Private Fleet Car Review: 2016 Hyundai Elantra Active
The 2016 Hyundai Elantra was released in Australia in the first quarter of 2016. A sedan only throughout its history, and originally known as Lantra in Australia when first brought here, one of its design features continues into the 2016 Hyundai Elantra range. A Wheel Thing had a week getting to know the latest entrant, in Active spec.
The recent freshen up brings to the Elantra Hyundai’s corporate face, with the stand alone hexagonal grille plus a pair of chin mounted spoilers with airvents to the front wheel wells but now also adds in, at the rear in the tail lights, the squared off oval inserts linking the long nosed, short tailed, Elantra, to the long nosed, short tailed, flagship Genesis. The bootlid has a slight upward sweep, effectively creating a spoiler in the design, noticeable when seen in profile.
There’s redesigned headlights to complement the grille, including the now signature LED Daytime Running Lights or DRLs, in a sweeping, C shaped curve, on the outside on the cluster. Halogen driving lights are buried in each corner, inside the plastic for the air vents added.
In profile, the previously mentioned long nose/short tail is what has become the design signature; in effect, it’s almost a coupe look and manages to make the Elantra look bigger than it is. At just 4570 mm in length it still manages to cram in an astounding 2700 mm wheelbase, maximising interior space. Leg room is quoted as 1073 mm front and 976 mm rear, with 1427 mm and 1405 mm shoulder room, as a result.
Under the bonnet is a a frighteningly lacklustre 2.0 litre petrol engine. There’s a frankly pathetic 112 kW and 192 torques, with the latter achieved at 4000 revs and covering a range of just 500 rpm, from 3500. This here is the Elantra’s biggest failing, with the sole saving grace (performance wise) being the fuel economy for the highway. A Wheel Thing brimmed the tank before an overnight run to Canberra and back, with a best figure of just 5.9L per 100 kilometres consumed. Tank size? 50 litres. 
And it’s one of those that narrows at the bottom so the range drops quicker as fuel is consumed, once you reach 1/4 of a tank. Hyundai quotes 5.6L on the highway cycle, 9.8L for the urban and 7.1L combined for the manual, with the auto seeing 5.5L, 10.1L and 7.2L. Given the majority of sales would be for people living in the city, that urban figure would potentially see sub 500 kilometres per tank…
The trip to Canberra was undertaken with mostly cruise control engaged, specifically to see how the economy would work. At 110 kmh indicated, the rev counter hovered around 2000 or so. It also exposed flaws with the cruise control’s program, as it turned out. A certain speed was selected yet somehow the Elantra had issues with adhering to that, with variances of over five kmh and on the side of the “Excuse me sir, why were you speeding?”, most noticeably climbing and descending the slopes the highway has.
The SUV 40 mpg Club
It’s a growing trend that more and more of us are choosing to buy a new SUV vehicle over a more conventional sedan or wagon. There is a lot of sense in buying these as they usually perform well in crash testing, have a higher ride height, often offer more room and practicality, and are comfortable. Having AWD is nice for the odd light off-road excursion, but how good are they on fuel though?
There is a load of new SUV vehicles available, but interestingly there are an increasing number of relatively fuel efficient SUVs coming onto the market. A true SUV is one that is described as being a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV). It’s a vehicle that is similar to a station wagon or estate car but comes, more often than not, equipped with four-wheel drive for both good on-road or off-road capability. Some of the best fuel efficiency is not always associated with diesel engines. Some hybrid vehicles and even petrol versions can be amazingly frugal, too.
Seeing Round Corners
Ever wanted to know what’s around the corner? Thanks to today’s new car technology, the driver can gain insight into what might be approaching at that terrible intersection or hard-to-get-out-of driveway. There is no doubt that the intersection can be a dangerous place when driving. Until recently, the only sure way a driver could check what was coming beyond the intersection was to poke the nose of the car beyond any visual obstacle just enough for them to lean forward and crane the neck to get a better view of any oncoming traffic – hardly safe. Heaven help the oncoming cyclist!
Ford has a new safety system that could change that. Mounted in the front grille of the car is a Front Split View Camera and reveals in real-time a 180 degree view from the left to the right of the front end of the car. It’s easy to use, and at the push of a button the driver has the 180 degree panoramic picture displayed on the car’s touch screen display in the middle of the dash. To keep the view crisp, the camera even has a lens washer that turns on whenever the wipers are switched on. Ford hopes to have the majority of its models equipped with this round-the-corner camera technology by 2020.
Private Fleet Car Review: 2015 Lexus GS 450h & RX 450h
Toyota’s luxury arm, Lexus, has hit home runs with the GS 450h and RX 450h. Lusty power plants, seamless integration of the hybrid power systems, a stunning interior in the GS (with the RX losing points for the absurd design of the upper dash centre), a gorgeous exterior (again, for the GS, the RX is polarising for some) and plenty of standard equipment. There’s two models in the GS range, F Sport (tested) and Luxury, with the RX offering F Sport, Luxury and Sports Luxury. 
Both have a 3.5L V6 petrol engine plus the battery system. Both will operate in electric mode only up to around 30 kmh before the computer kicks in the petrol, even with the driver selecting EV via a button in the centre console. That’s a bit of a shame, frankly, as pure electric driving would extend the range of the petrol usage. Lexus quotes 6.3L of 95 RON from the 66 litre tank per 100 kilometres for the GS, but a surprising 5.7L/100 km for the RX…surprising because the kerb weight is 2210 kilos, 300 kegs heavier than the GS. No, I don’t get that either.
The GS matches the 215 kilowatt V6 to a battery system producing 147 kW and a handy 275 torques however limits peak power to a combined 254 kW. There’s 352 Newton metres from the V6 at a highish 4600 revs yet that low end oomph from the electric motor helps get the big car (1910 kilos kerb weight) to one hundred klicks in under six seconds. 
The RX goes for a detuned 193 kW V6, with the electrics offering (according to the website) just another 37 kW for a combined 230 kW maximum power. Maximum torque is 335 Nm, at 4600…the difference here is that the RX appears to use an “Atkinson Cycle” where the proverbial “suck push bang blow” is all accomplished during the one stroke of the engine.
To bustle that hustle there’s 356 mm front and 310 mm rear brake rotors on the F Sport version (there is also a Sports Luxury with 334 mm fronts) whilst the RX gets 328 x 18 front and 318 x 18 rear discs. The wheels vary depending on model; the GS F Sport has 235/40 front and 265/35 on 19s whilst the Luxury goes for 17s and 225/50s on each corner. Rolling stock for the RX are 20 inch alloys, with relatively narrow 235/55 rubber. 
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