Filed under: Chicago Auto Show, Coupe, Hyundai
Hyundai wants its Elantra to dominate the C segment, and that means in all body styles. The just-introduced five-door GT is set to battle the Ford Focus and Subaru Impreza hatchbacks, and this new Elantra Coupe clearly has the two-door Honda Civic in its sights.
The four-door Elantra already wears pretty rakish sheetmetal that carries over nicely to the Coupe, which is actually half an inch longer than the sedan (173.8 inches versus 173.3 inches). The other dimensions are identical to the sedan, and Hyundai cites greater interior room as one of the Coupe’s advantages over its competition. By contrast, the Honda Civic Coupe is 0.3 inches shorter than the Elantra Coupe, and the Honda rides on a three-inch shorter wheelbase.
The Elantra Coupe has more power than the Honda Civic Coupe and the manual should get 1 mpg more in the city and 4 more mpg on the highway
Hyundai’s new two-door gets the same 1.8-liter inline four-cylinder being liberally spread across the line, with the same 148 horsepower and 131 pound-feet as the Elantra GT and the same pair of six-speed manual and automatic transmissions. Mileage is estimated to be 29 city/40 highway for the manual and 28 city/39 highway for auto. This means the Elantra Coupe has more power than the Honda Civic Coupe and, if the fuel economy numbers hold true, the manual would get 1 mpg more in the city and 4 more mpg on the highway, but both slushbox cars would be dead even.
There will be two Elantra Coupe trims: base GS or top-spec SE. Both have been tuned for extra sportiness versus the sedan and, as we’ve come to expect, while Hyundai throws plenty at the GS, the SE gets the truly sporty goods. The SE swaps the 16-inch standard rims for 17-inchers, gets a rear “lip spoiler design element,” even more suspension tuning for its lower-profile tires, and only it offers the option of touchscreen navigation and a rear-view camera. Both models, however, will get seven exterior colors, three of them Coupe-only, but inside it’s nothing but black or grey.
Pricing should come soon, but for now, enjoy the press release after the jump and the high-res gallery of images. Stay tuned for more impressions live from the Chicago Auto Show floor.
Continue reading 2013 Hyundai Elantra Coupe has the Civic in its Fluidic sights
from Autoblog