Elantra Touring The Inside Story, CanadianDriver's 7-Day Usability Review Options

[MalibuJack]

I say keep an eye on the i30 in Australia. I am hoping that it gets a direct injection gasoline engine late this year (for 2011). If so, then we should get the same upgrade in the US and Canada.

I assume in mid 2010 Hyundai will have to decide whether to keep the Touring in the North America lineup. Considering how it is a hit in Canada, I think odds are the Touring will be kept for 2011.

BTW, I wrote the longest review ever of the Touring here:

http://modifiedlimitedhangout.com/imported...e-reviewed.html

A rather intersting review... but you spelt Tercel wrong a few times and in different ways. I find it interesting how you compare the Touring to certain vehicles like the larger cross overs as well.... when I am pretty sure its closest competition would be Rabbit / Golf / Jetta Wagen, Mazda3, Toyota Matrix, and Suzuki SX4.


Just my two cents.

Indeed. I should have clarified my remarks about the Touring being a hit in Canada. I think it is very popular in Eastern Canada. I spotted a Touring with Quebec plates in western Massachusetts. And some of the best reviews have been from Canadian web sites. I also remember that Canadians are more comfortable with wagons than Americans are. The Mitsubishi Lancer was available as a full-size wagon in Canada 10 years ago, but not the USA.

The Lancer wagon was a nice car. Its too bad they did what Hyundai did and introduced the sportback. Man that thing is ugly.... not to mention PRICEY!

[2001VE]

Well written comprehensive review. Uber long , but I survived.

The Canadian Touring is drive by cable ; I checked under the hood at a dealer three days ago.
Strange that it differs from the US model.

You seemed disappointed about the the Beta II engine. Cast iron engines are not really a negative ; if overheated they are much more forgiving. Although aluminum is proven now ; some of the earlier versions were a problem.

Direct injection involves really high fuel presure (1200+ psi versus 35); I would be a little careful of the early versions until a robust proven design is here. Extended warranty might be worth the money. My 2 cents.

[zero10]

I had a 2005 Golf TDI with the Pumpe-Duse motor, it was an experimental newly designed method of direct injection for diesel. I thought it was the greatest thing since it was ~30hp more than the injection pump motor and had quite a bit more torque (40lb-ft more IIRC). This motor was great until I decided I wanted to do some tuning and learned that nobody at the time had any ECU maps for it, then at 106,000km the cam ate the lifters. It turned out that when VW added the cam lobes for the unit injectors the narrowed the valve lobes to ~1/2" wide and over time they would grind through the top of the lifters and destroy the entire top end. An engine which should have easily run for 500,000km was in need of a few thousand worth of parts and machine work at only 106,000km, not even due for a timing belt yet. Having the latest and greatest engine cost me over $6k and taught me a bunch of very valuable lessons.

As for having a direct injection motor in the ET, sure it would be cool, but personally I would rather have the cable actuated Beta II engine that is in my ET over the Theta motor. Sure the Beta II has an iron block, but honestly the block is small and just isn't that heavy. One of the reasons I bought the Elantra Touring is because it had the Beta II motor, if they had brought in the Theta motor I likely would have bought the Mazda 3 instead. Also worth mentioning, if they introduce the Theta motor on the ET expect the price to go up significantly as well.