Joined
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5 Posts
Hi, all. My name is Howard and at 65 I may be one of the oldest people here who still likes to find that perfect mix of fun and practicality in a car. I lament the fact that I had to finally give up on my 2000 manual Elantra wagon--the best car I ever owned. Was recently driving a hand-me-down 98 Camry which, to be honest, I would have continued to drive, especially in this insane environment, except that it also would have required a ton of money to pass inspection. Did lots of research online and watched lots of review videos. Looking at the used market there was very little in manual trans. Anything in my area always came out as way overpriced. Finally a blue 2019 GT N line with 23K was traded in at a local Subaru dealership. I was skeptical about the short ownership, but he had bought an Outback, indicating that he probably needed more room and wanted AWD, and/or possibly an automatic that a partner could drive, and that the Elantra likely wasn't an ideal solution for him.
The car is a dream--most fun car i've ever owned. Never owned a car that could go this fast--the reviewers keep saying that it's barely adequate, but for everyday drivers it's plenty fast. My first car was my parents' '73 Impala with a 350 V8 and I don't think it was this fast. I thought my wagon's shifter was good (better than previously owned Celica and Civic), but this clutch and shifter is heaven. I did notice the steering wheel rubbing noise reported by other owners and I'm taking it to the dealer for that next week.
Gripes: The car is short. I always felt that 175-176" is the perfect length and feel that they could have added rear seat room and led the competition in cargo space had they just added 4". (Hyundai's US and Canada cargo specs are inflated. See the I30 for the real numbers, which are quite a bit lower.) I've no doubt the shortened length is because it was European designed and inspired.
While the electronic parking brake and hill holder work fine, they will be expensive to fix, I prefer a hand parking brake.
A second USB should be standard. Maps or Nav should be standard--I'm old school and don't do well with smartphones. Also hate that there's no CD player. And that the two most important safety features were left off: Blind spot and rear cross-traffic.
And they give you things you don't care about and you pay for that. Like dual climate control. As if there's a hermetically sealed partition dividing the driver from the passenger. We always had dual climate control--it was called "vents." Worked just fine. This is just a gimick. And "automatic?" Another gimmick. You turn on the air or the heat until you're comfortable and then turn down the fan speed. Worked for me for the last 40 years and I'm still alive.
Interior style and materials mean little to me. But if you're going to do something, don't to it half way. The 2018 Sport had more red and that cool red shift knob. The only mod I would ever care about would be finding one of those red N shift knobs. Can't find them anywhere.
Well enough of my treatise. Nice to find a place for owners of the same car to gather and talk.
The car is a dream--most fun car i've ever owned. Never owned a car that could go this fast--the reviewers keep saying that it's barely adequate, but for everyday drivers it's plenty fast. My first car was my parents' '73 Impala with a 350 V8 and I don't think it was this fast. I thought my wagon's shifter was good (better than previously owned Celica and Civic), but this clutch and shifter is heaven. I did notice the steering wheel rubbing noise reported by other owners and I'm taking it to the dealer for that next week.
Gripes: The car is short. I always felt that 175-176" is the perfect length and feel that they could have added rear seat room and led the competition in cargo space had they just added 4". (Hyundai's US and Canada cargo specs are inflated. See the I30 for the real numbers, which are quite a bit lower.) I've no doubt the shortened length is because it was European designed and inspired.
While the electronic parking brake and hill holder work fine, they will be expensive to fix, I prefer a hand parking brake.
A second USB should be standard. Maps or Nav should be standard--I'm old school and don't do well with smartphones. Also hate that there's no CD player. And that the two most important safety features were left off: Blind spot and rear cross-traffic.
And they give you things you don't care about and you pay for that. Like dual climate control. As if there's a hermetically sealed partition dividing the driver from the passenger. We always had dual climate control--it was called "vents." Worked just fine. This is just a gimick. And "automatic?" Another gimmick. You turn on the air or the heat until you're comfortable and then turn down the fan speed. Worked for me for the last 40 years and I'm still alive.
Interior style and materials mean little to me. But if you're going to do something, don't to it half way. The 2018 Sport had more red and that cool red shift knob. The only mod I would ever care about would be finding one of those red N shift knobs. Can't find them anywhere.
Well enough of my treatise. Nice to find a place for owners of the same car to gather and talk.
