You bought a Hyundai? Of course!

UPDATED 03/07/2004 -- My update is appended to the end of this review.

UPDATED 11/30/2004 -- Appended to the end

-------------ORIGINAL REVIEW-------------
This review is about my Elantra GT. I've only had it for a short time, so I'll have to update this review later -- don't forget while reading my review that these are really closer to "first impressions" than long term owner comments.

I bought this car because I needed a car to carry my children in, as I couldn't put two carseats in my Ranger pickup, even with the supercab. I bought the GT version for the hatchback as I believe the extra cargo capacity will come in handy at times.

The Car:
2003 Hyundai Elantra GT
Leather Seats
Power Windows
Power Locks
Power Mirrors
Power Moonroof
AM/FM/CD, 6 speakers
4 Wheel Disc Brakes
5 speed manual
2.0L 16 valve inline 4 cyl
Keyless entry & Alarm
Heated mirrors
Rear defroster
Rear wiper & washer
Automatic headlights
Speed sensitive power steering
Highly Adjustable Driver's Seat (front & rear height and tilt, recline, lumbar adjustment)

I've always been interested in cars and have followed a lot of manufacturer's cars, but never even considered Hyundai in the past. In fact, when I first started looking they didn't even cross my mind. A local radio station was doing a fund raiser called "Live in it to win it" where four people spent 18 days living in an Elantra at the dealership near my house, which made me look at them to see how much torture it must be to sit in a low priced import. When I started reading the reviews here, other owner reviews, and professional reviews I started to wonder if maybe Hyundai was an unknown gem. It appears that Hyundai is in a position of selling low to gain consumer confidence and market share! I suspect that if their reputation continues to improve like it has over the last few years they'll be considered right up there with Toyota and Honda soon, in fact Car & Driver magazine did a comparison between 10 cars of this price & size range and the Elantra beat both the Corolla and the Civic coming in second place!

Driver's perspective:

I'm about 6'3.5" and weigh about 200 lbs. My height is mostly proportioned towards long legs. So, how well do I fit in a Korean compact car? Quite well actually! The driver's seat travel is more than I need by about two inches, headroom is sufficient in both the front and back seats, even with the moonroof (my dad rode in it with his cowboy hat on!), seats are wide enough and comfortable and have good thigh support even for long legs. Good visibility on all sides and to the rear. The headlights cast a very bright well diffused light pattern. The dash is well laid out and easy to read. The purple back lighting is 'cool' looking, but a bit hard on the eyes after too long if it's too bright. The stereo has decent sound quality, though nothing to brag about. So far, no rattles or wind noise and even cruising at 65 MPH with the moon-roof open you can hear the radio just fine at a decent volume. Road noise is minimal for a car of this class.

Rear legroom is good for this size car, even with the front seats all of the way back. I can sit in the back seat with acceptable comfort -- though probably not for a long trip.

High points:

* Comfortable, highly adjustable driver's seat
* Decent legroom in the back
* Cruise control pod is the best design I've ever seen
* controls are well laid out
* good cupholders with many configurations to hold nearly any cup securely, though a large cup may make it difficult to shift.
* 'dummy pedal' to rest your left foot on when not shifting.
* Good handling
* Decent acceleration, especially once it's wound up to it's 3000 to 4000 rpm peak.
* I drove it with nearly 800 lbs of people (3 large adults and two children in carseats) and you could hardly tell the difference -- it still felt peppy and fast and handled well.
* Big rear view mirrors for a small car
* Massive cargo capacity with rear seats folded down and hatch area filled.

A few minor niggles:

No matter what kind of car you drive, there's going to be something you don't like. I have a few of those, though so far I've found far fewer than my fully loaded Chrysler Town & Country minivan that cost a bundle more than this car. They are also VERY MINOR complaints:

1) The ignition key is a bit hard to insert, though I'm getting used to it and it goes in fairly easy now.
2) The hood release is where I'm used to having the brake release. Haha... I'll get used to that after I get out to close the hood a few more times. Actually, I like the hand brake better than a foot brake.
3) The interior lighting is insufficient -- the dome light only lights the front seats (the GLS sedan does not have this problem), and the light in the hatch area is very dim.
4) The last door closed has to be closed firmly or it'll not latch all of the way
5) As with almost every car I've ever driven, the visors obstruct my vision to the front since I'm so tall, and don't cover enough of the side window to be any use since I sit so far back.
6) I worry that the power mirrors won't last too long as they move in a jerky fashion.

So far I'm very impressed with this car, and think I've definitely made the right decission. I hope to seldom need the warranty, but if I do it looks promising.

I'll update this review in a few months once I've put a few more miles on the car.

-------------UPDATE 03/07/04-------------
Well, I've put almost 4000 miles on the car and believe that I can give a more useful assessment than I could when I originally wrote this review.

This car quickly became my favorite car of any that I've ever owned. I enjoy driving it and always look forward to going for a drive. I constantly get comments from people who ride in it saying how nice it is, especially for the price. Some have said that if they were in the market for a new car they'd definitely considering buying one considering all that you get for the price.

Shortly after buying it I did have a small problem with it refusing to start (or even crank). After a 20 minute wait it would start right up. The dealer put in a new battery, and ever since it's been perfect. An unfortunate problem, but quite minor in the overall scheme of things.

Otherwise, I've had no mechanical problems or complaints. It has not developed any rattles, wind noise, or other annoyances.

Features that I neglected to list:
* Foglights
* Child locks on the back doors to keep them from opening the door from the inside
* Reclining front seats

Things I've learned about the car since my last review that I really like:
* If the doors are acidentally unlocked by pinching the key fob in your pocket (happens to me frequently) the car will automatically relock the doors in about 30 seconds if a door has not been opened.
* The power windows continue to operate after removing the key until you open a door
* The ignition key is easy to insert now, I'm not sure why it was hard at first.

Things I've learned about the car since my last review that I wish were different:
* The moonroof requires the key to be in the "Run" position to operate. I wish it also operated until they doors were opened.
* The CD player doesn't have a random play feature
* The power window lockout button also disables the buttons on the driver's door, so you have to unlock the windows, roll them down or up, then relock them.
* The spare tire cover (the floor of the hatch area) is thin, so heavy items can't be placed in the center of the hatch. This could probably be fixed by cutting a 1/4" piece of plywood and putting it in the hole under the cover.

Again, in summary: I'd buy the car again in a second, and would recommend it to others.

-------------UPDATE 11/30/04-------------
14,000 miles, no mechanical problems, still really like the car. Dealer refuses to perform TSB for warm ambient air/cold start/stumble, but it only happens about once a week during the summer and only once, so no biggie. They say that if they can't reproduce it, they won't perform the TSB --> how do I get them to reproduce a subtle problem that only happens randomly about once a week? A problem that they might not even notice when it happens if they aren't paying attention?

LOVE the cargo space... have moved twice and moved a lot of stuff for a friend!