BY JAKE HOLMES
A five-door hatch”and fun?”returns to the Elantra lineup.
Hyundai Elantra and sporty rarely have been synonymous, especially since the five-door hatchback model vanished in 2007. Since the Elantra’s redesign, the only option has been a sedan tuned more for the parking lot than an autocross.
For 2009, Hyundai plans to change that by offering U.S. buyers a five-door variant of its i30 wagon currently sold in Europe. For the U.S., the rebadged hatch will be dubbed the Elantra Touring, a name that’s supposed to imply a fun-to-drive character.
The Elantra Touring (Hyundai’s first stab at selling a European-developed product in the U.S.) will use the same 138-hp, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine as the sedan, so don’t plan on taking this one to the drag strip. But sportier suspension and steering gear unique to the Touring model should make for more fun on twisting back roads.
Inside, the Elantra Touring touts XM satellite radio, an auxiliary input jack, and a USB port for MP3 fans. Plus, there’s the usual Hyundai safety package: six standard airbags, standard stability control, and a 10-year/100,000-mile warranty. It should be the first compact five-door with standard stability control.
When it reaches dealerships in 2008, Hyundai hopes the Elantra Touring will take on the likes of the Toyota Matrix, Dodge Caliber, and Mazda 3 hatchback.
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