Hyundai, as we told you last month, has a pretty competent little hatchback on offer for 2018: the newly restyled, revamped, and (Hyundai hopes) reinvigorated Elantra GT. Sporting a mature European-designed body made possible by the overseas i30, the 2018 Elantra GT spices up its roomy hatch bonafides with available power — you’ll find 201 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque from the Elantra Sport-sourced 1.6-liter turbo four-cylinder in the GT Sport.
Its base powerplant isn’t necessarily a slouch, either. (You’ll be able to read a TTAC review of the GT next week.) A direct-injection 2.0-liter generating 162 hp and 150 lb-ft puts the entry-level Elantra sedan’s powerplant to shame, and the cargo room — well, Hyundai’s all about that GT cargo volume. Why else would it call the model “a viable alternative to small CUVs for buyers desiring more fun-to-drive characteristics and greater utility” in the preamble to its price list?
The 2018 price floor for Hyundai’s front-wheel-drive CUV fighter isn’t much higher than last year’s, and those optional ponies won’t exactly break the bank. You can improve a Korean car 12 ways to Sunday, but you still can’t charge more than the Japanese or Germans.
In the U.S., a base GT with six-speed manual transmission carries an after-delivery sticker of $20,235, with a six-speed automatic fetching $1,000 extra. Moving up into the GT Sport sets buyers back a minimum of $24,135, or $25,135 if they’d prefer handing over the shifting duties to a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox.
In 2017, a base Elantra GT retailed for $18,800 before delivery.
Both GT and GT Sport embody the Korean value proposition, undercutting the price of rivals. The recently introduced Honda Civic Si, which doesn’t come as a hatch, sports similar power numbers and a price ($24,775 for a 2017 model) just above that of the turbo Hyundai. The other obvious competitor, Volkswagen’s Golf GTI, retails for more than $2,000 more.
North of the border, a base GT GL manual (Hyundai Canada offers a diverse trim ladder) retails for $22,281 after a sizeable delivery charge. Getting into a GT Sport manual in the Great White North carries a cover charge of $28,831.50. A top-flight GT Sport Ultimate DCT, equipped with every last bit of technology and convenience? That’ll be $32,331.50, please.
All models carry an 8.0-inch infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. The base model in Canada carries 16-inch wheels, while all Americans stand to gain 17- or 18-inch donuts.
Both countries, however, stand to gain extra room with the 2018 model. Boasting 25 cubic feet of aft cargo area, the Elantra GT’s stuff-swallowing capability rises to 55.1 cubic feet with the rear seat folded. That’s greater than some small crossovers, hence Hyundai’s marketing push.
[images: Hyundai USA]
I need to see more pictures. These aren’t very appealing, and I happen to think the current Elantra GT/Forte5 are rather nice looking hatchbacks.
I don’t care if they’re better if they’re downright uglier.
Ha, i came to post that aside from the awful fog light openings, this might be the first Hyundai in recent memory that looks attractive to me. They seem to be over the melting front ends and this seems to have a usable rear window.
Eye of the beholder, yes? :)
Maybe they’re on lots by now. I should check the local dealership after hours.
And here I am thinking that the new Civic is the best looking hatch that’s been released in recent times (so much so that I bought one.) I do think this Elantra is quite interesting, I’ll be looking at it closely to see how it compares to the Civic.
“Crossover-fighting” — good luck
“The base model in Canada carries 16-inch wheels, while all Americans stand to gain 17- or 18-inch donuts.” — blood suckers
Within 50 miles of my location there is literally no non base trims of 2017 Forte5 or Elantra GT which is pretty ridiculous..
Wow GT with optional 201 hp from the Elantra Sport?
This is relevant to my interests.
The thing I hated about the old GT was the fact that their was one engine choice and it was the base engine for the Elantra sedan.
No it wasn’t. The engine in the GT was the 2.0 (every year except the very first, 2013) which was the upgraded engine from the Elantra Sport. The base engine in the Elantra was the 1.8L.
car and driver tested it recently and they didn’t think it was all that great.
That 1.6L has been in use for a while now (back to the Veloster) and has always been a bit odd. Most people that drive it agree that it feels more like 170-180ish HP, which is perfectly fine and fun in many settings. A GTI competitor it is not, however.
I could see this being heavily cross-shopped against the Civic Sport hatch. MSRP on the Civic is lower, but Hyundais always seem to have deep discounts available that would pretty much even them out. The Elantra would crush the Civic on feature availability.
“North of the border, a base GT GL manual (Hyundai Canada offers a diverse trim ladder) retails for $22,281 after a sizeable delivery charge.”
Ick! I’m still living in the mid-2000’s when paying around $14,000 to $16,000 (plus about $800 for destination) for a base model compact car felt like too much.
I realize the “feature-adjusted” price of current automobiles is lower than it was then, but if 95% of those new “features” (as well as several of the old features) don’t interest me, then it’s just wasted money. And let’s face it, most people don’t use the majority of their cars’ features.
“Bundling” and the horsepower wars are the bane of the automotive landscape.
I am really interested in this car but initial impressions from testers is it noisy and doesn’t really drive all that great.
The Civic hatch, with 174 turbocharged horses, costs about the same as the base GT. I expect the GT’s roomier, but I’d have to really need that room to choose the Hyundai.
That Civic hatch is Pontiac Aztecesque fugly though. No low price can make up for that. The Elantra hatch looks good in photos and videos. I have not seen one in person yet.
Agreed. Every time I have seen a new Civic hatch I am almost disgusted by the styling. Maybe the kids like it, but it is one ugly car to my middle-age eyes.
Yep, I’ve always preferred clean styling, especially as I get older. The new Civic is not something I want to have in my driveway. Just. Too. Much.
The advantage with Hyundai is that they will offer incentives galore and special financing that will take the Elantra GT far below the price of a comparable Civic hatchback. The absolute cheapest Civic hatchback within 500 miles of me is $20,089 with CVT and $20,441 at my local dealer with 6MT and Sport package.
It’s a great car, but fugly and without financing incentives, a bit too dear in price for a compact hatchback, IMHO.
I like what I’ve seen so far, except I prefer the more boring and conventional dash of the sedan.
Looks like it could steal some sales from the Impreza hatch but they’d probably sell more if they jacked it up like a Crosstrek. It’s a handy form factor and as everyone on TTAC likes to point out no one really needs AWD.
If they could put the 2.0 turbo from the Sonata in this, then we’d be talking..
I wish people would stop comparing it to the GTI. The GTI fighter is the i30N which we don’t get in NA.
Agree. This is a very watered down version of the real performance Elantra the rest of the world gets. Hopefully that changes.
Station wagons are back!
When does it stop being a hatch/crossover and star being a wagon?
It’s already happened. They just refuse to admit it.
Never mind that it has (at least as much) utility as many of the small CUVs that people are clamoring to buy. People will still see it as “not a CUV,” so I doubt it’ll find as many buyers as Hyundai hopes. If it sat another 2 inches higher and had black cladding over the wheels, oh…wait a minute, then it’d be a Tucson.
I just briefly had a 17 Elantra SE as a rental. Was very impressed by the ride and drive for the most part, much better than the last Elantra I had as a rental. Cabin is improved too.
GTI beater collected 23 comments. If it was GTI itself there would be 80, for sure
To be fair, nothing about this car is a GTI beater, except for price, which is within spitting distance of the GTI for the Sport version. GTI is faster, has better driving dynamics and has better mileage. Good effort from Hyundai though. Nice looking car.
The biggest problem with the GTI is it is made by Volkswagen.