New 2026 Hyundai Elantra ESV MPG, Pictures, Engine

New 2026 Hyundai Elantra ESV MPG, Pictures, Engine  –  One of the rare cars to challenge the Honda Civic for the title of “Best-selling car in Canada” for an extended period of time is the Hyundai Elantra ESV, a tiny car that has many of the features that Canadian drivers desire along with a sleek hatchback variant. A slew of exterior and interior improvements are coming to the Elantra ESV for 2019, helping it to compete with other sales titans like the Civic, Corolla, and Mazda 3.  New 2026 Hyundai Elantra ESV MPG

There’s no doubt the Elantra ESV looks good overall, with sharpened styling front and rear, courtesy a revised grille, front fenders, headlights, and a cleaner trunk design that’s button- and handle-free (sometimes annoyingly so). It’s a clean but somewhat generic design, seemingly meant for mass inoffensiveness, though that’s mostly par for the course in this class.

New 2026 Hyundai Elantra ESV Redesign and Update Plan

Exterior and Interior

Space and overall comfort inside the Elantra ESV is right up there with the best in the class, especially in front and rear headroom. Sure, the leather seats don’t feel as sumptuous as one will find in a luxury car, but in multiple two-hour-plus highway stints behind the wheel while driving to Ottawa and back, the Elantra ESV’s quiet demeanour, satellite radio, and Apple CarPlay all contributed to a luxury-vehicle-worthy experience. New 2026 Hyundai Elantra ESV MPG

On the plus side, the leather seats were handy for cleaning up after pets, especially ones with wet or dirty feet on rainy days. The dark carpeting, meanwhile, was able to hide messes – whether from pet, child, or adult. Given the discolouration on the leather seating surfaces, sticking with a darker colour seems the wiser move here.

New 2026 Hyundai Elantra ESV Specs

High up on the nice-to-have features list on this top-line Elantra ESV are a wireless phone charger, Android Audio/Apple CarPlay compatibility, heated steering wheel, plus heated seats in the rear as well as in the front. That said, there are two blank buttons that could easily be used for cooled seats, like some versions of the smaller Accent used to offer, which seem like a sad omission in seriously hot weather.

There’s also a booming sound system in this thing that’s worthy of special note. Put it up to three-quarters volume, and the eight-speaker Infinity stereo with pumps out enough bass to make the mirrors go fuzzy, and drown out even the most enthusiastic of carpool karaoke sessions.

Engine and Performance

For a mainstream compact sedan, there’s a decent amount of poke from this 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, never feeling under-powered, but never quite shining in this department either. Its 147 hp lands at the low end of this class, but still right in the mix of the ’19 Civic/Mazda3/Corolla party.  New 2026 Hyundai Elantra ESV MPG

Its torque output of 132 lb-ft at 4,500 rpm is a more notable 30 to 54 lb-ft below the more powerful Honda Civic and Mazda3, respectively. Hyundai saves a more powerful 161 hp and 150 torque mill for the sportier Elantra ESV GT hatchback, and a 201 hp turbo version for the Elantra ESV Sport.

New 2026 Hyundai Elantra ESV Fuel Economy

Officially rated at an overall average of 7.4 L/100 km, the Elantra ESV achieved a rather impressive 6.9 L/100 km during my week of over 800 km with it. Yes, that was largely highway clicks, and half a litre per hundred beyond its official highway estimate. But considering the constant A/C use and the roughly 120 km/h average highway speed, that’s very reasonable real-world fuel economy.

New 2026 Hyundai Elantra ESV Safety Features

One of Hyundai’s calling cards is its prodigious features-per-dollar ratio, and this is reflected in its copious safety features. This Ultimate model included a driver’s knee airbag, blind spot warning, rear traffic alert, lane-departure alert with lane-keeping assist, and active cruise control with stop-and-go.  New 2026 Hyundai Elantra ESV MPG

This is clearly not a car that begs to be driven hard, though it does have a Sport mode to help liven up driver involvement, on top of “Smart” and Eco modes. There are no shift paddles, but you can move the shifter over to the left to choose your own gears. The Elantra ESV’s Sport mode does add a bit of sprightliness by sharpening up the rev counts and shift points, though it’s more noise than anything else.

New 2026 Hyundai Elantra ESV Price and Release Date

A traditional Hyundai strength, the Elantra ESV still scores high in overall value, but not quite as high as it used to. Perhaps it’s because of those now-unavailable cooled seats, or the trunk and rear seats that aren’t as user-friendly as they could be. But in all the areas that tend to matter most in this category – features per dollar, space, comfort, fuel economy, safety, and overall practicality – the Elantra ESV still scores high right across the board. If it was my money, I’d look closely at the Elantra ESV GT hatchback over the sedan: not only is it more practical space- and flexibility-wise, its top Luxury trim also rings in less than this top-line Ultimate one.

There are also a few enhancements in store for 2020 Elantra ESV models that Hyundai just announced in the US, with lower overall fuel consumption figure of 6.8 L/100 km being the highlight, and new safety features offered like active forward collision braking and a fatigue warning system, though there’s no official confirmation on those features here. Either way, you can see how the Elantra ESV has given the Civic a run for its money as the best-selling car in Canada, and how its regular updates continues to keep it right up there with the top entrants in this shrinking but still massive market segment.    New 2026 Hyundai Elantra ESV MPG