2004 Hyundai Elantra Reviews, Pricing & Specs

Pretty good car at a good price. Power is respectable for the year - at the time of purchase it was in the upper half of the market power wise, but since the compact market has upped the ante performance wise. Shifting is good, if a bit thrashy, but preferable over the rubbery action of the 2007-8 models. I also prefer the hydraulic steering over the electric steering of the new Elantra - it's overboosted and feels like a video game. Handling is pretty good, given the type of car. Love the hatch too, but at times you can feel the structure is weaker because of it. Quality issues suffered mainly have to do with a leaky hatch and a few other issues with the body. No mechanical issues as of yet, except for the motor in the driver's side mirror quitting.

Only had the car two months but the more I drive it the more I like it. It a relatively small car but has plenty of room inside for my large (fat) 6'2" bod. A lot more room inside than most of the other Asian imports that I drove. Handles well, good on the gas (getting about 21 mpg in the city, haven;t done any road trips in it yet) and has good pickup. I also like the fact that it doesn't have a lot of those "moron" devices in it (like the cars that LOCK your door when you put it in gear, or the ones that think they know when you need to turn your lights on for you, or not being able to crank the motor without your foot on the brake, etc...). Overall rating 8.5 out of 10.

This car was purchased used and had been in a pretty serious accident. It was repainted and the driver door and headliner replaced along with a few other bits an pieces. I took a chance and got it cheap. Best $5000 I've ever spent. Over the years I've had to replace tires, change the oil, and the regular wear items. All 4 struts were replaced about 2 years ago and most recently the clutch (just over 100K). For the money I've spent in service and replacement parts this still comes out to some really cheap transportation. My particular model doesn't have cruise control and that really stinks on long trips. A few of the interior trim pieces have started to come apart (sun visor mirrors, fan controls, etc). Other than that I plan to drive this car until the wheels fall off and then maybe buy another much newer but still used Elantra or Sonata.

Love this car! Had it for over a year, Im the second driver. Car works great, had to put new brakes on it and fix a window but thats just minor wear & tare. Beautiful white exterior with no rust, Grey interior with wood panelling dash. Gorgeous car! Paid roughly $7000 for it and its worth every dollar. Great gas mileage, drove from Miramichi, NB to Cornwall, On (about 1000kms) for aprox. $70-$80 bucks!!

The Elantra hatch was a carbon copy of the old Saab 900/93 5 door (see my previous review). Since this car replaced the Saab, I have found many areas of comparison. The Elantra is similar in looks, build quality, driveability, and the Koreans even attempted to replicate Saab's excellent dash. The value for the dollar is unbelievable. This is a fully- loaded car with an excellent warranty that listed for $15,900. As with the Saab, the hatch is cavernous. The car is comfortable for long trips, and gets very good mileage on the highway. I highly recommend Traction Control on this car. The 5-speed mated to the 2 litre, 16 valve motor produces wheelspin with the slightest amount of moisture on the road. Suspension could be taughter, too. The car rolls a bit in curvy conditions. Still, with the list of standard features as long as it is, you'll feel like you're riding in a car that cost twice as much. I'm willing to overlook what few shortcomings the car has. A shame that the current Elantra lineup no longer includes a hatch.

First off, I am the only owner of this car, I purchased it new on the Hyundai lot in Sept. 2004. As of right now it has approx. 179000 KMs on the odometer (Apr. 20, 2010). Over 90% of the mileage on the car was done on the highway. I am also the only driver of this car. Performance wise for it's class this car is pretty good I find. I find the 5 speed manual transmission has a really good gear ratio that gives it a better acceleration that I would expect from a car of it's class. I also sometimes tow a trailler that weights in loaded at approx 900lbs along with some passengers and the engine can always keep the car up to posted speeds unless you are doing highway speeds going up a hill where it will lose 10-20 km/h by the time you get to the top while using 4th gear and a have the accelerator pedal pushed at least half way down. Keeping in mind that this is a small car and I'm putting it through paces normally you would use a truck or SUV to do, I'm very satisfied with how the engine performs. Braking on the car is decent but could be a little better in my opinion. I find once you start adding weight into the car (passengers, objects or trailer) it doesn't stop as easily as it should. As for handling I very much like this car since it does not have fancy traction control systems like used on most newer vehicle. I like to have full control of a car as this way you get to know it's limits, traction controls just hide these from you and I don't like that idea whatsoever. As far as quality goes I can't complain. Following the recommended maintenance schedule definately keeps a car in good shape. I've had both O2 sensors and the fuel pressure sensor replaced under warranty for being defective. Other than that I've had two bad luck incicent. The first one involved a rock flinging through the front grill and hitting just the right spot which busted one of the pipes on the air condenser unit (I believe that's what it's called) which drained all of the freon in the AC system. Had to replace the unit and get new freon put in the AC system. The second incident totaly my fault, I jacknifed a trailer into the left side of the car which dented the quarter panel and bumper. Both these unfortunate incidents dinged me about 500$ CAD each to fix. As far as gas costs go it's in the same ballpark as other cars of it's class. I have not noticed any fuel mileage increases over time. Having a 45KM one way commute to work I do notice a difference of between 5 and 10$ of gas used up in a week if I drive faster on the highway (in the 130-140 km/h range, pretty much whatever the flow of traffic is going in the passing lane). Maintenance I find is a bit pricey but I am still taking it to the dealership as I find they treat me right and don't feel the need to risk going to one of those sometimes shady looking private shops to get my maintenance done. As far as appearance and fun factor goes, those are not things I care about all that much so I will not spend much time on them. For appearance as long as I don't find a car ugly I would consider owning one. As for fun factor, I regard my car as a tool to move my rear end and whatever gear I need from location A to location B. If you want a car to have fun with, get a fuel guzzling sportscar.

Like the fact that it has held up well-I have driven it to hell and back...It has made many trips across the US and all over NC. It is maneuverable, good on gas, and handles well in excessive speeds.

The 2001-2006 Elantra sedans are relatively inexpensive, they provided good value for the money in the small family car market. Build quality was above average but not quite to the world class levels that Hyundai has reached with its latest lineup. Performance was alright, the car really does everything fine, but not brilliant at any point.

My car is well built. Doesnt use lots of gas. Hasnt had any big problems. Timeless design. Strong engine lots of power. Wide powerband that isnt to high end. Excellent handling. Comfortable seats on a long drive.Powerful headlights for night driving. Excellent low end torque if kept in the powerband. Great handling if you use performance tires. Forgiving suspension for quick manuevaring that make the roads much safer.

This car has almost no pickup. The good parts of it are that it has lasted me a long time and is cheap to own (roughly 28mpg). It's not very fun to drive, nor is it something that looks classy, but it gets me from point a to b relatively easily.