Initial impressions were positive. The Elantra is relatively quiet, felt at ease on the highway, and never left me wanting for more power. The interior is well laid-out, has plenty of room, all the controls are simple and intuitive to use, and it packs tons of features like heated seats and a backup camera we'd expect in the midsize Sonata.
That's not to say there weren't a few minor things that proved annoying over four-days and 2044.6 miles, the Elantra's steering chief among them. With the steering wheel on-center at speed, turning effort seemed overly heavy, before rapidly giving away to being too light. Also a minor annoyance: the lack of lumbar adjustment. The heated seats partly canceled out the lack of lumbar support -- and provided welcome relief in the cold rain and snow we experienced -- but its absence remains an oversight.
One other hangup was fuel economy. Though the EPA rates the Elantra at 29/40 mpg city/highway and 33 mpg combined, I averaged 28.6 mpg over seven complete fill-ups during my trip -- a figure not too far off the 29.2 mpg real-world estimate reported on the fueleconomy.gov website. The best fuel economy would likely have been seen on the mostly flat stretch of I-5 between Redding and Firebaugh, Calif. where the Elantra's trip computer estimated a 365 mile range. Unfortunately, the pump clicked off at 7.128 gallons before the tank was full, and wasn't noticed until about a mile or two later when I was back on the freeway. Based on our fuel log, that tank would have been good for around 32 mpg.
The best we did record was 31.8 mpg. Strangely enough, that was achieved on the most mountainous part of the journey between Redding and Grants Pass, OR., where the I-5 winds through the mountains and peaks at 4310 ft. The worst was 23.5 mpg, seen on the final leg going back into Los Angeles and the associated traffic. The other tanks were consistently in the high 20-mpg range at 30.6 mpg, 29.9 mpg, 28.7 mpg, 28.5 mpg ,and 27.2 mpg. Not bad but shy of the EPA's estimate 40 mpg highway. You can check out a full breakdown of fuel economy in the chart below. In the Elantra's defense, its on-board trip computer indicated our average speed throughout the journey was 65 mph, which includes city driving. Also somewhat interesting is that the Elantra's "ActiveEco" button didn't seem to have an effect on fuel economy. Both the best and worst ratings were achieved with the button on and the green "ECO" light on the instrument panel lit.
A few weeks later, I would take the Elantra on another trip up to Redding and back in an attempt to hit the elusive 40 mpg. I knew I had to drive it in the most mind-numbingly painful way possible, as anything else would result in a low-to-mid-30 mpg figure at best. My test track would be I-5 south running from Redding, Calif. all the way to Los Angeles. I'd top off in Redding, and then hypermile my way home.
I didn't want to be a danger to myself or others, however, so the decision was made to travel at exactly the posted speed limit -- not faster, not slower -- and that I wouldn't be drafting big rigs. Mercifully, the limit was 70 mph for most of the drive. I was going to do it right -- not without gimmicks, but just without most of them. Cruise control would be on the whole entire time, the whole trip would be driven without the use of air conditioning, and the Elantra's "Eco" mode would be left on.
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