A Hyundai Elantra?

It was at Jong Chern's farewell dinner at Madam Kwans, Midvalley where I first saw the Elantra. To me, at that time, Hyundai was a sub-par brand where those that could not afford honda / toyota / nissan would settle for. Their automobiles cheap, unreliable, difficult to maintain, petrol guzzling, NO 2nd-hand value, (insert bad comment here) etc.

At Midvalley, Hyundai were showcasing their 2008 models of Accent, Elantra and Sonata on the ground floor. From the first floor, I looked down and saw the rear end of the Elantra x20 (from now on, known as simply x20). "Hmmm... not bad."

"Wanna take a closer look?" asked my fiance (now wifey). I did. I found out that the x20 is:
- spacious (most spacious, only comparable to the Sentra)
- mesmerizing (blue dash/console lights) (unlike... all other cars below except the Civic)
- reasonably priced (unlike... Civic)
- porpotionate (unlike... City/Latio)
- new design (unlike... Sentra/City)
- modern (unlike... Altis)
- had a nice rear end (unlike... Vios)
- only 2 weeks waiting list (unlike... Lancer)

Well... but its a HYUNDAI. So I took a price list, brochure and some advice from a sales guy named Eric and went home to do some homework.

The next Sunday, (Sunday is my car-test-drive day) fiance and I went to visit Hyundai 223 showroom. There was a black x20 in the showroom, and a silver x20 test drive car. Eric was pleased to see us again, although he was not working and was called back to the office to "service" us. After poking our noses in the showroom car, we went for a test drive.

First thing you will note is the steering is remarkably light. This was strange for me, and I found it too sensitive and without proper "road feedback". I couldn't feel the road through the steering wheel. When we hit 60km/h on Federal Highway, the tire noise was evident and it was quite loud at 100km/h.

However, everything else about the car fascinated me. For details on specs and user reviews, please visit:

• Kah Bintang
  

• Team Hyundai Malaysia Forums
  

I booked the car on that day itself, 23rd Feb 2008.

No regrets (yet)