It's been four months now since we bought our new Elantra and I'm just as fond of this car as the day we brought it home. The quality of the craftsmanship that went into building this vehicle continues to impress me. This is one very nice car!

Driving
The 2000 Elantra has terrific handling with responsive steering, good road feel, and excellent maneuverability. I've been pleasantly surprised at how well this car handles. It is very fun to drive! The Elantra has a smallish engine, but still has sufficient power, even with the AC running. (We've got the manual, so I can't comment on the automatic transmission.)

Comfort/Features

The only major drawback we've found with the Elantra is that it doesn't have very much headroom. I'm 6'2" and my head tends to scrape against the ceiling. The legroom is okay, but it's tight at the top. The backseat is about what you'd expect (not roomy, but sufficient). The Elantra has good soundproofing, with only modest road noise. The sunroof is a nice added bonus, if you're thinking of getting one. The upgraded stereo system with CD player has very good sound.

Reliability
Hyundai has the best warranty around, at 5 years/60000 mile bumper-to-bumper, with roadside assistance. You can't beat that! We haven't had any problems with our car, so we haven't had to worry about this. 6000 miles--so far, so good.

Looks
I really like the body styling of this car. It has a very sleek, attractive look. It's "sporty" and fairly distinctive, so it stands out from most other cars. It particularly looks good with the rear spoiler, which we have. The colors are bold (we have Wind Rose) and vibrant. Overall, a nice looking vehicle.

Mileage
We haven't been getting as good gas mileage as we'd hoped. We're averaging around 22.5 mpg with city driving and around 25 with freeway. Of course, we've been using the air conditioner a lot in our driving, so those numbers would not doubt be higher otherwise.

Purchase
We bought our Elantra from a dealer we hooked up with via the internet (Autobytel). We got it for $250 over invoice, which I thought was a great deal. Many dealers seem to be selling a lot of these cars, so you should definitely shop around to find a good price. Our local dealer was trying to get $1000 over MSRP.

Bottom Line
The Elantra is affordable, attractive, and drives great. I highly recommend this car.