From road ready to rear end. This week we had the 2025 Hyundai Elantra HEV and we put her to the paces.
A lowered and sleek frame, I got the dynamic drive of a sport car, coupled with the cost saving of a daily driver. With over 700km to the tank between gas and self charging battery, I could see myself in the Elantra HEV permanently, it is a shame that fate cut our time together short.
Despite the elevated drive and features, the basic functions were manual. From the drag handle and seat pump adjustment with matching wheel lever, to the sun visor mirror with its own push button light attached to the roof, and the large head-handheld gear shift.
I was also not able to sync my phone up to the car and had to rely on a cable for Apple CarPlay. I was at least given the option for a USB or C-cable connection, that also serve as charging. This need made the wireless charging mat useless.
The hybrid brake-battery charging feature was highly reactive and efficient. You could see the visual battery gauge increase and decrease in power, in real time. My goal was to keep it at least above half life, it not three quarters (this, I hit 3 times within the week). This functionality definitely controlled the way I drove. Like a game, I found myself coasting and stopping sooner in order to gain the most charge.
In the beginning I thought it was luckily that I live at the base of Burnaby Mountain, and find myself commuting up and down it every morning for the gym. In doing so, it allowed me to easily charge as a coast downhill and needed to apply the brakes in order to keep within the speed limit.
However, I just as quickly learned that it was more effective and easier to charge the 2025 Hyundai Elantra during regular rush hour traffic. Here, I didn’t even have to try or think about it, and I still got the benefits. I just succumbed to the multiple start and stops of slowly edging forward.
The Hyundai Elantra was a quiet drive with sound proof cabin and an engine that hummed. There were not surrounding proximity beeps or alerts. The Elantra allowed you make your own judgement of how close the wall in-front, pedestrian behind, or car next to you was. The only “interference” was when merging into a neighbouring lane without signalling. Then, it was a gentle nudge to correct, as apposed to a complete and dramatic takeover of the wheel. The additional cameras and their unique angles helped with the above.
I enjoyed the speedy power the Elantra put forth. Lower to the ground with aerodynamic side panels and fenders, I felt everything, but also feel in control. There was a little push needed to get going, but once there, the car flew with agility as apposed to power. Nibble on turns and compact for easy urban parking.
I was honestly disappointed to let her go, seeing as the ease of driving I had and how much I saved. Sadly, I was rear ended at an intersection. I was at a fully stopped and another driver came right into me, connecting bumper to trunk. Ironically, their Dodge Ram rammed into me. As the smaller vehicle, I, the driver felt the brunt of the impact. Although, besides the cosmetic damage, the 2025 Hyundai Elantra HEV came out unscathed, where as the Dodge left a piece of its grill in the Elantra.
