Manual transmision shifts well. steering is great. comfortable seating design.

In the brief time I've had this car I ran into some major repairs at 85,000 miles. When I purchased the car I had no complains, the car met all my expectations. However, being a used car I had no idea if the timing belt had been replaced recently. Knowing that sevre complications could occur with this car if the timing belt were to break, I decided to change it with a local repair shop. After I got the car back it ran as good as it did before for about 3 months when I went on a 2000 mile trip. When I got back I decided to take it to the dealer to get looked at and they said that the work on the timing belt was shottest job they had ever seen before. It was out of time, bolts were missing and loss, and the timing belt was chipped and cracked which made it look older than the car. I had the timing belt replaced and since then had nothing but trouble, I've had a sevre loss in power, the engine runs loud and high, and the idle wants to kill when the engine is cold. Other sites I visited on the Internet suggest that the out-of-time condition may have caused major internal problems.

I feel the car would be a good purchase but watch out who repairs the car. I recommend taking the car to the dealership for any repairs. The car seems to need religous maintaince and care. Watch your wallet when a repair comes because they are not cheap and are hard to diagnose. Make sure the person is qualified to service this type of car. If you own this type of car and want good service I HIGHLY DO NOT RECOMMEND taking your car to Sackett and Sons Auto Repair in Front Royal, Virginia.

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Good value, reliable, different, and best warranty ever. Great car to buy brand new. Power windows and locks and cruise control make the car.

Gas milage gets bad after a while. Racing stripe starts to peel off. Seats looks comfortable but are hard and not comfortable. Cupholders are too close to the radio controls. Must keep in mind that it's a compact.

A smart persons car who is not trying to break the bank and buy something out of their league. The car is nice but after you drive it for a while you will feel and realize how little you spent but at least your not in debt like others who are struggling each month to pay for a Benz or Lex with insurance or even a Max or Accord for that matter.

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Corolla...better because its like a small Camry without the interior features and horsepower.

-Quiet and smooth ride, even at highway speeds.
-Loaded with standard features.
-Acceleration is wonderful with the 5 speed standard transmission.
-Storage areas are well placed and well designed.

-Had a difficult time finding the options I wanted.

After having significant problems with my Neon while I was still paying off the loan, it seemed advantageous to trade into a new car. The problem was I owed more than $3,000 more on my vehicle than it was worth.

The dealership I visited was able to get me loan with an incredible interest rate (based on my credit) and was top-notch when it came to customer service. The sales representative didn't even think twice about allowing me to test-drive the car alone. As soon as turned out of the parking lot and began my test drive I was sold on the car. During the price negotiation I never felt pressured and felt they had given me a very good deal.

The only problem arrived when I tried to get an Elantra with the Option Package #5 which included ABS Brakes. Apparently, cars are distributed by region and no Hyundai dealership on the eastern seaboard was going to receive a 2001 Elantra with ABS brakes. Eventually we settled on a lesser option package which included Cruise Control and Keyless Entry with Alarm. Again, this option package wasn't currently available in my region with the 5 speed so a deal was made on a basic package with the Cruise and Keyless Entry with Alarm to be installed afterwards.

Upon the time of delivery, I had come down with the flu. The sales representative drove the car 60 miles from the dealership to my home and helped me fill out the paperwork while I was sick in bed. If that isn't customer service, I don't know what is! The accessories were of the highest quality and were installed without a hitch.

I am so impressed with the car itself I feel I should have paid SIGNIFICANTLY more than I did. I have no doubt that this car would more than hold it's own against the top competition in the class. The price itself put it over the top for me.

The controls are all laid out logically and are easily used. With the exception of the wiper controls, they operate opposite of that which I'm used to on American cars. It's no problem, just takes a little getting used to. The storage areas are thoughtfully designed. For example there is a cubby in front of the shifter and below the A/C controls. It turned out to be the perfect size to place a portable CD player with all the extra wires attached.

I can't say enough good things about this car and nothing bad that I've yet to discover. I highly recommend this vehicle to anyone looking at cars in the $12,000-$17,000 range; you will not find a better deal and are unlikely to find a better car.

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Dodge Neon - No comparison: The Elantra has it beat in every possible way.

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Accelerator pedal housing very weak engineering

I have owned this car for six months like a lot of reviewers here I was impressed with the price of the car and with all the standard features.But after a few months the thing that annoys me the most apart from the rattle in the front suspension and the poor drivability and handling of the car .Is that from new I have been complaining that the accelerator pedal housing set up is faulty and very flimsy.It consists of a thin piece of metal, spot welded to the engine fire-wall,when you depress the pedal this whole housing flexes so much that you swear the whole thing will break off.It makes acceleration feel really spongy and lack feel. My dealer did the right thing and arranged a trouble shooter from Hyundai to inspect the car. Well he wasn't interested in fixing the problem, all he could say was the other new Elantra's are the same set up and there for he couldn't do anything because that operation of the pedal is consistant with the all Elantra's. He said he would recommend to Hyundai that they have a look at a modification for the next production run but as for a recall it doesn't look like Hyundai want the exspense of it all. A couple of years ago here in Australia the front end was falling out of the Accent(Excel in Australia), Hyundai didn't want to recall cars to fix this fault until enough bad publicity was spread around in the media.
So although the Elantra isn't such a bad car its the bad warranty back up that will stop me from ever buying another Hyundai,whats the use of a 5 year warranty if they won't fix any bad engineering faults. Save your money folks and stick to Mazda or Toyota dont be fooled by Hyundai with all the bells and whistles,go for reliability instead.

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Great looks/style, good handling, comfort, features

Trunk is a tad clunky sounding and the brakes are a bit weak in emergency stopping/heavy stopping

I traded in my 95 Accent and hadn't planned to buy an Elantra, but after looking at this and then taking it for a spin I was SOLD! The intelligent, if conservative interior is very smartly designed and laid out, and the materials feel much more expensive than a car in this price range should have.

The exterior looks and feels similar. It's an attractive car, and for the price, nothing in this class can beat it! As for Customer Service, Hyundai only gave one keyless entry control per car in early shipments. That's no big deal for me, as I'm the only person driving this car. But, just this past week I received a 2nd keyless entry controller from Hyundai...at their expense and I didn't even request it. That's excellent service in my opinion; service I might expect from the likes of BMW or Mercedes, but not from Hyundai.

Am I pleased?

Heck yes!

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Ford Focus, Honda Civic

This car has a strong motor and the handling isn't bad.

The automatic transmission sucks big time. We bought this car with only 28,800 miles on it and didn't even get it home before the trans. screwed up. We took it back to the dealer and they said it was fixed. Well what do you know we had it towed the next morning with the same problem. The car is still in the shop and we haven't put 50 miles on it yet. What a bummer.

This car would be ok if the auto. trans. didn't SUCK!!!!!!!! I would rate this car higher but when you can't drive it you can't like it.

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We had a dodge neon and it sucked to, but at least we got it home.

5-speed is fun to drive. Lot's of extras (power, sun roof). Comfortable to ride in for longer drives.

Cheap interior plastic breaks a lot. Consumes oil. Runs fast and is loud on interstate. Parts expensive and hard to find.

We bought this car new. It did alright for the first 50k or 60k. Since then it has been a thorn in my side. Full break job (rotors too). Frozen caliper the next year. Faulty engine sensors. Miscellaneous broken plastic parts (heating system). Now with 98k, a shaft has shattered in the transmission (clutch never had any problems). At 2k, this is an expensive thing to fix (we're getting rid of it instead). My advice: steer clear of the Korean cars.

On the plus side, the paint is still doing okay, and the interior is nice. This makes a decent car for the price. It's just not very dependable and extremely expensive to get fixed.

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1994 Saturn SL1. The Saturn doesn't have all of the fancy stuff, but is way more reliable.

I like the car overall. Has enough interior room for me and the kids, and gets around well.

Having trouble keeping up good gas mileage. Seems to flucuate a lot between fill ups. Also, notice alot of road noise leaking into cabin. Suspension seems poor. Also, when raining or using wind-shield wiper fluid, water pours into car if you have windows cracked for ventilation. Also the automatic transmission seems to be weak, and slow to shift at times.

I would recommend this car to people who have a small family and doesn't kill you in the wallet. But beforwarned, if you are expecting good gas mileage with the automatic, it isn't happening.

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PRICE! That is it in a nutshell....the car for what it is (2000 Model) did come with alot of standard equipment, a great waranty (10 yr/100,000 miles) and has a decent ride to it.

In the 4 months I have had it I have put on 7500 miles, and my biggest complaint would be the gas mileage (which in the summer averaged approx 26, but now with winter here it is averaging approx 18). There is also a bit of road noise, the speedodometer cable is making noise, it is hard to start some winter mornings (and I dont mean it skips a beat, but rather almost doesnt start)

Overall I really do like my car (It was a BIG change going from my 1995 Eagle Talon TSI with 210 horse manual transmission to a 140 horse automatic), it has been very reliable - which was my overall goal.

As mentioned previously, it does look nice on the outside, very European. The pickup is acceptable and it rides nice and stiff. The best word for it is substantial.

After 2 weeks of use the rear driver door is stuck closed. Was told by the dealer that this isn't the first elantra with the same prob and will be fixed.

Although we haven't put 1000 miles on it yet I really like this car. As a side the dealer we purchased from is a one price dealership and they had the wrong price on this car so we got the CD player for free.

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Own a 97 prizm and the elantra is a much nicer car all around. Also test drove a 2000 civic and 01 corolla and I thought that for even money the elantra was equivalent, but for $1-3k less there is just no comparison.