Hyundai Asks You to Snap Out It

Hyundai 'Snap Out Of It' LA Auto Show from Dylan Osborn on Vimeo.


The Super Bowl is coming up this weekend and I was looking for any previews of their ads on the internet. They are playing it close to the vest this year, but I am excited to discover that at least one of their ads is for the new Elantra. The campaign theme is "Snap Out Of It" asking for the car buyers to rethink what they've come to expect of compact cars (mainly bad things, bad, bad things). There will also be tie-in online content.

The above video is not the commercial, but a kinetic video played during the L.A Auto Show that with an early interpretation of "Snap Out Of It".

I have to say I noticed the point about unimpressive gas mileage gains brought up in the video above. In the past couple of years, gas mileage of mid-size cars were almost catching up with compacts. The highway MPG on the Sonata was practically the same as on the Elantra, even if the engine was bigger and the car heavier. How does this happen. It's been over almost 2 decades since the sub-compact Geo Metro acheived 50mpg. Even with all cars getting loaded with more options that older cars didn't have and just getting bigger, why hasn't there been any sub-compacts with similar MPG's in the last 2 decades? So with this Elantra, they are going for 40mpg-----extremely impressive for a car that has more room than an Acura TL. Now what can they do with the upcoming Accent, can they hit 45mpg? That would be something.

Update: I spoke too soon. A couple of videos did appear in the AFC Championship Game which I did not catch. Here they are. Wish they show the car a little more. It's a beaut. I found one that does show more of the car, but it isn't part of the Super Bowl campaign.

Hyundais Are Like Women

This comment on carsadvice.com.au is the funniest way to illustrate Hyundai's brand predicament that I've ever read ----

Hyundais are a little bit like women. A woman has to work twice as hard and be twice as good as a man to be considered equal.It’s a bit like that with Hyundais. They have to be better than the opposition to be considered in the same class.
I test drove an I30 diesel yesterday and have decided to buy one. Excellent in every department, but the clincher for me was the fuel economy (4.7litres/100) and the CO2 emissions (125 g/km), the latter within striking distance of the hybrids, but with the advantage that the i30 is 95% recycleable. It’s a beauty!

(link on picture goes to YouTube video with actress Soo Jung Im not needing to work too hard to make me look at a commercial for the i30.)

i30 Racking Up Accolades in Europe and Australia

I've been loosely monitoring news on the car that is destined to be repackaged as the Elantra Touring.

EcoGeek reported "Hyundai i30 Pwns Prius in Low-Emissions Race"

"The Hyundai i30 was the vehicle that got the honors in the race for best fuel economy and lowest CO₂ emissions. Hyundai said the 1.6 CRDi turbodiesel journeyed over 3,000km from Darwin to Adelaide last month, consuming 3.2 litres of fuel per 100km and emitting 97g of CO₂ per kilometer traveled. The i30 is fitted with a 1.6-liter diesel "using a common rail injection system. The CRDi engine is fitted with a turbocharger featuring variable vane geometry for optimal air intake at any engine speed."

The i30, which is targeted toward European car drivers, beat out what many would consider very environmentally friendly cars. Hyundai seemed proud to state that "by comparison, the Leaseplan Toyota Prius consumed 5.6 litres per 100km and emitted 146g of CO₂ per kilometer." The Peugeot 207 HDi consumed 3.9 litres per 100km and emitted 118g of CO₂ per kilometer. Meanwhile, Team Ethanol Saab BioPower (85 percent ethanol and unleaded gas) consumed 9.3 litres per 100km and emitted 148g of CO2 per kilometer."

The i30 was also just chosen as Spain’s “Car of the Year 2008,” the first time for an Asian carmaker. Very eye-opening. Previous winners were mainly Renault, Fiats, and Citroen's. Maybe because this car is designed in Europe that the judges didn't feel they had to snub the Korean car. I don't know.

The award follows the i30’s outstanding recognition in Australia, where it was voted as both by Carsguide “2007 Car of the Year and 2007 Green Car of the Year.”
"Set aside your prejudices then, take your hands from the childrens' eyes...the i30 CRDi is not only stylish and excellent value, it is a grand drive. Pretend it's not Korean and you will love it.

Good-looking, comfortable, well-trimmed and very well made - there is little not to like about what has been one of the biggest surprises of the year."

These are truly impressive honors, not like the vague ones like Hyundai's in the US have been getting.

I really hope the car that makes it to the USA comes with the performance characteristics that makes it such a winner in Europe. It doesn't seem likely we will get the super-green CRDi rail-injected turbo diesel version, which has what been the lauded the most. We also won't be getting the i30 hatch; instead we are getting the i30cw wagon, which is roomier, but probably not as nimble. It's also maybe not as sexy as the Saturn Astra, but its looks stands on their own.

If it rates as well in the US, this smart-looking Euro-compact, not the Genesis sedan and coupe, may be the vehicle to get Hyundai the respect it needs in the US.

Why am I so pessimistic about the Genesis? There was an embarrassing video review (with English subtitles) by a Korean magazine, which basically said that though the fit, finish and looks were great they were very disappointed in the performance. Then there was these pictures of two Genesis sedans which slipped off the back of the truck posted today on autoblog.com. Is this bad "carma" for the launch of a new model?


Even in this condition, I have to say it is a handsome looking sedan. Interesting brand decision: Looks like they have decided NOT to put the Hyundai 'H' logo on the front or the back of the car. I think it is a good decision not to use the 'H', but the Genesis wings emblem is such an rip-off from Bentley, I as a Hyundai owner feel embarassed.

"What Was The Car Designer Thinking???"

Odometer: 4850 miles
Avg. MPG: 24.1


Even though I’ve never been a car lover or aficionado, I see cars every day of my life. And I know they each are designed by designers who wanted to evoke a certain feeling or emotion in us. And I’ve been thinking a lot more about car design recently.

When researching cars these days, you can get inundated with viewpoints on a car’s design by not only magazine editors, but car buffs in forums and those leaving comments on blogs like www.leftlanenews.com. As the classic line goes, “Everybody’s a critic.”

I enjoy reading thoughtful comments and comparisons, but there are also a lot of folks just lack a keen eye or decent vocabulary ("that’s just fugly") or like to fling out accusations (“that’s a total rip-off of a BMW 5 series headlights”).

While we can read plenty of what a test editor, car company marketing dept. or consumer or thinks of a car, we rarely get to hear from the designers themselves on what they were trying to accomplish with a particular model.

I found a 2006 interview by Design and Emotion magazine with Young Ill Kim, the head designer at Hyundai talking about car design and his philosophy about it. An interesting article though I wonder if parts got lost in translation.

I’ll distill his interview into 3 points:

1. He feels there are marked differences in ways of seeing, perceiving, and designing between West and East(Asian).

2. He acknowledges that while Japanese and Korean car makers are following the trends set by the west right now, he longs to develop car designs with more emotional resonance with his own Korean culture and attitude. He regularly meet the head designers of Toyota, or Nissan for example, and at Toyota they are now trying to find their own proportions, lines or identity so to say. They are trying to create a line at the side of the car as if it was cut out by a traditional Japanese sword. This is exactly what he would like to start with, but differently of course, because Korean lines are less strong and softer and rounder than Japanese lines.

3. That doesn’t mean he can to ignore Western sensibilities for cars meant for the global market, but if he can inject some "K-Factor" design touches that harmonize with Western car design influences he is going to go for it.




After reading what Kim said about adding Eastern design into modern car design, I immediately thought of the recent cars from the Infiniti marque. Infiniti (and Nissan as well) has been coming up with the most unique looking vehicles in the past 3 years or so. The overall bodies have been very curvy and svelte, but contrasting those curvy shapes are the hard geometric headlights and tail lights. Rear tail lights are also very flat. (see above photo) They kind of look like origami paper shapes. Clean yet dynamic. Also immensely cool in my opinion is the grill of the 2008 G35 and M’s. The chrome bars remind me of a line of curved katana blades. (see photo below and at top) Before reading the article I didn’t see the Japanese influence. It just looked kind of cool and definitely distinct from what American and European luxury marques are doing. Now I do.



In an article by Christie Schweinsberg for WardsAuto.com, Shiro Nakamura, senior vice president and design director for Nissan, Nakamura says he gets design inspiration from many different things. Most talented designers draw inspiration from outside their area of practice. Contrary to popular belief, they don’t just look at what other car companies are doing. They will look to other products, their own culture and surroundings, other cultures, and as well as the past.

They want to come up with something original, but unfortunately executives and marketing get into the mix and designs get “compromised” from the original vision. I could see a lot of this going on in the Genesis sedan project. On the original concept drawing and model there was a continuous chrome bar that cut right through the taillight lenses and actually wrapped slightly to the sides. By the second iteration the the taillights had been kind of BMW-fied. (see photo below) And I've seen two different iterations of the grill design. I don’t blame Hyundai for second guessing. This project is their big dance. The Genesis needs to stand out on its own, BUT also resonate with car buyers who yearn for BMW and Mercedes cars but can’t afford them. In order to resonate with those buyers, Hyundai's luxury offering has to remind them in some way (even subliminally) of those cars.


I can’t end this blog entry without alluding to the Elantra in some way. Can I? When the pictures first came out on the Elantra, its worst detractors called it overly curvy and weirdly proportioned and lacking pizzazz. Perhaps this was an experiment in K-factor....
Remember what Kim said about softer, rounder lines. The Elantra's sculpted edges look extremely understated when compared to today's Western trend of cars being very sculpted with harder more distinct lines, sharp edges and muscular curves. The undulating character line reminds me of the sea, but I read somewhere it was inspired by the rolling hills in parts of Korea. So it seems “Korean sensibilities” were definitely being considered when designing the Elantra. I sort of thought the character line was graceful, but many American and Canadian desktop car critics didn’t care for it. I'm Asian and really partial to Japanese design, so maybe them’s thar East-West differences in aesthetics that Kim was talking about making their presence known.

Ownership Upate #1

Had the car 5 weeks.
Odometer: 730 miles


Just filled my tank for the second time(third tank of gas overall, since dealership gave me a full tank to start). According to the trip meter, the average gas mileage on this second tank was 27.2mpg, which to my relief is a lot better than the 23.9(or so) from the first tank. This car is supposed to get 26/36! And the mpg from that first tank was making we wonder if I should've sprung for a Prius!

When I got gas I just let the pump auto-stop. It made a disconcertingly loud sound at shut-off. I hope it is OK. I've heard on one Elantra owner who's gas pump interface malfunctioned. I've had a Mustang rental that did this. We thought we would run out of gas because, the interface refused to engage the pump. Eventually we found a trick to let us get some gas in it.

Tonight on an 8 mile stretch of highway I averaged 38.5 mpg at the end of the stretch, so that was pretty impressive. So I guess the engine/transmission is breaking in OK. (No I wasn't going 55)

Today I found a crack on the foot rest (area for your left foot to rest). The foot rest is made of gray plastic, but I didn't expect it to crack. The foot rest on my Geo had a rubber layer like the gas pedal. I wore out the rubber, but never broke it. I am definitely going bring this up to the dealer to see if the bumper-to-bumper warranty covers this. I don't remember accidentally putting excessive weight here or kicking it. Even so this area should be engineered to withstand long-term use. It is not a big deal. I can still rest my foot on it, but Hyundai should redesign this.

First Post: Chronicles of A Hyundai Elantra Owner

This might be a terrible idea for a blog, because I don't intend to obsess over my new car for much longer. But after buying my first new car ever I find myself thinking about it way too much. I am not a car nut. I generally don't care that much what people think of me and especially what I drive. But after finding myself the owner of a new Elantra, I feel compelled to find out as much as I could about the car (as if I didn't know enough already after many hours of research on it and other cars over the course of two months.) It is a strange feeling...it's not like I bought a BMW Z4 or an Orbea Orca.

After a few weekends of Googling.

-I have went on YouTube and looked at the Elantra commercials (old and new) and the TV car reviews.
-I've seen home-made videos of dudes racing their Elantras.
-I've discovered that there are not one but two Elantra enthusiast sites. (Elantraclub.com and ElantraXD.com). People actually trick out their Elantras. People are actually proud of their Elantras. Shocking.
-I found out that the previous Elantra platform was known as the XD and the new 2007 platform was codenamed 'HD'.
-I found out Hyundai had a JDPower Ranking about Toyota and Honda in 2006, but went down to #12 in 2007 because of issues with their mini-van or SUV(not sure which). But the Elantra fared well fortunately.
But this isn't half of what I've learned on my web surfing binges.

I will first be posting some backstories of how I came to buy a Hyundai, a brand that still doesn't get much respect in the US, especially in the SF Bay Area, where Hondas and Toyotas have ruled for eons.