The petrol Elantra gets absolutely no insulation under the bonnet. Pretty nifty if you have your hands full with luggage.The top-spec SX (O) AT variant that you see in the pictures gets all the niceties including ventilated seats, leather upholstery and dual-zone climate control. This one is more than happy ferrying around a well-dressed, salt and pepper haired gentleman to his big office and then to the golf course. The exteriors look appealing, the cabin is spacious and decked with features and there's a sizeable 458-litre boot too.I will go out on a limb and say that the Elantra is possibly the best riding Hyundai sedan till date.. The low-speed ride quality is nothing short of fantastic as the saloon goes about gobbling up potholes. For that price, it seems like a well rounded package to us, especially if you plan on being chauffer driven. On the face of it, the Elantra sure looks promising.22 lakh less compared to the Skoda. Cushioning is soft, side bolstering is ample and there's just the right support for the under thigh too.Before I sign this section off, there's one last feature that deserves a mention - the handsfree boot release. And, while it is genuinely capable of holding on to triple digit speeds all day long, you feel it will be happier cruising calmly instead. Not trashy, not strained - a clean and crisp engine note.

The 4-cylinder motor is the largest engine in its class, but not the most powerful by a long shot. It also gets six airbags, anti-lock brakes, traction control and even something that Hyundai calls 'Vehicle Stability Management'. There's no dearth of legroom or kneeroom for someone my size (I'm 6ft tall), even with the driver's seat set for my driving position. Until now, all seems in place.8 TSi, just an engine chugging along in a mature, orderly fashion. On every other front, the Elantra does not disappoint. But, the way the engine delivers the 152PS of power and the 192Nm of torque is commendable.Keep the motor on the boil, and you can have a bit of fun with it. Even at triple digit speeds, it doesn't bob about and though there's still a bit of rebound from the suspension when you go over expansion joints, it settles down really quickly. There's no surge or gush of torque that hits you in an instant.

There's no push in the seat torque here, but at the same time it doesn't feel too underpowered either. It looks good, has the required bells and whistles, and now boasts of a better motor as well. The rear half of the cabin can accommodate three people, but the one sitting in the centre will find his knees brushing against the seat. It keeps you guessing whether you should go harder on the brake pedal or not. The 6-speed automatic gearbox complements the engine really well. Shift the gearbox to manual and it will hold on to the revs for as long as you like.The Elantra is priced between Rs 12.

The steering, as expected is super light at low speeds that makes it easy to park and easy to manoeuvre in tight spots. Now, on to what's entirely new for our market - the 2. We do miss a set of paddle shifters, though. The manual variant has been tuned to return 22. Paired with a 6-speaker system by Arkamys, the audio is quite nice too. There's barely a tell-tale sign that the engine is indeed switched on, unless of course you glance at the tachometer. The driver's seat gets 10-way power adjust, but no memory unlike the Octavia. I like how the engine sounds at higher revs. Hyundai themselves credit the new platform for this and the fact that they have used adhesives up to forty times as much to seal off panels, reducing noise. Of course, it doubles up as the navigation and the screen for the reverse camera as well. But it isn't one of those cars that eggs you on to keep pushing it harder and harder. What's not so good, is that the features you really want, are more or less reserved for the top-spec variant. However, try and upshift too early or force a downshift at high revs and it will override your input. The Elantra gets a sunroof too, which is reserved for the automatic variants only. There's no sense of emergency or an explosive power rush that one gets with the Octavia 1. Consider the top-spec diesels, and the Hyundai is dearer by Rs 53,000 compared to the Toyota, but is priced a whopping Rs 3.The diesel motor is carried over as is from the older generation and it produces exactly the same amount of power and torque.

Space is more than adequate, even if you are generously proportioned. The Elantra has never been the enthusiasts choice ever, and it doesn't pose as one either. At high speeds, it weighs up enough to give you the confidence you need. There's an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system too, that supports Android Auto as well as Apple CarPlay.Right, then. What you get instead, is a relaxed, linear delivery which gets stronger and stronger up to around 4000rpm, post which it tapers off rather sharply.I'm not too happy with the braking, since the pedal seems to feel a tad spongy. Despite that, there's practically no engine noise that filters into the cabin. The ratios are well-spaced out, and while shift shocks are non-existent, lag between the cog swap is minimal too.57kmpl, but, other than that everything is pretty much the same in terms of how it responds wholesale Shower Seats and drives. Headroom is at a pinch thanks to the sloping roof, and the short seat squab means that under thigh support takes a hit as well. Both engines get 'Eco' and 'Sport' mode, that alter throttle response and nothing else.0-litre petrol engine. Walk to the boot of the locked car with the key in your pocket and it opens itself in three seconds.99 lakh and Rs 19.59 lakh less compared to the Octavia. It isn't as rock hard as its European counterparts, but it comes very very close, which is high praise