Video: 2011 Hyundai Elantra

This might be a repeat of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata, which has been taking the market by storm, breaking records in terms of sales, we've been wondering which car would compete with the upcoming Ford Focus? Which is extremely stylish. It's not necessarily the Chevy Cruise, though it's good in its own right. This might be it. Now typical of Hyundai, the car is extremely competitive. For one thing, it comes with six speed manual or automatic transmissions, and it gets 40 miles per gallon on the highway, in all versions. The competitors are promising 40 and more, but it's only in certain versions and also all this for less than $15,000 without the destination charge, with the destination it will be just over 15. Exterior styling is always important, but recently the battleground has been inside cars, interior quality. The Sonata has been excellent. Now here on the Elantra, very good high quality, definitely competitive, not quite as nice as the Sonata, even though it has some of the same color palette. These light colors, the surfaces are a little bit hard, but they still look soft. They look low gloss, which is nice. And for a compact, I got plenty of room. I've got the seat all the way up. Now by the dimensions, the numbers alone, we thought that the leg room would be hurting in this thing compared to the class leaders and the Chevy Cruise, which was quite large inside, but I'm actually, all right, front seat is all the way back here. My knees are clearing it. I'm at six feet tall. I could use a little more thigh support, but generally speaking, I'm fine. Except the headroom is a little bit compromised. I fit, but I think if we hit a couple bumps, I might be a little bit shorter when I got out. Otherwise though, quite comfortable, very competitive. Now, speaking of the numbers, the trunk as well, quite large, it's larger than the class leaders only slightly smaller than the new Chevy Cruise, which will be a big competitor, Tall, wide opening and of course the seats fold down too. Now, this is the top trim level of the Elantra. So it's really nice on the inside, more lush. It even has heated rear seats, which you don't usually see. One thing we don't know because we haven't driven it is whether it will ride and handle well. That's still a slight shortcoming, even though a lot of the recent Hyundai's have improved in so many other ways. But aside from that, it looks like a big, big hit possible big seller. <v Narrator>For more car related news, go to cars.com or our blog kickingtires.net.