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Used 2015 Hyundai Elantra Sedan Consumer Reviews

3.4 out of 5 stars
31 reviews

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1 out of 5 stars

Oh, the things they don't tell you! UPDATE

John, 11/25/2015
updated 05/30/2017
2015 Hyundai Elantra SE 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 6M)
29 of 42 people found this review helpful

After 5 months of driving this piece of garbage I traded it in and there will NEVER be a Hyundai piece of junk on my driveway again-I'll never even accept one as a rental. This thing drove like a beat up and worn out '68 station wagon. From the way under-designed suspension to the junk Continental tires, the car drove so bad that the handling was dangerous. Driving over a bump on the freeway, especially in a turn, required absolute concentration just to stay in my lane. All is well now, though. The car I traded it in for is a Nissan Altima, which is a fantastic car. Very well built and drives like a well made car should-which the Hyundai is not. I've had this car for about 6 months and it's ok, but there are a few things that will make it the last Hyundai I'll buy. First, the gas mileage. I do a lot of highway driving for work and so far the best I've gotten is 33.2 mpg. I drive around 70 in a 65 (any closer to 65 and I'd get run off the road) and I've found that in order for me to get better gas mileage I have to drive closer to 80. I don't get it. There seem's to be something wrong with the gearing for this to occur, or maybe electronics, but this makes no sense. Secondly, this so called "10 year, 100,000 mile warranty" that Hyundai pushes was attempted to be added by the salesman or sales manager to my contract. I was told it came with the car, but what I wasn't told was it was going to cast me an additional $6K!! This was after they told me the honor Truecar estimates and then tried to add $5K to the price of the car. (They said it had extras not on the estimate until I showed them the VIN number on the estimate was the same as the car on the contract.) After 2+ hours of getting a tad hot under the collar I got the price without the bogus warranty. Then I got home and found out there was no spare. Just a repair kit that you can't use since the majority of tire failures happen on the freeway which pretty much destroys the tire. After finding out the ungodly amount of money Hyundai wanted for what should have been in the car (or at least I should have been told wasn't in the car) I found everything on Ebay for less than half. As for form fit and function, the car's not bad. It's quiet and comfortable. I have the sport and popular packages so it has the sunroof, fog lights, etc.. Throttle reponse is weak, though, and sometimes the transmission jerks on acceleration as if the car doesn't know what gear it should be in. The suspension is weak. Real weak. The Hancook tire are also garbage. When I encounter a rough patch on a curve I have to be ready because this thing will jump all over the place. Also the "slip angle" of the tires on turns is terrible. There's 2 more things to buy. The sound system is ok. The volume capability is less than half of what it should be. To have any decent volume just to listen to talk radio it needs to be just short of full blast. And no I don't have any hearing problems. Also the controls are designed to cause accidents. If you want to say lower the bass, park first because you'll be tapping the screen controls that are badly placed and too small for driving just to get to the small, badly placed buttons to make the adjustments. This will be corrected with a small amplified equalizer in the center console compartment-one with knobs so you don't have to take your eyes off the road. Yet something else to pay for that shouldn't be an issue. Anyway, for me this car is a swing and a miss. With the other quality cars out there that granted cost a bit more, Hyundai comes up lacking. Best warranty in the business? Maybe, but they need to make it clear that it will cost you dearly. Not inform the buyer there's no spare, because I've yet to meet anyone that asks if there is one? Major issue. How many husbands would like to find out while out with the family or from your wife because she's on the freeway with a shredded blow out? Change the station and you want to lower the blasting bass? Don't even think about it if your driving. Hit a bump on the freeway? Hang on brother or you could be modifying the body style real quick. Sorry Hyundai. As long as these types of things exist in your sales staff and vehicles, I'll be driving Honda's. Again.

Safety
4 out of 5 stars
Technology
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
1 out of 5 stars
Interior
3 out of 5 stars
Comfort
2 out of 5 stars
Reliability
1 out of 5 stars
Value
3 out of 5 stars
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2 out of 5 stars

Better Think Twice about the Hyundai Elantra

A. Pearson, 01/25/2019
updated 08/03/2020
2015 Hyundai Elantra Sport 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl 6A)
7 of 9 people found this review helpful

Well we don't have the 2015 Elantra Sport any longer. After a year and a half of ownership, what started out to look like a sound investment on an economy car turned out to be a decision for which we would have like to have a do over. All total we put 14K miles on the car. The first issue was the fancy schmancy navigation radio going kaput. Hyundai wanted $600 to swap out our busted unit for a refurbished one with 5 year old technology. So we looked into the after market, but quickly discovered that the fancy push button ignition and peculiar specs made that difficult and protracted process, not to mention expensive, $600 - $1000 to sort it out. Next was tires. At purchase the tires were practically new and after only 14k were looking worn. And that's with regular rotation every 5000 and air pressure checks. I didn't perceive any suspension or alignment issues, but something had to be going on for the tires to wear so fast. Granted front drive cars wear front tires first, but regular rotation should alleviate a lot of that. Of course tire quality could have something to do with it too. Another annoying issue was the bubbled rear window tint that had been installed at the dealer by a local third party tint contractor. At first it was perfect but not long after purchase started bubbling to the point that rear view was affected. Even though the car was still under factory warranty and we purchased a modest warranty extension, and that reputable tint shops warranty their work, the dealer would not stand behind the tint job. Another shocker was insurance cost. I've been with the same insurance company for 27 years and.have good credit and driving record. However, insurance cost was significantly higher than expected. Who'd of thought a no frills economy car would cost more than my Jeep Wrangler? That's nuts, but true. When we insured the Hyundai's replacement, another Jeep product, the annual premium dropped almost $600... Wow!! Apparently the insurance institute doesn't like Hyundai Elantra. So with those issues we were looking at roughly $1500 worth of repairs just to get the car back to its condition at purchase. Mind you we'd only had it for about a year a half and only put 14k miles on it with regular maintenance. Along with this add to the fact that the car was too low and lightly built to handle the roads driving in Mexico. Therefore, we started looking at alternatives... and none too soon, because we discovered that the Elantra's value depreciates like a stone sinking in a lake. After a year and a half of ownership, we discovered that it was worth $2000 less than what we owed. Purchase price was right at 12K +TT&L, we put money down, monthly was about $225, and at that point we owed $8000. There's no logical reason we should have been upside down in that car except for the fact that the auto industry must think the Hyundai Elantra is crap. What a disappointment! A dealer we visited, for once, gave it to us straight when he showed us information indicating that the Elantra's value would continue to go do down. So weighing out the options we traded it off, only recovering $6000, which meant we'd have to eat the $2000 difference over what was owed. Lesson learned. Although Toyota, Honda, and Maybe Nissan are well-established foreign makes with good brand reputation, reliability, and resale value, apparently that does not include Hyundai and I would suspect Mitsubishi, and Suzuki, or other off brands. To be balanced, I do have to say that the Hyundai 2.0L engine had plenty of pep. It was fun to drive, nothing approximating my Jeep Wrangler, but for a little city car it was OK. And it offered amenities found on much more expensive cars, but that wasn't enough to overcome it's weaknesses. Long story short: buyer beware, do your homework, and if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Safety
1 out of 5 stars
Technology
2 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Interior
3 out of 5 stars
Comfort
4 out of 5 stars
Reliability
4 out of 5 stars
Value
1 out of 5 stars
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2015 Hyundai Elantra for sale near you
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2 out of 5 stars

Going strong..until it hit 100,000

Mel1480, 05/02/2020
2015 Hyundai Elantra SE 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 6M)
3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Loved this car for years then as it approached 90000 to 100 thousand miles..total engine failure. Maintained the car took very good care of it and there was no reason that the engine should have just failed no mechanic I have seeked out even wants to work on it they told me to cut my losses and go.. I have found countless blogs about engine failure but around a hundred thousand miles I sure thought I would get a lot more miles out of it

Safety
2 out of 5 stars
Technology
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Interior
3 out of 5 stars
Comfort
3 out of 5 stars
Reliability
1 out of 5 stars
Value
3 out of 5 stars
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2 out of 5 stars

Elantra Is Usually Great Not This One.

Anthony, 01/25/2019
2015 Hyundai Elantra Sport 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl 6M)
4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Usually the Elantra is a great car, I must have got a bad one. Constant issues with this car. In 60,000 miles I've had to replace the heating core, two tire sensors for the pressure, multiple hoses that started leaking anti freeze, Ball joints, and to top it off the engine failed and needed a brand new engine.

Safety
4 out of 5 stars
Technology
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Interior
4 out of 5 stars
Comfort
4 out of 5 stars
Reliability
1 out of 5 stars
Value
3 out of 5 stars
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1 out of 5 stars

Stay Away from this hunk of Crap!

Nik, 12/10/2015
2015 Hyundai Elantra SE 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 6A)
27 of 45 people found this review helpful

Chief complaint: the freaking (and I don't mean freaking) trunk goes thru spells where it just pops up whenever it wants. Seriously, I stood in the parking garage at work for 45 freaking minutes closing my trunk because it pops open every 3 minutes! I took it to the dealership and the guy from the service department told me that he was familiar with the problem because it happened to him when he drove a loaner vehicle, however, the techs weren't going to be able to diagnose and fix it unless they actually saw the trunk popping up with their own eyes! Are you freaking kidding me! Now I'm standing guard at my trunk because it keeps popping open and I live in a freaking apt complex! Next complaint: the alignment or something is off... You can't hold the damn car straight in one lane. No matter how straight and steady you hold the steering wheel, you still end up swerving and veering into someone else's lane. Additional complaint: the worst acceleration that I've ever experienced in a vehicle... good luck pulling a heel. Haha! You can mash the gas to the floor and you'll literally be going 10mph, but give it about 2-3 minutes it'll respond to you pushing the accelerator. Last complaint: Idk why, but the windows fog up like crazy! Myself and a coworker who has this same car discussed this... you literally need the defroster year-round...the windows just fog up... no talking or singing with the radio --the windows just fog up. This was a horrible purchase and I'm counting the days until I can trade it in. I purchased this car in March 2015 with 4 miles on it. Today it has 4,500 Miles exactly...and the freaking trunk won't close! Im seriously considering speaking with an attorney re: our local Lemon Law. No way a brand spanking new car should have these issues! Why am I outside, in the dark, closing my trunk every 3 minutes... at this very moment...

Safety
4 out of 5 stars
Technology
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
1 out of 5 stars
Interior
4 out of 5 stars
Comfort
2 out of 5 stars
Reliability
1 out of 5 stars
Value
1 out of 5 stars
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