Isn’t this a sweet surprise? The 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring could be the best auto bargain going.

The small/midsize wagon seems to fashion contradictions into complementary attributes, rather than settling for compromises. For instance:

Elantra Touring takes up the road space of a compact, but provides the passenger room of a midsize and the cargo area of a middling SUV.

It’s simple in presentation to keep costs down, but comes across as elegant and refreshingly restrained.

It’s not very powerful, but is loads of fun to fling.

It looks dumpy in pictures, but appealing in the flesh — resembling an elongated, well-proportioned Honda Fit without the Fit’s silly spoilers and other plastic dreck.

It offers an automatic transmission, of course, but almost demands that you take the manual, to enjoy the tingling satisfaction of manipulating the B&M Racing brand sport shifter.

It’s an economy car, but comes with sophistication lacking in some pricier cars, including independent suspension front and rear, disc brakes all around, standard stability control and alloy wheels.

It has an enticingly long warranty — five years or 60,000 miles overall, 10/100,000 powertrain — that’s better than some luxury brands.

And you probably won’t need it. The Touring hasn’t been on sale long enough to have a track record, but the Elantra sedan on which it’s based has a “recommended” rating from Consumer Reports magazine with top scores in reliability and ownership cost. Two-thirds of all Hyundais on sale long enough for a record are recommended by CR.

If you still think Hyundai’s the cheap brand you buy instead of what you really wanted, boy, are you out of date.

In addition, most details got unexpected attention. Some examples:

-The top model has an exceptionally well done and useful storage tray under the cargo floor, sitting atop the spare tire.

-Bottle holders in the door panels are angled for easy grab-and-gulp moves while underway. (If the bottle’s much smaller than the holder, though, it merely tilts precariously.)

-All three rear seating slots have safety head restraints. You find only two on some higher-price cars, as if somebody decided that the middle rider needed no whiplash protection.

The Elantra Touring test car was so unexpectedly good that it called for two separate test periods, to see if the good first impression was illusory. It wasn’t.

Touring is a daring car because it’s a wagon introduced into the U.S. market, which doesn’t like those much. (“We don’t call it a wagon here; kiss of death,” says Hyundai’s small-car product manager in the U.S., Mark Dipko. “We call it a versatility vehicle.”) In Europe, its main market, it’s a “crossover wagon.”

And, truly, it’s easy enough to think of it as a hatchback with very generous cargo space.

Hyundai has added the Touring to the U.S. lineup, Dipko says, because “We saw the opportunity to enliven the Elantra line with something styled in Europe.”

The gripes, and it’s a short list:

-All-wheel drive. Not available. It wasn’t designed to accommodate it, so don’t expect it, period, Dipko says. “We have the Tucson (SUV) if you need all-wheel drive,” he says.

-Leather. Not available. Cloth was comfy (and available heated), but leather sheds spills better.

-Visor notch. Too small. Hard to get a finger behind the sun visor to fold it down. Wearing gloves? Forget it.

-Lighting. Too light. The small green lamp that shows the air conditioning is on was unreadable in daylight. The dashboard lighting is a gorgeous, classy blue, but it didn’t illuminate the gauges as well as expected.

-Shifting. Mainly terrific, and that B&M linkage delivered a light metallic click as you moved it among the gears, somewhat like the precise sound of a rifle bolt. But the shift between first and second gears, up or down, sometimes took an extra push.

The clutch engagement could be tricky. If you sit close enough that your left leg always can let out the clutch pedal smoothly, you might find your right leg too close to the throttle and brake pedals.

Most people probably could adjust their way around that. The driver’s seat had what seemed like more notches, closer together, than most manually adjusted seats. Thus you could slide very slightly fore or aft to fine-tune your relationship with the pedals. The manually adjustable seats in most cars have big gaps between the positions.

Touring is a slick piece of work; a lot of satisfying automobile for the money. It’d be tragic if America’s aversion to cars that look like wagons killed it in showrooms.

ABOUT THE ELANTRA TOURING

– What? Compact, front-drive, four-door, five-passenger wagon. (Must you? asks Hyundai. How about crossover-utility hatchback or some such, since “wagon” is the kiss of death in the U.S.) New to the U.S. lineup, based on the Elantra sedan that was new for ’07.

– When? On sale since fall.

– Where? Made in South Korea.

– Why? Already being manufactured for the European market, where buyers are wise enough to appreciate the benefits of wagonlike cars; not a big investment to test the waters in the U.S.

– How much? Starts at $18,495 including $695 shipping. Premium model starts at $19,995. Nearly loaded test vehicle: $20,455.

– Who’ll buy? Hobbyists, do-it-yourselfers and others who like a trim-size car, but need extra capacity. About 55% female, 65% married, 45 years old (plus or minus), $65,000 median annual household income.

– How punchy? More than the specs suggest: 2-liter, four-cylinder engine is rated 138 horsepower at 6,000 rpm, 137 pounds-feet of torque at 4,600 rpm; five-speed manual with B&M Racing brand sport shifter is standard; four-speed automatic is optional.

– How deluxe? Unexpected standard features: stability control, fog lights, outside mirror defrosters, four-wheel disc brakes, four-wheel independent suspension.

– How big? Compact outside, midsize inside. Elantra Touring is 176.2 inches long, 69.5 inches wide, 59.8 inches tall on a 106.3-inch wheelbase.

Weighs 2,937 to 3,112 pounds.

Passenger space listed as 101.2 cubic feet. Cargo space: 24.3 cubic feet behind rear seat, 65.3 cubic feet when rear seat’s folded.

Turning circle: 34.2 feet.

– How thirsty? Rated 23 miles per gallon in town, 31 (manual) or 30 (automatic) mpg on the highway, 26 mpg combined.

Trip computer in manual test car showed 22.7 mpg in spirited suburban driving (4.41 gallons per 100 miles).

Burns regular, holds 14 gallons.

– Overall: Terrific surprise; pocket change for remarkable blend of practicality and satisfaction.

By James R. Healey
USA TODAY

“Boring is better than stupid” might be an axiom applicable to haircuts, aircraft design and your behavior at the office holiday party, but with a car as compelling as the 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring, it’s a shame Hyundai didn’t go for something a little more stupid in the way it looks.

Even in Chili Pepper Red, the otherwise exceptional Elantra Touring comes off like a diminutive Hyundai Veracruz, which is to say, a fine-looking and competent vehicle, but, yes, boring.

If the final version of the 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring had resembled its original design sketch, we think it would’ve been easier to get people to notice it rather than merely consider it. Because it’s an exceptional car in its class.

Wagons Ho!
Hyundai is on a roll. First the Genesis Sedan shook up the luxury-sedan market, and now the 2010 Genesis Coupe promises to do the same with sporty coupes. The timing is right for the Elantra to make waves in the ever-expanding compact crossover market.

Based on the hot-selling Euro-spec Hyundai i30 CW, the 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring (that would be the code word for “wagon”) has much to offer. The base price is $18,495 with a five-speed manual transmission (a four-speed automatic is an $800 option), and standard equipment includes electronic stability and traction control; four-wheel disc brakes (with ABS, brake assist and electronic brakeforce distribution); six airbags; USB/iPod auxiliary input; XM Satellite Radio; a tilt-telescoping steering wheel with audio controls and cruise control; power windows and mirrors; and more. Sheesh! Never mind the Subaru Impreza wagon or Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen; you don’t even get all this on a base BMW 328i wagon for $36,000.

Command Performance
The Elantra’s 141-horsepower DOHC 2.0-liter inline-4 has continuously variable intake-valve timing (CVVT) and is rated by the EPA at 23 mpg city/33 mpg highway/26 mpg combined. We can vouch for these ratings, as our worst/best/average fuel economy figures cooked up 23.6, 33.6 and 25.6 mpg, respectively. This has got to be some sort of Inside Line record for precise (and restrained) fuel economy.

CVVT gives this small engine good throttle response and adequate torque in everyday driving conditions. And when you put the spurs to it, the Elantra is no slowpoke, as the engine revs crisply all the way up to its 6,500-rpm redline. At the track we recorded an 8.7-second run to 60 mph (8.4 seconds with 1 foot of rollout like on a drag strip. Shift action from the five-speed manual is remarkably crisp and precise, maybe better than it needs to be. The clutch engagement is remarkably smooth and intuitive as well.

The brake pedal’s effort and effectiveness are well matched. The 120-foot stops we recorded repeatedly are good for a wagon that weighs 2,998 pounds. The four-wheel discs are up to the task in this case, as some cars in this class come with rear drum brakes as standard equipment, which don’t deliver the same resistance to brake fade. While there’s some noise from the ABS during panic stops, most of it comes from the all-season tires. Otherwise, wind and tire noise are surprisingly restrained. The tires also offer good grip on the skid pad with a 0.81g performance, and prove predictable in the slalom.

With the standard stability control shut off, the 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring is willing to be chucked between the cones without threatening to spin. The balance between benign understeer (as the sidewalls of the tires flex) and mild oversteer (once the tires respond) is pretty unique in this segment, and entertaining besides. The chassis obviously has been tuned with fun in mind, although the stability control intrudes immediately and abruptly like an old-school system. If you want it sharper, consider the optional package of 17-inch wheels and tires ($1,500, which includes cast-aluminum wheels, P215/45VR17 all-season tires, a power sunroof and heated front seats). They look less boring, too.

The Tiller
As fun as it can be in certain circumstances, the Elantra Touring is held back by the ultralight effort of its electric-assist power steering (EPS). Hyundai engineers claim they’ve made big strides in tuning the EPS to feel more like a traditional hydraulic-boosted system, but we say they need longer legs. Chipping away at a fast corner in the Elantra is as vague and confidence-sapping as feeling for the light switch in a darkened hotel room.

It must be said that some buyers actually might prefer this lack of feel, although only the 2009 Toyota Corolla offers a tiller more dead than this one when it comes to feedback from the road. Luckily, the Elantra Touring’s chassis and tires work well together, so you can almost forget about the vague feel of the steering unless your commute involves narrow, 60-mph sweeping corners.

Inner Qualities
Inside the cabin, we were happy to visually corroborate Hyundai’s claim that the 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring offers the largest overall interior volume of any vehicle in its class, some 125.5 cubic feet. Rear-seat accommodations are ginormous, although they lack ventilation vents and the seatbacks can’t be reclined. Even when the rear seats are occupied, you have 24 cubic feet in which to stow your luggage. With its 60/40-folding rear seats laid down flat, the Elantra Touring can gobble up 65 cubes of cargo. That’s more than a Nissan Murano.

The driver seat is adjustable six ways, and the passenger gets by with four ways. It’s worth repeating that the tilt-telescoping steering wheel is a notable addition in this class, especially because it makes the Elantra Touring more suitable for full-size American drivers. We get the thing that says a black interior means a sporty interior, as BMW has practically made it an industry standard, but it does the Elantra no favors. Have a look at a two-tone version, which is a no-cost option, and we think you’ll agree it appears more upscale.

Meanwhile, all the knobs and secondary controls are placed well and feel substantial. The materials feel good and there are numerous cubbies and bins throughout the interior. The standard six-speaker, 172-watt audio system with CD changer, satellite radio and MP3 capability sounds OK, but we found ourselves turning the volume knob and then turning the volume knob again, only to discover we had already maxed the output. No distortion, no blown speakers — it just needs to go louder.

Sport Utility
Like most wagons, the 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring has the interior size and utility of a small sport-utility, the sportiness and feature content of a well-tuned sedan and the fuel economy of a compact car, and it delivers all this at a price that makes sense, with a warranty that can’t be beat.

If you must, call the Elantra Touring a five-door or even a four-door hatch if the wagon thing is too much to wrap your imagination around, but consider test-driving one before you plunk down $30,000 or more on a vehicle that’s overweight, overpriced and over the hill. The 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring might look boring, but it’s certainly not stupid.

By Chris Walton
edmunds.com

A decade ago, I wrote several columns urging readers to take seriously Hyundai Motor, Korea’s largest automobile manufacturer.

I was impressed by the willingness of the company to adapt, and by the speed with which it shifted gears to meet the changing realities of the marketplace.

It is a story now turned cliche: The Hyundai that entered the United States with motorized junk in 1985 — the Excel subcompact — is now a bona fide competitor in the global automobile industry.

Even high-end companies, such as Germany’s BMW, are looking in their rear-view mirrors, checking the Korean manufacturer’s rapid progress with models such as the high-quality, high-performance Hyundai Genesis sedan and coupe.

But the Genesis models don’t pose the biggest threat to Hyundai’s rivals. That, instead, comes with models such as the 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring.

Hyundai’s strategy in the family car category is as simple as it is complicated: The Korean company wants to beat its top Japanese rivals — Honda, Nissan and Toyota — by offering better products at a lower price.

“Better,” as illustrated by the Elantra Touring, means giving people much more car than they expect for the money.

The subject vehicle, for example, is a five-door compact hatchback wagon. You expect a certain amount of utility in that kind of vehicle. But you don’t expect cargo space — a maximum 65 cubic feet with the rear seats folded — that matches the room found in many mid-sized sport-utility models.

You expect a manual transmission as standard equipment. But you don’t expect a short-throw, five-speed manual gearbox that shifts with the precision of something found in a vehicle set up for weekend track racing. You certainly don’t expect a car that is loads of fun to drive. But that is what you get in the Elantra Touring, a car that offers so much for the money, it makes you suspicious.

You start trying to figure out where Hyundai has cut corners.

I thought I had found it in the suspension work, which did not seem to fare terribly well over potholed and pock-marked city streets. But now I’m not so sure.

I drove two versions of the Elantra Touring — one with manual transmission and 16-inch radial tires and the other with automatic transmission and 17-inch radials. The model with the bigger tires felt more stable over roads bad and good. It was absent the sometimes irritating choppiness I felt in the car with the smaller tires.

Check out standard equipment. Hyundai offers four-wheel disc brakes (ventilated front/solid rear), antilock brakes, electronic brake-force distribution (which automatically increases brake force to the wheels that need it most) and electronic stability and traction control. Also included are side and head air bags — all in a car with a base price well below of $20,000. That’s a bargain!

Interior materials weren’t the best in the world — a bountiful helping of bargain-priced vinyl there. But everything appeared stitched and assembled perfectly, as good if not better than anything found in a Honda, Nissan or Toyota — for several hundred to a couple of thousand of dollars less.

With an in-line four-cylinder, 138-horsepower engine, there’s more than adequate power for most commuter transportation needs. Fuel economy is good at 23 miles per gallon in the city, 31 on the highway.

On top of it all, Hyundai has given car sales a slight boost in a dreadfully dismal market with its Hyundai Assurance Plus program, designed to relieve consumer anxiety by promising to take over car payments within the first year of a vehicle purchase for buyers who lose jobs through no fault of their own.

Could it be that Hyundai, once the laughingstock of the car world, will be the company that leads the automobile industry out of recession?

2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring

Engine/transmission: 2-liter, 16-valve, in-line four-cylinder engine with 138 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 136 foot-pounds of torque at 4,600 rpm.

Transmission: Five-speed manual transmission, four-speed automatic is optional.

Capacities: Seats five. Fold-down rear seats.

Mileage: Averaged 30 miles per gallon, highway driving.

Safety: Standard are four-wheel disc brakes with antilock control, electronic brake-force distribution, also electronic stability and traction control, and side and head air bags.

Price: The base price on the Elantra Touring is $17,800. Dealer’s invoice price is $17,071. Price as tested is $19,995, including $1,500 in options (heated front seats, power glass roof, 17-inch tires) and a $695 destination charge. Dealer’s price as tested is $19,131.

By Warren Brown
Washington Post

Can an automaker come back from the dead? This is not a rhetorical question, as some of the biggest names in the industry are currently up against the wall. They could learn a lesson or three from Hyundai.

When Hyundais were first imported here from Korea in the mid-1980s, their main attraction was price. Or lack of same. They were cheap, in all senses of the word, especially the most pejorative. Quality was not good. But rather than make excuses, or abandon the American marketplace, Hyundai learned from its errors and improved its product quality. Considerably. Hyundai’s recovery was not an overnight success story. It took nearly twenty years. But now, while a Hyundai may still have an attractive price, it’s also as good as anything else in its class, if not better — and Hyundai competes directly with the Japanese automakers who are the standards for product quality.

It’s all about product.

Product like the Elantra Touring, an interesting alternative to the big names in the compact segment. Like some of its competitors with similar cars, Hyundai is positioning the 5-door hatch Touring as a sporty and slightly upscale alternative to the common compact sedan. Compared to the regular Elantra sedan, the Touring has a more sport-oriented suspension tuning, although it’s by no means race-ready stiff. Like the Elantra sedan, and unlike some big-name competitors, the Touring has four-wheel antilock discs as standard equipment; electronic stability control, a tire-pressure monitoring system, and full complement of airbags are also among its standard safety features. Air conditioning with cabin filtration and an audio system with XM satellite radio and both an auxiliary input jack and USB port are also standard fare. Power is from a 2.0-liter, 138-horsepower engine, matched to either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission.

All of those standard features are very good, but “features” on top of a sub-standard package, as has too often been done, don’t make a good deal at all. No worries about that here. As I discovered during a pleasant week with an automatic Elantra Touring, it’s a solid, well-made, and versatile machine that seems to pack more interior than possible into a small, stylish exterior. Although its suspension is tuned more firmly than that of the sedan, and more “sporty” than “sport”, the Touring is fun to drive — and if driving to activities that involve bulky equipment is a need, the Touring is capable of swallowing bicycles, camping gear, climbing gear, fishing tackle, and similar things easily. Need space, like driving, dislike crossovers, and have a budget? Consider a Hyundai Elantra Touring.

APPEARANCE: With the Elantra Touring, Hyundai has opted for a tastefully European-inspired look that should age well. It is unashamedly a two-box hatchback, modified in profile by an aerodynamically-sloping roofline. At the front, bright triangular headlamps flank a decorative chrome-trimmed top grille that is integrated into the hood shape, with a larger trapezoidal opening below the bumper line doing the real air intake work. Chrome-trimmed pieces at the front corners add a bit of upscale flash — and are also easily-replaced protection from minor incidents. Alloy wheels and low-profile tires fill the wheel arches, and a strong upswept shoulder line and flowing sill line help give a toned, athletic look. The rear is dominated by vertical taillights that flank the hatch.

COMFORT: Inside, with the flowing lines of the instrument panel, and close position of the center stack, the Elantra Touring has the look of a more upscale car. A high level of standard equipment reinforces that impression. Materials and fit tolerances are very good. Yes, most everything’s synthetic, but no demerits for that in this class. Front seat comfort is very good, aided on the driver’s side by height-adjustability, unusual in the sub-$20,000 class. While the seats are manual, the windows, mirrors, and door locks are powered, with remote keyless entry standard. Headroom, both front and rear, will not be a problem. The rear seat has plenty of room for two passengers, with less in the center, as in most cars. A 60/40 split and the cargo access of a five-door hatchback make cargo duty a pleasure. There’s even some compartmented space for small items under the load floor, above the compact spare tire. Useful interior storage includes a dash-top covered box, an air-conditioned glove box (!), and a console box with auxiliary audio jack and USB port (and an optional iPod cable priced much more realistically than I’ve seen in some luxury cars). All four doors have bottle holders.

SAFETY: Elantra Touring passengers are surrounded by a strong, rigid unibody structure with an occupant protection cell around the passenger compartment, reinforced roof pillars, front and rear crush zones, dual front, front-seat side, and full-length head curtain airbags. Brakes are four-wheel antilock discs, and, unusually for the car’s modest price class, electronic stability control is standard equipment.

RIDE AND HANDLING: While the Touring’s fully-independent MacPherson strut/multi-link suspension is set up more firmly than that of the standard sedan, it’s still supple enough for everyday use on roads in states with deferred road maintenance budgets. It’s stable and comfortable on the highway, and enjoyable on the scenic route. The steering never feels over-assisted, and a tight turning circle makes parking easy. The brakes work very well.

PERFORMANCE: With 138 horsepower (at 6000 rpm) and 137 lb-ft of torque (at 4600 rpm), the Elantra Touring’s 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine is competitive in its class. A modern dual overhead cam design with continuously-variable cam phasing, its broad torque band means that the four-speed automatic works well enough, although I’m sure the five-speed stick would be the way to for maximum driving enjoyment. Acceleration is good enough to keep up with traffic. Fuel economy, with EPA estimates of 23 mpg city and 30 highway, and 26 overall during my week, is reasonable if not at the head of the class.

CONCLUSIONS: The 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring is a worthwhile option in the versatile sporty-compact hatchback class.

SPECIFICATIONS 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring

Base Price $ 18,600
Price As Tested $ 19,745
Engine Type dual overhead cam 16-valve inline 4-cylinder with continuously-variable cam phasing
Engine Size 2.0 liters / 121 cu. in.
Horsepower 138 @ 6000 rpm
Torque (lb-ft) 137 @ 4600 rpm
Transmission 4-speed automatic
Wheelbase / Length 106.3 in. / 176.2 in.
Curb Weight 2969 lbs.
Pounds Per Horsepower 21.5
Fuel Capacity 14 gal.
Fuel Requirement 87-octane unleaded regular gasoline
Tires P205/55 R16 89H Kumho Solus KH16
Brakes, front/rear vented disc / solid disc, ABS standard
Suspension, front/rear independent MacPherson strut / independent multilink
Drivetrain transverse front engine/front-wheel drive

PERFORMANCE
EPA Fuel Economy – miles per gallon
city / highway / observed 23 / 30 / 26
0 to 60 mph est 9.0 sec

OPTIONS AND CHARGES
Carpeted Floor Mats $ 95
iPod® cable $ 30
Bluetooth® hands-free phone system $ 325
Destination charge $ 695

DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD
WITH CAREY RUSS