Ace of Base: 2019 Hyundai Elantra SE

The Korean car maker has long since shed its also-ran status, enjoying sales success and the ability to grab a steadily growing portion of the market share pie.

Unlike a few others who shall not be named, Hyundai believes there are still customers out there who want to buy a well-equipped compact sedan with a price tag under $18,000. It believes this so fervently, in fact, that it refurbished the Elantra for the 2019 model year.

Endowing it with a pair of headlights that look sharper than a Ginsu knife, this Elantra looks markedly different than the last one that appeared on these Ace of Base pages. I’m not entirely sold on the kinda-Lexus front end treatment, but no one can say it looks boring. In fact, save for the top trim (which earns a snazzier set of LED peepers), all versions of the Elantra have the same front fascia, fog lights and all. Score one for economies of scale.

The base SE comes equipped with air conditioning, tilt/telescope steering wheel, Bluetooth gear, and a bunch of charging points for smartphones. The lone concession to frugality is the inclusion of Hyundai’s 5-inch infotainment screen, the smallest of three available and the only one without Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. You’ll have to rough it and make do, kids.

An inline-four displacing 2.0 liters – seemingly the industry sweet spot – makes 147 horsepower and 132 lb-ft of torque. This is the same engine in all Elantras save for the Eco, which sports a 1.4L unit. This base SE is the only Elantra left standing with a clutch pedal, so get one while you can if you’re a fan of the brand. Sticks disappeared out of its big-brother Sonata ages ago.

Fifteen-inch tires sized 195/65 keep a lid on replacement costs. That 10 year powertrain warranty doesn’t hurt in that regard, either. Rear drums are an annoying cost cutting measure, as is the exclusion of safety nannies like lane keeping and blind spot monitoring, features which appear at no charge on all other trims.

This gives me pause, until your author realizes he routinely curses those systems in most other machines. There is no doubt they would be helpful to a new driver but perhaps instruction in bloody paying attention could supplant them. Just a thought.

At $17,100 plus freight but less a myriad of available rebate programs and subvented rates, the 2019 Elantra neatly undercuts even the cheapest crossovers from other manufacturers that are trying to claim those machines are the new point of entry into their brands. The case for well-equipped and affordable small cars lives on.

[Images: Hyundai]

Not every base model has aced it. The ones which have? They help make our automotive landscape a lot better. Any others you’d like to see in our series? Let us know in the comments. Naturally, feel free to eviscerate our selections.

The model above is shown with American options and is priced in Freedom Dollars. As always, your dealer will probably sell for less.