Reviews
Gallery 1
Jest if you will, but the Hyundai Elantra SR Turbo offers a genuinely serious glimpse into the abilities of Korea to make a car handle
LET’S be honest. As a car company, Hyundai hasn’t really yet cracked the code for producing a device that can set the smile-o-meter binging off the charts. It reckons, though, the its new Elantra SR Turbo will change all that.
It scores a lightly made over version of the 1.6-litre four-cylinder direct-injection turbocharged engine from the Veloster Turbo, along with multi-link rear suspension that will be seen on the upcoming i30.
Worringly, it makes just 150kW at 6000rpm and 265Nm of torque from 1500 to 4500rpm, which is the same output as the Veloster Turbo, despite a new, larger intercooler, a bigger turbocharger and electric turbo wastegate.
The seven-speeder is the combo that suits the SR Turbo down to the ground. It feels more settled and planted across the front axle than the manual, the small amount of extra weight working with the much more finely tuned set-up to help the SR turn in and hold a line with surprising enthusiasm.
If this is a taste for what’s coming in Hyundai’s N line, the line starts here.
3.5 OUT OF 5 STARS
LIKE: Frankly astonishing depths of chassis controls… in an Elantra? DISLIKE: Lacks last bit of poke and tyre grip to truly make the most of the chassis
