary connectivity devices and outlets, the remote start can be programmed into your smartphone, which can also turn on your rear defroster on cold mornings. The smart cruise has full stop-start, and there’s a driver attention assist as well.
We drove pretty hard and appreciated the precise feedback and curve-tracking capability of the Elantra GT and Sport GT, which put its quick-revving 1.6 turbo to good use. Hyundai estimates its previous 40-percent stick shift sales might be reduced to 20-40 percent, but that’s still high these days. The company also projects 15 percent of Elantra buyers will take the turbo, leaving 85 percent the rest of the line.
Statistically, the Elantra GT and Sport will have to take on a crowded compact field. The Elantra GT’s 55.1 cubic feet of interior storage will handle that well, compared to the Civic’s 46.2, Chevrolet Cruze 47.2, Mazda3 47.1, Focus 43.9 and Golf 52.7.
But the Elantra also proves that it might challenge the larger and more profitable Sonata in overall room, as well as handling and performance. The lighter Elantra is 170.9 inches long compared to the Sonata 191.1; Elantra wheelbase is 104.3 inches to 110.4; width 70.7 to 73.4; and height 57.7 to the Sonata’s 58.1. More importantly, the Elantra Sport front and rear headroom is within an inch of Sonata’s, legroom is 3 inches less front and 0.8 inches less in the rear, while shoulder room is also close, 56.2 inches front and 55.4 rear to the Sonata’s 57.9 front and 56.5 rear. The overall interior space is 121.4 in the Elantra to 122.4 in the Sonata.
Comparing designs of the 2018 Sonata and Elantra Sport makes it evident that the Sonata is intending to move upscale, and at that, it has the style, technology and roomy comfort to carry it off. The Elantra Sport, meanwhile, becomes a viable choice for a few thousand less, almost the same roominess, and the adventuresome look of the hatchback.
