SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8
This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday February 8, 2012
The background: Now in its fifth generation, Hyundai Elantra (Avante in its home market) was introduced in October 1990 for the 1991 model year. The present model, codenamed MD, debuted at the Busan (Korea) International Motor Show during April 2010 and reached South Africa in August 2011. It won the North American Car of the Year title recently and is a South African COTY 2012 finalist.
The engine: Our test unit was fitted with the 1,8-litre Nu MPI D-CVVT engine that replaced the old 2,0-litre Beta power plant used in the previous series. Nu is its model name and the letters stand for multipoint fuel injection (MPI) and dual continuously variable valve timing (D-CVVT). This jawbreaker means that the engine management system monitors temperatures, pressures and power demands at split-second intervals and then feeds valve-operating instructions to both camshafts as needed. Most engines do it for the intake side only.
Benefits include increased volumetric efficiency and a two-percent improvement in performance, a similar improvement in fuel economy as a result of reduced pumping losses and a 30 percent reduction in CO2 emissions. Because it uses an aluminium block with cast-iron cylinder liners and an aluminium cylinder head, it weighs 33,6 kg less than the old engine. A plastic two-stage variable induction system, electronic throttle control, a dual pipe heat exchanger for the air conditioner and an offset crankshaft, all contribute to further savings on the fuel bill.
The body: It’s 25 mm longer on a wheelbase that grew 50 mm, 35 mm lower and the same width as its predecessor. Thanks to the company’s new ‘fluidic sculpture’ styling introduced on the iX35 and current Sonata, it looks much more modern than the outgoing model. It’s more aerodynamic too, thanks to the lower roofline, kicked-up boot lid, carefully sculpted rear lights and smooth underbelly contributing to a Cd of 0,28. Most manufacturers brag about this as though it’s something new, but baby Renaults had underside cover plates back in the ‘sixties.
Safety features include six airbags (four on the 1600 cc model), ultra-high tensile steel to reinforce safety-critical areas of the body structure, a stronger centre member under the dashboard, added protection for the driver’s knees in case of an accident and hot-stamping technology to maximise rigidity of the body side structure. A 37 percent overall increase in body stiffness was achieved.
The experience: We drove this car straight after the 1600 Accent, so comparison is practically unavoidable. The generally bigger body (although the Elantra stands 12mm lower than the Accent) was obviously a bit roomier and the boot was 31 litres more spacious at 420 litres. Headroom was slightly better than in the Accent although still not magnificent. Blame the sloped-roof coupé styling for that. The bigger engine was obviously more tractable, although the one in the smaller car was no sissy either.
The Elantra is generally a more upmarket car with four more airbags, powered windows on the rear doors, automatic door locking as you pull away, bi-channel, automated climate control and rain-sensing wipers being the highlights.
Like the Accent, it’s spacious, comfortable, pulls like a train and gets the job done. Well built, solid, practical and competitively priced, it won’t win prizes for excitement, but do its buyers actually want it to?
The numbers
Price: R219 900
Engine: 1797 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder
Power: 110 kW at 6500 rpm
Torque: 178 Nm at 4700 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 10,14 seconds
Maximum speed: 205 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7,4 l/100 km
Warranty: 5 years/150 000 km with roadside assistance
Service plan: 5 years/90 000 km at 15 000 km intervals
The numbers
Price: R219 900
Engine: 1797 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder
Power: 110 kW at 6500 rpm
Torque: 178 Nm at 4700 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 10,14 seconds
Maximum speed: 205 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7,4 l/100 km
Warranty: 5 years/150 000 km with roadside assistance
Service plan: 5 years/90 000 km at 15 000 km intervals
For the launch report and more technical information, click here
This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.
What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
My articles appear every Wednesday in the motoring pages of The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles most months of the year (press cars are withdrawn over the festive season - wonder why?) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police. Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so I do actually exist.
I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8