What goes on inside the mind and heart of the car enthusiast when he hears that they are going to redesign the car he is so proud to own? What did the 2004 Civic owner feel when he saw how cool the 2006 was going to be? Did his heart skip a beat? Did his teeth grit just a little? Did he feel his car was suddenly less desirable? Or does he badmouth the new design as not being as good as the one he owns.
It looks like it is time for 2007 and 2008 Elantra owners to face that situation earlier than we thought.
Though there has been no announcement when there will be a new Elantra sedan in North America, a face-lifted Elantra debuted at the Beijing Car Show last month. This is a substantially different car than the one sold in other parts of the world. The made-in-China-for-China Elantra has luxury touches like leather trim even on the doors, auto climate controls, wood trim shift knob and USB. So it is a little more upscale.
However there is no reason not to believe that when the time comes to refresh the Elantra for the rest of the market, that they won't borrow this design in whole or in part.
Major changes:
1. Larger more expressive headlamps that vaguely resemble those on the Genesis Coupe.
2. New grill which will remind some of early '00's Acuras. A little less hard edged though.
3. Redesigned lower air intake and fog lights.
4. New tail lights to match the new headlamps
5. Chrome door handles and side molding
The changes introduce more straight lines and concave curves that break up that "too round" look that certain people complained about. It has a racier face than the current model. Overall I like the meaner, cooler look. The side molding I think clashes with the wavy character line . And I don't like the tailights that much (the white eyeball reverse light makes it look like a Corolla again-- albeit an angry Corolla). The chrome stripe in back is extraneous. But it is definitely cooler.
I would guess 2010 is when Hyundai may choose to launch a refreshed version of my beloved Elantra. And then officially I will be driving a "late model" car and not a "current model".
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2 comments:
I have an '08 Elantra with the optional molding. I would not have purchased it otherwise. I feel this car looks very bland without it. The curvy lines give it a cartoonish "Jetsons" feel, and without the moldings the sides look incomplete and the car look unattractively bloated. I expected this change to become standard eventually.
It does have a bloated feel to it, but i think that has more to do with the high beltline, the tapering rear side window and the failure of the "wave" character line (which was supposedly inspired by the rolling hills in the South Korean countryside) to distinctly divide and sculpt the sides. The line looks good on paper and retouched photos, but not so hot in real life. The original design - good or bad - intends to look really swoopy, streamlined and biomorphic. It seems like it would be fast underwater like a killer whale.(Kind of a good example since killer whales are kind of fat but sleek) If you draw a completely straight line along the side of a killer whale, it would look out of place wouldn't it?...not natural. That is what I meant by "clash". The molding will look like an improvement to many many people, but it is a more of a band-aid solution to me. If the sides and wheel arches had more definition and "slimming" sculpting like on the Lexus IS250, we wouldn't need the side molding. Thanks for the comment!
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