I haven’t owned many cars in my lifetime, but the first ever car that was mine was a Hyundai Accent. I was done University and got my first job and needed a way to get to York Region from Toronto. I fell in love with my Accent. I leased it for a short 2 years and was sad to see my time with it end.
I was contacted a few weeks ago about test driving the Hyundai Elantra GT SE Teach 2013 and I’m sure you can guess what my reply was. A big YES! I couldn’t wait to try it out. Currently we are a one car family, but with our lives getting much busier and baby #2 arriving very soon, I was thrilled that we could test out a potential second car. Although we aren’t in the car market you never know what the next year can bring!
So on Friday June 7, 2013, The Hubster and I arrived at Hyundai’s Markham headquarters. I was so excited to finally see the car up close and personal! I had researched all about it online and couldn’t contain my excitement when I finally saw it! It was a gorgeous shade of blue and I loved that it was a 4-door with a hatchback!
Here are some of the incredible features:
- Panoramic Sunroof– It spans almost the entire length of the car. I totally fell in love with this feature. I love that instead of seeing a fabric roof, or a small sunroof (like the one we have), I had a phenomenal view and it made the car feel very airy and bright.
- Hidden Rearview Camera-The rearview camera is guaranteed to be clean as it is hidden and pops out only when the car is in reverse. Testing the camera out as I was leaving school in the pouring rain gave me a great deal of confidence in the parking lot! The torrential rain that day never interfered with camera and it stayed nice and dry giving me a clean and clear view while I was backing up
- Bluetooth Connectivity– so maybe I got a ticket for talking on my phone last summer. Obviously I’m not proud of it but having my phone connect to the bluetooth and being able to make and answer calls while driving hands free was amazing. I use my phone often as my drive home from work is long. I never had any issues hearing or being heard using the bluetooth.
- Proximity Key with push button start- This means that no keys are needed to start the car. I just have to be close enough with the clicker to unlock the car, lock the car and even start it!
- Dual-Zone Automatic Temperature Control- Being 8 months pregnant, I absolutely LOVE this feature! The Hubster and I usually fight about setting the car’s temperature so this was a nice reprieve as we could each set our side of the car to our liking.
The Hubster plays hockey numerous times a week so we do what we call a “hockey bag” test. No test drive of a car is complete without it! It seems silly but whatever car we drive the trunk space has to be large enough to accommodate (smelly and gross) hockey bags and have some extra room for other stuff. Well, this trunk passed the test!
Seeing that baby #2 is arriving soon, back seat space is also something that is very important to us. With Princess Peach’s car seat installed, there was TONS of space leftover in the back. We could even keep the middle console down and there would have been more than enough room on the opposite side for another car seat to be installed. Another option would be to install the two carseats beside each other which would free up space behind either the front passenger/driver for another passenger to sit.
The Hyundai Elantra GT SE Tech is amazing on gas. During my week I didn’t have to fill up the tank ONCE! Usually, with my current SUV and the distance I drive to and from work daily I have to fill up at least once a week and most times twice! The car has 148 horsepower engine and 6-speed automatic transmission. I learned to drive on a van and now have an SUV. I didn’t know what I would think about driving a non-SUV car again. I found it an absolute pleasure to drive. I found the drives very smooth and quiet.
Another feature that I loved that isn`t special just to this car, but I loved having was XM radio. I love listening to musicals so having channel 72 to listen to non-stop musicals made me one happy lady! The other station I enjoyed was 90`s on 9!
There were two little drawbacks of the car for us at where we are at this stage in life. As much as the trunk passed our “hockey bag” test, we will soon be a double stroller family which would not have fit in the trunk. Our heavy duty single stroller fit but took up most of the trunk. I found our light umbrella fit the best in the trunk. It also left room to spare for other parcels.
One feature that I found disappointing was the iPod cable feature. I was so excited for this as I have an iPhone and my battery life is not the best these days. I used my own iPhone cable and left it in the car to charge my phone while driving around. I found it extremely temperamental. It rarely connected to my phone and often did not charge it. It might have been defective in this car, however I found it disappointing that it didn`t work as well as I would have liked it to.
Overall, I LOVED this car. I may not be the most knowledgeable about cars but I know when a car drives smoothly, and meets my standards. The Hyundai Elantra GT SE Tech met all of my expectations and more! Where we are in our lives now with (almost) 2 small children and lots of bags, toys etc I would not hesitate for a second to purchase this car as our second car.
Special thanks to Hyundai for providing me with this amazing opportunity! If you are on Twitter check out #HyundaiDrive2013 and #ElantraDrive for mine and other bloggers Tweets!
Disclosure: I was provided with a Hyundai Elantra GT SE Tech to review for 7 days. I did not receive any monetary compensation. All of the opinions on this blog are my own.
This sounds like a great car! Princess Peach looks like she has a lot of space in the back, and I love the rear-camera feature. For some reason, I really like reverse parking now, and that would help me greatly instead of correcting my parking.
My favourite features are the Bluetooth and the rearview camera – great safety features. The Elantra seems to be a great value for your money. Thanks for the hockey bag test, that is a must for our family too.
I loved the hidden rearview camera and panoramic sunroof too! I travel a lot with an umbrella stroller now and found there was quite a bit of space left over in the trunk. Had it been the full size stroller it probably wouldn’t have much storage space left.
Lots of bells and whistles! I’m very surprised. The backup camera looks good, as does the Bluetooth! I’d love to see it IRL.
Love this! Looks fantastic! Love the panoramic sunroof – I’ve always wanted a sunroof!!
A great car for everyone.
Great review!
What was the size of the hockey bags? Just trying to get an idea of the trunk dimensions.
Just asked my husband and he doesn’t know the exact dimensions. He said it is average sized with skate pockets on the side. Hope this helps!
Just asked my husband and he doesn’t know the exact dimensions. He said it is average sized with skate pockets on the side.
Just love the Hyundai Elantra, we have owned two so far with no worries at all and are now thinking of purchasing our third!