Elantra Touring In Showrooms / Consumer Reports Still Hearts the Elantra

Odometer: 10970
MPG: 25.1

Took a look a Craig's List to see if the Elantra Touring has it the Bay Area yet. Saw one going for around 16,900 (lower than the $18495 published price, pic is from the actual ad. ) And they seem pretty desperate to make a sale. Had me wondering [not seriously :) ] how much I could get if I sold the sedan. With the low mileage and the added sun-roof my 2007 SE should attract a higher figure than the $12,500 and $13,000 I saw on GLS's with over 35,000 miles.

The Elantra was Consumer Reports Top Pick for Small Car for the second year in a row. Again value, safety features and reliability, not sexiness gave it the victory.
U.S. News & World Report, which gathers multiple reviews from the car press to create its ratings, still ranks the Elantra #5 out of 35 under affordable small cars.
And perhaps the generally warm reception of the press to Hyundai's Genesis sedan and coupe will boost its brand image in the coming months. Though Honda and Toyota have no competition really when it comes to the brand perception.

It's "Hyundai" Like "Sunday"

It's "Hyundai" --- like "Sunday", bub. That's how the new 2009 Super Bowl Sunday ad (the one with the car maker CEOs yelling) for the Hyundai Genesis presents the brand. More than a touch of smart-mouth bravado there delivered by Jeff Bridges. I like it. It takes what Americans may see as a foreign hard to pronounce name and saying it ain't really hard to pronounce at all. It should roll off your tongue like the most easy-going day of the week. (View it here...it's the second video down)

The rest of the ad reminds me of the old "Sylvania Beat Sony Again" TV spots, but on steroids.

I didn't know that the Genesis won the "North American Car of the Year" Award until seeing this commercial. I didn't know what the hell was a "North American Car of the Year" Award until visiting this site. Its not one of those given out by magazines. It only takes into consideration new models and those models with substantial changes in 2009. The commercial pokes fun at BMW and Lexus, but Lexus didn't even have a model that qualified for the award this year and BMW only had the 1 series in the running. Still it beat the new Audi A4 and Cadillac CTS

Is this impressive? Of course. This is the first time a Korean car has won this award. Maybe it's not as ground breaking as a black man becoming our president, but it still ground breaking.

10,000 miles on the old Elantra

Odometer: 10045 mile
MPG: 28.6

I have reached the 10,000 mile milestone.
Took about 15 months. I am usually 90% street vs 10% highway driving. My work commute is hella short and sometimes I take my bike instead, so that's why I am not the average 10k a year driver. The MPG figure above is higher than my avg because of extra freeway driving I did over the holidays.

So what has been going on?
1. Right front mudguard got knocked crooked --probably during a storm.
2. I found some scratches on the right side rear door, not sure where they came from
3. Haven't washed it in a while...just let the rain do it. Though I think I better wax it soon to help the clearcoat last longer.
4. This is not a new issue, but at certain gas stations, the pumps won't stay "auto-on". It stops pumping as soon as I can my hand off of it. I need really hold it in there. I've had problems like this on a rented Mustang, but none of my older cars. I wonder if newer cars are using a cheaper pump interface than older cars.
5. The interior: I expected to be dirtier and more scratched at this age, because the material shows dirt easily, but it isn't too bad.
6. I seem to get a lot of condensation after using the air conditioning to defog my front windshield. I don't know if it is coming from the AC or humid air (it was raining) is coming from outside.

Otherwise the car is about the same as it was at 5000 miles. And I hope it stays that way for a long, long time.

Kia's New Spectra Replacement Is A Looker

I haven't visited any car blogs lately, so this bit of news came of a surprise to me. Kia is Hyundai's sister company and the Spectra is a C-segment car like the Elantra, so they are in a way sister cars, which is why I was researching it earlier to see what people think about it and if Kia was planning a refresh soon. I found nothing. My search for new news turned up nothing, because the new Spectra is called Forte. (It might still be called Spectra when it hits the US in 2009 or 2010, but it called the Forte now).
This car is very nice looking. A YouTube video leads me to surmise it is designed in Germany or at least the lead designer is German. It hints to me of so many cars I like. The front lights have a Civic feel to it. The first side view picture reminds me of a previous generation Acura TSX. The concave sides and tail lights are remotely like the Lexus IS. And lastly the lines of the side glass remind me of a Pontiac G6. I see some Corolla-ness in there too. Even so I am not saying it is a hodge podge of other designs; stand back and look at it as a whole, it is its own car.





While the old Spectra was sporty in a vanilla kind of way, the new Forte has captured what Kia has been trying to do for the last couple of years...be a sportier nameplate than Hyundai. Sigh...I have to say it looks a lot nicer than the Elantra. It looks kind of large, too. While some amateur car enthusiasts have cried that the front end is a unabashed rip-off of the Civic's distinctive face, from all other views, the Civic looks like a toy next to this car. While I have not found any dimensions on it, it looks big. I wonder if it will class out as a mid-size like the Elantra is.
If Kia can get their reliability and quality a little more on par with Hyundai and Honda, the Forte might kick some butt and really challenge people's perception of Kia.

Elantra at One Year Old

Odometer: 7,700 miles
MPG: 33.5 at the end of the day

This is the one year report on the Elantra SE, which I purchased late August 2007. Today was actually my first extended highway trip (over 2 hours) in the car, so I was able to finally gauge true freeway MPG over a continuous amount of time. I drove from Millbrae down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium which is over 90 miles. After filling up the tank I reset the trip meter and off we went. On a Labor Day morning, the traffic was brisk all the way down. Averaged 71 mph and 35.2 mpg when we got down there. Maybe I could've gotten 36 if I stayed under 65. (2007 EPA MPG figures on this car is 28/36. 2008 is 26/33) AC or fan was on 40% of the time.

Coming back we hit some traffic on 101 and 156, so of course the mileage wasn't as good. So by the time I got home the MPG was 33.5. Pretty decent for 10% street vs 90% freeway driving. My usual driving is more like 90/10 which you can tell from previous posts, I've been averaging 25-26mpg.

How's the car? Everything is working as it should be except for the turn signal which sometime fails to auto-shut off after a left turn. I will check if that is a warranty fix next time I go in to the dealership. Pet peeves: The door arm rest isn't in the right place for me. It is too far away. The thick C-pillar and high back do hamper visibility some. I knew that was something I needed to live with going into the purchase, but I did not think the beefy A-pillar and large sideview mirrors would also pose visibility issues. I find myself being extra careful that there are no short kids crossing from the left or when I make a left turn that I avoid the center island on a street, because the mirror and A-pillar can make seeing these thing hard sometimes. I am not saying it is an unsafe design, but the driver needs to take extra care. I am guessing many of today's cars have visibility issues, because of sportier styling and wider pillars needed to accept airbags.

How is my head? I think the new car fever is finally fading. I haven't washed it is over 3 months. The trunk is a little dirty from bricks and stuff I've been hauling from OSH.... and I don't care. I don't consciously look for other Elantras on the road.

2007 Chrysler Town & Country Beatdown

Odometer: 6836
MPG: 24.8

I spent July 6 - 12th in Mexico. My group rented mini-vans in San Diego to go down to Ensenada. The mini-van I got to know very well was the 2007 Chrylser Town and Country.

My first impressions were that this is one comfortable car. I was immediately comfortable in the driver's seat. The door arm rest was at the right height and position for me (unlike on the Elantra where the armrest seems a couple of inches too far away).

The shifter was located strangely on the right of the steering wheel. Not a stalk, but a "straight-line" version I am used to seeing seat level. It was an awkward position for me, since I needed to lean forward to use it. Manually shifting to 2nd, 3rd,and 4th requires jostling it laterally left or right. Not a very user-friendly. I downshifted to 1st accidentally a couple of times, when trying to get to 2nd and 3rd.

We really packed it in with 6 passengers and luggage. We made use of the stow and go storage area under the seat. There are sliding doors on both sides, though the one on the driver's side has a child-proof thing so you can't open it from the inside. We needed to use AC when the engine was off when we were stuck in heavy border traffic. Not cold when the engine is off.

Power was adequate except on freeway hills (note we were 7 passenger full the whole time). Reviewers bag on the 3.3L engine as being weak, but at slower city and rural speeds, get up an go was fine. We passed many beater cars and 18-wheelers.

We took it up and down some steep and bumpy dirt roads all week long. These are things you generally don't do to a FWD mini-van. The suspension rocked a lot, but handled everything fine.

Part of our mini van torture course.

Coming back we were late, so we need to book it on I-5. Getting to 80mph took more effort than I thought it would. The guy I was trying to keep up with had a Toyota Sienna. But it is an easy car to drive, given its size.

After coming back to the Elantra after a week in the T&C took some re-acclimating. My left foot kept hunting for the parking brake, which wasn't there. My right hand reached for the shifter near the steering wheel a couple of times. And I was a lot more heavy on the gas than I needed to be, because the T&C required more throttle to get up to speed. I was zooming past 40 faster than I should. After a couple of days I am getting used to my car again.

FYI: Dollar Rent a Car in San Diego is the only outfit that lets you take mini-vans across the border. 2nd FYI: You can fill up the tank of a mini van for under $55 in Mexico. Aye caramba!

My Gas Mileage Figures from Fueleconomy.gov

New maintenance issue: My turn signal does not deactivate after making a left turn. Been happening for over a week about 90% of the time.

CD player has been working OK, since my last entry reporting a problem with it.

It is hard not to think about how to save more gas and money.
Last night I did some research on electric mopeds, electric bikes (bicycles with motors and pedals), and gas powered mopeds.

- The gas moped is still the most viable option getting the most range and speed. For as low $1200 you get a 150cc highway legal machine that can offer 80mpg. An important plus is that there are many gas scooter mechanics around; while it would be hard to find someone to fix an electric scooter if it broke down. However it still burns fossil fuel.

- Electric mopeds are running fairly expensive: $2000 - 3000 depending on battery technology and power. These are street legal (but not hwy legal) and speeds you up to 30mph, up to 35 miles per charge and 100 miles of energy cost just $1.00)

- Electrified bikes range from $499 (Zapworld.com - basically a motor strapped to a regular bike, that gets you up to 15mph) to $1000 (for a moped looking machine with pedals that gets you 20mph) to $5995 (OptiBike.com, carbon fiber high performance mountain bike, state of the art NiMh battery, up to 35mph when you pedal) The Optibike has a 3 year warranty and made in the USA, but the moped-looking "pedelecs" mostly come from China, use a lot of plastics and reliability can be questionable.

Any of these would help you save loads of dough on gas. And they are pretty efficient. 20mph may not sound like much, but it is plenty for driving around the city. They are easier to find parking for, so that saves you time. Most if not all can be outfitted to hold lots of groceries. I ride a bicycle on my 3.5 mile commute. It only takes 10 minutes for than driving and my bike's speed only ranges from 12 to 19mph. So 20mph is all right. If my commute had hills, one of the above would seem even more attractive.