Faults:

Nothing, perfect since I bought the car.

Changed tires at 100k km.

Struts will need maintenance soon.

Possibly timing belt/water pump maintenance soon.

Normal wear.

General Comments:

This car was a great experience, perfect for low budgets. No repairs so far, only maintenance (oil change, tires). Doing 30k km / year with it, runs great, starts in cold Montreal winters every morning. Very generous trunk for a compact car, with a wide opening. Putting a double stroller inside was easy.

Power is modest, passing and merging requires effort.

Materials are mainly low budget hard plastic, like any entry level car of that time.

Some assembly issues on dash, some gaps are visible.

Minor rattles.

Heated seats are slow and not very warm.

AC doesn't reach back passenger a lot.

Seats a bit too firm on long trips.

Back seat doesn't fold completely flat.

Narrow cargo hole inside the trunk with the seats down.

Overall, very happy with the reliability and the car overall for its low price.

Faults:

Rear suspension bushing ($200), oil pan ($200), front ball joints ($400) at 150,000 km.

Turn signal handle gets stuck and needs a push to disengage at 90,000km.

General Comments:

Quiet ride for its class, noisy engine when accelerating.

The car feels very light, transmission gear ratios are not setup right for 0-70km/h. Feels as if you are in higher gear for your speed, and the engine wants to start knocking.

Faults:

In 3 1/2 years of daily use, we had one warranty fix of a seat-sensor switch for the airbag/seat belt system. Hyundai had also issued one recall to fix a stop-light switch issue. Other than that, perfect reliability, quality construction, and a remarkably quiet ride for such a small car is what we remember.

General Comments:

We calculate mpg at each fill-up. Our 2007 Elantra gave us 31-33 mpg on the highway, and if properly driven, 25 in town. Our teenage son managed to get that down to 22 a couple times with his more exuberant driving. The Elantra is fun to drive and easy to handle.

We took several 1000+ mile trips. The generous trunk and back seat for this class of car made the Elantra a comfortable and economical choice for a summer excursion. No problem with luggage for four.

We bought the Elantra to replace an old Saturn SL, so we could get modern safety features for our teenage drivers. High ratings and side airbags were important -- and when our daughter totaled this car, we saw just how well it worked. She and two passengers walked away from a 40mph collision with a light pole. The crush zones, airbags and seat belts all did what they were supposed to do.

We replaced the car with another (2009) Hyundai!

Right now (Sept 2010), you can find the last of the 2010 Elantras on sale because the 2011 is re-designed to look more like the Sonata. If you are looking for this class of car, I highly recommend the Hyundai Elantra.