2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring

2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring – Click above for high-res image gallery Hyundai has been batting a thousand of late, with new vehicles like the Genesis sedan and Genesis coupe shaking up their respective segments and leaving class leaders looking over their shoulders. The equally new Elantra Touring hasn't created as much buzz as its rear-wheel-drive brethren, but the five-door hatchback competes with a host of vehicles available in the sub-$20,000 range, all of which are screaming for attention from an increasingly picky buyer who demands something practical, affordable and efficient for his dwindling dollars. In order to be heard above the noise, Hyundai chose to import one of its existing models from abroad rather than developing a new Elantra model from scratch. They chose the i30, designed in Germany and currently on sale in Europe, Australia and South Korea. The Elantra Touring is very much a direct port of the i30 and actually has little in common with the four-door Elantra sedan, save for its 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and transmission choices. Rather, its closest mechanical cousin is the Euro-only Kia cee'd. It would seem, then, that the i30 was not originally developed with U.S. customers in mind. Will the resulting Elantra Touring be a hit here, or has Hyundai finally foul tipped a ball? Follow the jump to find out. %Gallery-51572% Photos Copyright ©2009 John Neff / Weblogs, Inc. One thing the Elantra Touring has over its four-door namesake is style. The two vehicles share no body panels and one wouldn't guess the Touring model is actually an Elantra based on the four-door's styling. The Touring is actually shorter than the sedan (176.2 inches vs. 177.4), but its wheelbase is two inches longer. Combined with a roof that terminates into a steeply sloping hatch, the extra space between the axles makes the Touring look longer and larger. The Touring's sheet metal is also more attractive thanks to a strong character line running the car's length with a concave sweep up to the windows. This line emanates up front behind the large headlights (dig the blue angel eyes on the projector lamps) and combines with some pinched metal running up to the A-pillar to create distinct front fenders and a raised hood. The thin grille sports a chromed corporate 'H' with pride and small chrome eyebrow accents set off the fog-lights in each corner of the front fascia. Hyundai has fitted the Elantra Touring with vertical tail-lamps out back, similar to the units you'll find on vehicles such as Volvo wagons and the Honda CR-V. They contribute to safer stops in traffic since their tops can still be seen above high hoods. The rest of the back is clean and the near non-existent rear bumper contributes to the posterior's slick surfacing. Some might call this car's styling mundane, but we see it as safe and sophisticated, the off-brand suit of the sub-$20k set. Some might expect the Elantra Touring to have a spartan interior made of recycled pop bottles and …
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