Hello and welcome to another AIC video
So about a month ago, I uploaded a video of my new Hyundai Elantra Hybrid. At that point I had only owned it about a week, and gave a kind of quick review of my thoughts on it, but having only had it a short time, I could only go over a few quick things.
We’ve had it now a month, so I have a bit more I can go over, and what I did was actually ask my wife, who is the main driver of the car, a few things. What are some things she loves about the car, some things she doesn’t like, and lastly a few things she wished it had.
Starting off, For fuel economy, we’re getting a solid 53mpg, all in city, consisting of trips mostly 2 miles or less in any given direction. I have filled the car up once when it was at about half a tank, and again just last night.
I personally find the car very comfortable, the seat hits me well, I don’t feel like I’m squishing into a sports car seat, but I also feel like it gives me support where I need it.
Now as far as what my wife likes about it:
She loves the fuel economy. Obviously, being a hybrid, she was getting 16-18mpg, and is now getting 50+, that is a huge difference, and we’ve seen that difference in our bank account.
She loves the radio/bluetooth connection. This car does have apple car play and once it has been set up, that’s it, it also doesn’t fight between my wife’s phone or mine. In previous cars, it wasn’t uncommon that if one of us is in the kitchen, near the garage, when the car was started up, it would pick up the phone of the person inside the house, and not the person inside the car. In the last month, that hasn’t happened once. It also doesn’t drop connection and it connects very quickly.
It has plenty of power. It is no sports car, but it doesn’t feel anemic either. It’s power is adequate, and it never feels like it’s struggling, or being pushed beyond it’s limits. Overall, it’s just a nice car. Nothing fancy, nothing sporty, but it fills the role of “car” well.
The backup camera has been really nice, the ability to turn it on manually makes parking in the garage easier, makes the car wash more fun. We’ve had other cars with backup cameras, and either they had poor screens, poor cameras, or poor angles.
What does my wife not like about the car –
The cruise control buttons are not intuitive, are too small, and difficult to use. I would agree with this. I wish the cruise control buttons were larger and easer to determine what they are without looking. Even after a month neither of us has gotten used to the cruise controls.
The rear seats are great to sit in, but not great for visibility or for usability. They are not a 60/40 split folding but a one piece, that means if you are carrying a long item, you lose your whole back seat. In every other car we’ve owned with folding back seats, you would would still have a seat in the back for somebody to sit. The headrests are also non adjustable or removable and block visibility out the rear, which is already less than what we would like due to the shape of the back window.
My wife doesn’t like the side mirrors, I don’t mind them, but she wishes they were more square giving more visibility.
She also doesn’t like the noise it makes when in drive, and electric only mode. She wishes she could change the sound, volumn, and other things. The funny part is, when the engine is running the car is quieter because it turns off the noise and relies on the very quiet engine. but people have no idea what the noise is, so it’s not like they know to look out for a car. I wouldn’t mind if they had a choice of sounds to play so you could play one that was more pleasant to you, or upload a custom sound that would be more fun..
The sun shades are also an issue. They have stops in them vs being infinitely adjustable. This is a major problem, because you either get 0 shade from it, or it blocks all your visibility. Nothing in between. This is almost a safety issue. If the higher trim models have better visors I may do an upgrade.
What doe she wish it had?
We’ve had air cooled seats on previous cars. We’re in Arizona, it gets hot hear, those air cooled seats are super nice.
She wishes it had an integrated garage door opener, like we’ve had on previous cars.
She wishes it had a sunroof, which is available on the higher trim, but not at all available on this one. A sun roof is nice for being able to vent the cabin, and have an open window without having to deal with your long hair blowing everywhere.
The last thing she wishes ALL cars had was Ford’s easy fuel capless system for filling the gas tank. While that would be a nice option, I will say that they did a good thing and have a place in the door of the filler, for the cap to go. A lot cars don’t have this, and it means you’re less likely to lose your cap, or have it just banging around against your paint while filling the tank.