Beijing '08 Preview: 2009 Hyundai Elantra to debut with new face

Click image for a gallery of the facelifted Elantra

If the visual updates to the Hyundai Elantra you see here are carried over to all markets, which we imagine they will be, the sedan is going to make potential Civic and Lancer shoppers take a long, hard look. Not unattractive in its current form by any means, the Elantra's facelift being unveiled at Auto China next week incorporates a more upscale look in front than the current car. In a sidebar conversation, one of the other editors noted that it's somewhat reminiscent of the beak on early-'00s Acura CL/TL models. Those cars still look good, so this is not a bad thing for the Elantra. The rear fascia gets tweaked as well, with new taillamps being the most obvious change. Inside, the layout appears to carry over, and as you can see, the Chinese model has available woodgrain trim for The People's Luxury. Think of the changes as going from regular vanilla ice cream to that tastier version with the little flecks of real vanilla inside. They're basically the same thing, but you gravitate towards the fancier one. This is how we feel about the new Elantra.

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[Source: CarScoop]

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