Should I get a 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring?

[SickBeast]

I've decided to get rid of my 2006 Honda Civic EX. My wife wants a car with an automatic transmission.

She likes the Hyundai Elantra Touring. It's only $199CDN per month, with $0 down, for 60 months.

Do you guys know of any cars that are better in this price range? ($15,000CDN/$12,000US)

Thanks! 🙂

 

[angry hampster]

Used Mazda 3s.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: angry hampster
Used Mazda 3s.

We like the thought of having warranty coverage, plus I'm pretty sure that the Elantra is a much bigger car inside, which is useful to us as we have a family and tend to lug alot of stuff around with us on long drives.

I guess I'm wondering if I have better options in terms of a new car.

Right now Hyundai is offering a 2.6% lease rate over 5 years which seems like a great deal to me.

 

[RedRooster]

The regular Elantra is a really good car, rented one for a couple months this winter. It kills the Civic and Corolla for the price, the Mazda 3 is the only compact(Elantra is actually a midsize) I like as much as or better. The Spectra isn't close either, as far as hatches go. So long as the room in the Touring is what you expect, I'd go for it. For the price, Hyundai is coming on strong lately!

Not sure if I'd lease though.

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: SickBeast

Originally posted by: angry hampster
Used Mazda 3s.

We like the thought of having warranty coverage, plus I'm pretty sure that the Elantra is a much bigger car inside, which is useful to us as we have a family and tend to lug alot of stuff around with us on long drives.

I guess I'm wondering if I have better options in terms of a new car.

Right now Hyundai is offering a 2.6% lease rate over 5 years which seems like a great deal to me.

I see. In that case, fincance. Don't lease.

 

[Funyuns101]

I test drove one, albeit a manual, it was a very decent car for the money.
Definitely worth checking out if you're considering the new mazda3.
Beats the pants off the Toyota Matrix (comparable vehicle) and Honda doesn't offer a compact hatch anymore. [Fit = subcompact, though still a decent car]

 

[postmortemIA]

new Mazda3 is $15,000 CAN, which means you can get it for less, and with auto transmission

lease Hyundai for 5 yrs? you will not want to drive it for 5 yrs.

 

[ponyo]

5 year lease for econobox? What's next? They're going to start doing car loans for 10 years?

 

[MBrown]

oooo. The elantra touring looks nice.

 

[Scouzer]

Originally posted by: Naustica
5 year lease for econobox? What's next? They're going to start doing car loans for 10 years?

7 years is very common, so yes I expect 10 years will be here in the next few years.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: Funyuns101
I test drove one, albeit a manual, it was a very decent car for the money.
Definitely worth checking out if you're considering the new mazda3.
Beats the pants off the Toyota Matrix (comparable vehicle) and Honda doesn't offer a compact hatch anymore. [Fit = subcompact, though still a decent car]

Do you know if the base model Elantra and Mazda 3 have cruise control?

I'm test driving some cars on Friday and will post my thoughts here.

 

[Funyuns101]

Originally posted by: SickBeast

Originally posted by: Funyuns101
I test drove one, albeit a manual, it was a very decent car for the money.
Definitely worth checking out if you're considering the new mazda3.
Beats the pants off the Toyota Matrix (comparable vehicle) and Honda doesn't offer a compact hatch anymore. [Fit = subcompact, though still a decent car]

Do you know if the base model Elantra and Mazda 3 have cruise control?

I'm test driving some cars on Friday and will post my thoughts here.

base model of the Elantra sedan or the Elantra Touring? The Touring does... I don't think the bottom of the bin sedan does, but the SE which is the recommended trim level has pretty much everything standard.

The Mazda3 I drove was also the hatch which is automatically a trim above the base model + bigger engine. Cruise was standard on that as well as bluetooth which is kinda cool.

 

[Vetterin]

The Elantra Touring is going to be a hot selling car for Hyundai. Wouldn't you consider buying instead of leasing?

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: Vetterin
The Elantra Touring is going to be a hot selling car for Hyundai. Wouldn't you consider buying instead of leasing?

It's probably a better deal to buy the car, but we need lower payments for now. I doubt we'll even keep the car for all that long to be honest.

It's $248/month over 72 months for purchase financing at 2.55%

It's $200/month over 60 months to lease the car at 2.6%

Basically we need to save as much money as possible over the next two years, so we will probably go with the cheapest monthly option.

Besides, leasing isn't that bad. It's not the end of the world to have to buy out the car at the end of the lease if you've gone over your mileage.

 

[DeviousTrap]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Besides, leasing isn't that bad. It's not the end of the world to have to buy out the car at the end of the lease if you've gone over your mileage.

A 5 year lease is crazy. Over the course of that time you'll be paying $12,000 and then after those 5 years you'll have absolutely nothing to show for it. I'm not one of the anti-leasing people on this forum and I believe it's great if you go through cars every 2 or 3 years, but a 5 year lease is insane. If you can't afford to pay the $248 a month for the new one, get a 60 month loan on a 1 or 2 year old one, you'll be able to keep the payments at the same $200 a month. Buying out a lease is one of the worst ways to buy a car, you'll be paying above market value for a car in order to avoid the mileage penalty.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: DeviousTrap

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Besides, leasing isn't that bad. It's not the end of the world to have to buy out the car at the end of the lease if you've gone over your mileage.

A 5 year lease is crazy. Over the course of that time you'll be paying $12,000 and then after those 5 years you'll have absolutely nothing to show for it. I'm not one of the anti-leasing people on this forum and I believe it's great if you go through cars every 2 or 3 years, but a 5 year lease is insane. If you can't afford to pay the $248 a month for the new one, get a 60 month loan on a 1 or 2 year old one, you'll be able to keep the payments at the same $200 a month. Buying out a lease is one of the worst ways to buy a car, you'll be paying above market value for a car in order to avoid the mileage penalty.

Over 6 years of financing, the total cost is $17,500. Therefore, if the lease buyout is $5500 or so, there's not much to lose by leasing, and it would benefit me with lower payments right now.

I'm going to ask them what the buyout is when I test drive the cars tomorrow, then I'll post it here.

 

[Funyuns101]

Originally posted by: SickBeast

Originally posted by: DeviousTrap

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Besides, leasing isn't that bad. It's not the end of the world to have to buy out the car at the end of the lease if you've gone over your mileage.

A 5 year lease is crazy. Over the course of that time you'll be paying $12,000 and then after those 5 years you'll have absolutely nothing to show for it. I'm not one of the anti-leasing people on this forum and I believe it's great if you go through cars every 2 or 3 years, but a 5 year lease is insane. If you can't afford to pay the $248 a month for the new one, get a 60 month loan on a 1 or 2 year old one, you'll be able to keep the payments at the same $200 a month. Buying out a lease is one of the worst ways to buy a car, you'll be paying above market value for a car in order to avoid the mileage penalty.

Over 6 years of financing, the total cost is $17,500. Therefore, if the lease buyout is $5500 or so, there's not much to lose by leasing, and it would benefit me with lower payments right now.

I'm going to ask them what the buyout is when I test drive the cars tomorrow, then I'll post it here.

how much does that car cost in Canada?
That sounds really expensive $23k in the end.
Just making sure cuz MSRP is like $20k in the US

 

[Arkaign]

I wouldn't recommend it. Hyundais, while decent vehicles (I think ~'05+ is where they really started to solidify), have tremendous depreciation.

There are all number of outstanding vehicles that one can pick up for ~$10k-$12k, that are about a year old, with around 10k miles or less.

 

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I wouldn't recommend it. Hyundais, while decent vehicles (I think ~'05+ is where they really started to solidify), have tremendous depreciation.

There are all number of outstanding vehicles that one can pick up for ~$10k-$12k, that are about a year old, with around 10k miles or less.

Define outstanding?
While having done some searches, it seems you can get a 08 Sonota for around $13-14K with 30K miles.
You can't get a '08 camry or corolla or accord for that amount of cash, with that mileage.
A '08 malibu is around $14K with 30K miles on it.
A '08 fusion is about $17K with 20K miles on it.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Elixer

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I wouldn't recommend it. Hyundais, while decent vehicles (I think ~'05+ is where they really started to solidify), have tremendous depreciation.

There are all number of outstanding vehicles that one can pick up for ~$10k-$12k, that are about a year old, with around 10k miles or less.

Define outstanding?
While having done some searches, it seems you can get a 08 Sonota for around $13-14K with 30K miles.
You can't get a '08 camry or corolla or accord for that amount of cash, with that mileage.
A '08 malibu is around $14K with 30K miles on it.
A '08 fusion is about $17K with 20K miles on it.

It's not that hard.

'08 Fusion, $12.5k, under 5k miles

'08 Focus Coupe, $12.7k, 4500miles

'09 Mazda3i, $11.8k, 62 miles

'08 Mazda6, $12.8k, 5600miles

and so on and so forth.

 

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: Elixer

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I wouldn't recommend it. Hyundais, while decent vehicles (I think ~'05+ is where they really started to solidify), have tremendous depreciation.

There are all number of outstanding vehicles that one can pick up for ~$10k-$12k, that are about a year old, with around 10k miles or less.

Define outstanding?
While having done some searches, it seems you can get a 08 Sonota for around $13-14K with 30K miles.
You can't get a '08 camry or corolla or accord for that amount of cash, with that mileage.
A '08 malibu is around $14K with 30K miles on it.
A '08 fusion is about $17K with 20K miles on it.

It's not that hard.

'08 Fusion, $12.5k, under 5k miles

'08 Focus Coupe, $12.7k, 4500miles

'09 Mazda3i, $11.8k, 62 miles

'08 Mazda6, $12.8k, 5600miles

and so on and so forth.

Looks like there is a wide range of prices, depending on where you live.

 

[Arkaign]

That is very true. It's the type of thing where with this volatile market, some dealers aren't willing to budge, while others are selling dirt-cheap to keep their cash flow revolving. Which means that it's worth considering for people to take a decent road trip if necessary to score a killer deal.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: Funyuns101

Originally posted by: SickBeast

Originally posted by: DeviousTrap

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Besides, leasing isn't that bad. It's not the end of the world to have to buy out the car at the end of the lease if you've gone over your mileage.

A 5 year lease is crazy. Over the course of that time you'll be paying $12,000 and then after those 5 years you'll have absolutely nothing to show for it. I'm not one of the anti-leasing people on this forum and I believe it's great if you go through cars every 2 or 3 years, but a 5 year lease is insane. If you can't afford to pay the $248 a month for the new one, get a 60 month loan on a 1 or 2 year old one, you'll be able to keep the payments at the same $200 a month. Buying out a lease is one of the worst ways to buy a car, you'll be paying above market value for a car in order to avoid the mileage penalty.

Over 6 years of financing, the total cost is $17,500. Therefore, if the lease buyout is $5500 or so, there's not much to lose by leasing, and it would benefit me with lower payments right now.

I'm going to ask them what the buyout is when I test drive the cars tomorrow, then I'll post it here.

how much does that car cost in Canada?
That sounds really expensive $23k in the end.
Just making sure cuz MSRP is like $20k in the US

You obviously didn't read my post corrently.

$17,500 is the total cost of the car when financing.

The sticker price is $15,000, so $2,500 is going to interest over 6 years (which is very reasonable IMO).

 

[Funyuns101]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
You obviously didn't read my post corrently.

$17,500 is the total cost of the car when financing.

The sticker price is $15,000, so $2,500 is going to interest over 6 years (which is very reasonable IMO).

my bad. chill man 🙂
$15,000 is a good deal. If you're trading in your Civic you shouldn't be paying much more for it if any.
Though it's kind of sad to trade/sell your car after only a few years.

I liked the car more than the Civic that I test drove, YMMV.
Post your reactions after the test drive as I'm interested in what others have to say about it.
(looks aside as it's not a good looking car 😛)

 

[SickBeast]

So I test drove both the Elantra Sedan and the Touring models today.

I liked the sedan better because it was easier to see out the back, and I found it was a nicer looking car. Plus, it's $3000 cheaper due to a discount right now.

Compared to my Civic, the Elantra did not handle as well, and the stereo was crap in comparision. The interiors were about equivalent. I preferred the suspension and the quieter ride in the Elantra.

Engine-wise, the Civic is definitely more refined and I'm sure it has the better motor.

All that aside, the cars were very comparable and practically identical.

I'm going to get rid of the Civic for the Elantra because it will save me $120/month and will give me a car that's 3 years newer.

The salesman quoted me $272/month over 5 years, with $6300 due after that.

It seems like a pretty good deal to me. I'm going to try another dealer over the weekend to see if I can get it for a bit less.