Hyundai Elantra Sport Full Review

Engine

The new Elantra Sport is powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that puts out 150kW of power and 256Nm of torque. This is the same engine shared with the Kia Cerato GT.

That 150kW provides plenty of grunt that overpowers many of the ‘warm hatch’ type competitors such as the Mazda 3 SP25 which has 139kW and the Civic RS which has a lame 127kW.

Performance

The Elantra Sport is quick off the mark despite the expected turbo lag, which could be worse. It pushes through the gears well and gives you a nice little kick back into your seat.

The only issue here, and we have said this for the Elantra SR Turbo, i30 SR, i30 N-Line, Cerato GT etc.. EXHAUST! It sounds like any other car and is not exciting in any way. We wish, at least in Sport Mode, that it could be a bit more potent.. Poppy perhaps, but one can only hope.

The Elantra Sport is powered by a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission that seamlessly swifts through gear changes and is quicker and sportier than both a CVT and a conventional torque converter tranny.

Fuel Economy

The claimed usage for the Elantra Sport is 7.0L/100km. This was achieved with a 50/50 split of motorway and city driving – we returned around 7.2L/100km doing so.

But full city driving will return around 9L/100km. The great part is that this machine still drinks 91 RON petrol with no dramas, saving you an extra 20-25% right away each time you fill up!

Interior & Technology

The red leather interior is.. Sweeeeet. The contrast from the white exterior to red leather interior was fantastic and it gives an extra feel of luxury to the car – super comfortable seats as well.

Maximum boot capacity is stated at 458 litres (VDA) which is a good amount of space, but still sees the Elantra lower than the Impreza (460L), Civic (517L), and Cerato (520L).

There is an 8.0-inch touschreen head unit with CarPlay/Android Auto integrated – the usual brilliant unit in all Hyundai’s/Kia’s nowadays.

There is dual climate control as well along with ‘Sport’ stitching in the seats and dual air vents for rear passengers.

Safety

The Elantra gets a 5-Star ANCAP safety rating.

The Elantra Sport does havecity-speed auto emergency braking (AEB), blind spot monitoring (BSM), driver attention alert (DAA), lane departure warning (LDW) with lane keep assist (LKAS) and rear-cross traffic alert (RCTA) as standard, but the Sport can’t even be optioned with radar-based systems such as active cruise control or Hyundai’s version of AEB which can detect pedestrians and slow you to a halt from freeway speeds.

Quite interesting as those added features are available on lower end models, but not this one?

Ride & Comfort

The Elantra Sport has gotten some rubber upgrades with Michel Pilot Sport 4’s! These are the tires that you will see on performance cars – well done Hyundai. And with its 225mm width, along with those sticky PS4’s, the tires grip so incredibly well and allow the Elantra Sport to handle itself gracefully around corners.

There is decent legroom inside and the car does well going over bumps, but the body kit is fairly low causing potentially scraping for some users. Apart from that, it is a comfortable ride with a MANUAL handbrake (long live the manual handbrake).

Warranty & Servicing

Hyundai offers 5 year/unlimited KM warranty for the Elantra, as with all of their vehicles.

Scheduled factory services (occurring once a year or every 15,000km) sit at around $273 per visit, with select visits reaching to between $330 and $460. Hyundai covers the Elantra with scheduled servicing all the way out to 168 months/210,000km and beyond that with pre-paid ‘iCare’ packages.

Hyundai is truly leading the way here..

Pricing

Active 2.0LULP6 SP AUTO $25,990
Active 2.0 MPi 2.0LULP6 SP AUTO $24,250
Active 2.0 MPi 2.0LULP6 SP MAN $21,950
ACTIVE SMARTSENSE 2.0LULP6 SP AUTO $27,690
Elite 2.0 MPi 2.0LULP6 SP AUTO $26,990
ELITE 2.0 MPI (SUNROOF) 2.0LULP6 SP AUTO $28,990
GO 2.0LULP6 SP AUTO $23,790
GO 2.0LULP6 SP MAN $21,490
GO SMARTSENSE 2.0LULP6 SP AUTO $25,490
SPORT 1.6LULP7 SP AUTO $31,490
SPORT 1.6LULP6 SP MAN $28,990
SPORT (RED) 1.6LULP7 SP AUTO $31,785
SPORT (RED) 1.6LULP6 SP MAN $29,285
SPORT PREMIUM 1.6LULP7 SP AUTO $33,990
SPORT PREMIUM 1.6LULP6 SP MAN $31,490
SPORT PREMIUM (RED) 1.6LULP7 SP AUTO $34,285
SPORT PREMIUM (RED) 1.6LULP6 SP MAN $31,785

Overall

The Elantra Sport is a sporty little sedan that competes well in the ‘warm hatch’/small sedan market. It follows on from the Elantra SR Turbo with sporty bones and a luxurious interior. It handles well and provides plenty of features for a great price tag.

ALL our videos of the Elantra Sport:

Full Exterior & Interior Tour:

Exhaust Sound:

Tech Review:

Engine Tour:

POV Test Drive: