2021 Hyundai Elantra SEL - Review

[Nick1994]

Had a 21' Elantra SEL with 630 miles as a loaner car for just over 2 weeks and 650 miles while the Genesis was at it's 2nd home at the dealership. In October I reviewed a 2020 Kona, which I'll compare to in this thread. Link here: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/2020-hyundai-kona-se-review.332875/

Overall, I really liked it and it surprised me.

The good:

• Comfortable. The seats were really nice, the Kona had short seats so these were a major improvement.
• Tech. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, also had Lane Keep Assist and Automatic Emergency Braking and automatic climate control. It also would ding and tell you if you're at a light and the car in front of you took off and you didn't leave right away.
• Power. While it certainly wasn't fast, the power was leaps and bounds better than the Kona. Entirely adequate. This had a CVT that worked good, it keeps the RPMs low which is ok because that's where it made its power.
• Nice trunk
• Pretty good sound quality for a basic radio.
• Good headlights
• Grey interior. I'm so sick of carpet and everything inside a car being black, it was nice to have a light color inside. The floor mats were black though, which is fine because they'll be the dirtiest.

The OK:

• Road noise. It was ok, but I think where it was noisy was the Kumho tires.

The Poor:

• I had a hard time getting used to the awkward placement of the door handles inside, they're so low and awkwardly shaped.
• The Kumho Solus TA31 tires suck, I had a set on my 15' Sonata and hated them. They're noisy, harsh, and they grab onto The grooves in the pavement and steer the car wherever it wants.
• Wireless Apple CarPlay dropping. I'm not sure I can place blame here. Using Waze it would drop but you could join again right away, then drop a minute or so again later. Might be too much data to project to the screen. Not sure.
• Stupid throttle programming. It took a lot of peddle to get going, but the RPMs were really low. So strange for a car to give like 25% of it's power taking off from a light but using about 1/2 the peddle.

Overall it's a really nice car. The dealer asked if I wanted a loaner car and I initially said no, because if it was going to be another Kona I'd rather drive my old beater Camry. But they said it was a 21' Elantra so I decided to try it out.

 

[Blinker]

Nice write up.

I get the whole black rims fad, but these actually look plasti-dipped. These actually make the car look low rent.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Not a fan of black rims either, most look like a low cost DIY job.

I like the style of the car but that grill is way too big. It's like it's trying to become a Toyota or something..

 

[ryster]

This new Hyundai design "language" is very polarizing. Between this, and the new 2022 Tucson, they are heading in the wrong direction. It is like they looked at current Lamborghinis and tried to adapt it for their styling.

 

[WylieCoyote]

Hyundai has not done their lineup any favors with the new front & rear treatments. The new Sonata looks like a sad catfish, and now the Elantra looks like a giant self-propelled cheese grater. They tend to overthink front ends, when less would be more. Kind of like the Honda Accord, they had it looking good, then went too far. I'll never get why the Hybrid had to look like this, but the gas-only of the same generation looked decent.

 

[Nick1994]

I've got another one

 

[Blinker]

So much black lol

 

[OVERKILL]

So much black lol

Both of our vehicles are black on black too, lol.

 

[aquariuscsm]

That Elantra's front grille is HIDEOUS OMG!!!!

Your Genesis is a beautiful car!! Very classy looking.

 

[4WD]

Both of our vehicles are black on black too, lol.

With grey tires 👀

 

[4WD]

That Elantra's front grille is HIDEOUS OMG!!!!

Your Genesis is a beautiful car!! Very classy looking.

If it was metal … it might make a good grill 😷

 

[4WD]

With grey tires 👀

J/K … the body shop slimed the tires on the Tahoe …
it’s a 2017 and those Michelin tires have never seen tire slickum since new

 

[odie]

Gas mileage ? Not the display , that's off up to 4 m.p.g. from the calculated . This applies to our '18 Accent .

 

[The Critic]

I've got another one View attachment 43827

What broke this time? 😂

 

[SatinSilver]

The N line version of that would be sweet with 200 HP.

 

[supton]

What broke this time? 😂

Indeed!

Nick, I think you've been driving rentals more this year than I've been driving at all!

 

[Nick1994]

What broke this time? 😂

They finally got the new transmission mount in stock. Then on the way to the dealer, my driver’s mirror motor stripped out and ate itself.

Indeed!

Nick, I think you've been driving rentals more this year than I've been driving at all!

Very true, I had the first loaner for 2-1/2 weeks and now I’m on this one.

Unfortunately I took a rock to the windshield and got a crack in the rental car. I had only driven it yesterday.