I bought a 2000 Hyundai Elantra Stick Shift for my daughter after first shopping at Honda, Nissan and Toyota dealerships. They were all in the $15-16,000 range as offered at local dealerships. The stick shift 2000 Hyundai was $11,115 out the door including taxes, tag and title fee.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think that we are on to something here, because I heard and am not surprised that Consumer Reports recently chose the Hyundai Elantra as a best buy. If you pay $4 a month, you can read the report on their website, http://www.consumerreports.org/ or else you can go to the library and read the report.

It has a great warranty that most others (except Kia) don't offer, with roadside service that you probably won't need. It is a near sports car in handling, with a smooth shifting five speed stick shift, 140HP, Air Conditioning, independent suspension on all 4 wheels, and is a surprisingly tight package that tracks well on the road. It has a good blend of power, economy, handling and quietness.

It will do well in winter with its front wheel drive. It isn't as quiet as a Honda due to its single wall exhaust construction which is cheaper, but I like the sound it makes. It has a Dual Overhead Cam 16 valve distributerless (four coil direct ignition) engine, that reminds me of an updated version of the engine in the famous red "Mrs Robinson" Alfa Romeo convertible.

My wife was impressed that such a light car handles so well and so quietly on the interstate. The paint is a little thin, but is nicely done, and we got black, so it is easy to touch up and rub out. The seams and fits are all tight, closely aligned and well done. The radio is plenty good for a teenager or an adult. It is now getting 28 mpg in city traffic, up from 24 when we first got it and it hadn't broken in.

Car and Driver only rated it 6th best in its class, but the cars that C&D liked better cost quite a few thousand dollars more. I preferred to get this and use the money I saved to get my son and daughter each a computer. I definitely rate it higher than C&D does on a bang for the buck basis.

On a horsepower (Bang) for the list price (Buck) basis, which is on the website: http://carpoint.msn.com/Browse/win_2886.asp, it came in 6th out of all the cars sold today, but on a bang for the actual price buck including tax, tag and title, it may be the best value available in America today. My actual price (which includes tax, tag and title fee) to horsepower fraction, is 79.39, and when you add the tax, tag and title fee to the other cars actual price, I believe that the Hyundai will beat their "real world" fraction.

It also has good sized tires for its class, size 195x60R-14. Honda Civic had 13 inch wheels, while the Hyundai has 14 inch wheels. Bigger is better in wheels and tires. The tires they supply with the car, Hankook brand, give the car very good handling, but be careful going over potholes. My daughter hit a pothole and took out a Hankook. In order to keep the tire grip symmetrical, I replaced it with another Hankook for $71 including balancing, but Hankook doesn't offer a road hazard warranty, and so if tomorrow my daughter goes out and hits another pothole, I could be paying $71 again. With that in mind, your best bet if you ruin a tire is to go to your nearest Costco and pay $83 for an equivalent Bridgestone that comes with a 45,000 mile road hazard warranty. That way, if you ruin a tire, you will only have to pay a prorated amount based on tread depth remaining on the tire you ruin. I think that if you live within 15 miles of a Hyundai dealership and a Costco Tire Shop, You will be very happy if you own one of these if you need a small commuter car. I have to say, "avoid Hankook tires and stick with any brand of tires you can get at Costco that have a replacement warrantee".

Definitely check also the Kia Sephia, which beat the Hyundai in list price bang for the buck (BFTB). The Kia BFTB fraction was $9995/125 HP. [Update 9 Oct: Definitely get and read the New York City auto ads (double read the fine print) for even cheaper prices for both Kia and Hyundai. New Jersey prices seem to be more usually unless you can find an "ad car", which is an "as is" specially priced car usually found at places like Maxon Hyundai on Route 22. [The salesmen then try to switch you to another more expensive one.] The Hyundai has front air bags, but your best bet is to avoid accidents rather than rely on air bags for protection, because it is so small inside that there isn't much room to go anywhere, so when you are driving a car like this, you always have to be thinking about how you would avoid a collision. We are all in the under 5'10'' range, and so it fits us fine, with surprisingly comfortable front and back seats.

I spoke to my salesman and he confided in me that the timing belt is a maintenance item to be replaced at 60,000 miles, and if the belt lets go, bad things happen to your engine that you don't want to find out about. He said that he is not officially allowed to tell me that you can really go over 100k miles before this would happen in normal use if you don't abuse your engine with numerous high rpm shifts. I recommend that you don't exceed 4000 or so rpm in normal use if bucks are tight and you have to go 100k miles before you change the belt, or else you are playing with fire. If you do exceed that in normal use regularly, go with changing it right at 60,000 miles in order to be within your warranty in case something should happen. If you drive it like I do, you should have no worries about breaking the belt.

I checked out Wal-Mart and I compared a real 2000 Hyundai brand oil filter to a Wal-Mart AC-Delco oil filter for a Hyundai, and they appear interchangeable. The Hyundai filter was better made. The Hyundai oil filter was $6.41 and the Wal-Mart one was about $3.00. If you change oil at 3k miles yourself, you can go with the Wal-Mart one to save a few bucks.

Someone that used to work for Syntek told me that Mobil 1 is superior to Syntek because of the molecular makeup of the base oil. They are both superior, but Mobil 1 should be just slightly better in the long run. If you want the best for your Hyundai, put in Mobil 1 or Syntek 10w-30 weight synthetic with the money you saved by buying your filter at Wal-Mart. That way, you can go farther before you have to change oil with the Mobil 1 or Syntek compared to regular oil. The Mobil 1 or Syntek keeps the bad stuff in suspension, and will work nicely with no varnish build-up. They have the side benefit of helping your exhaust system last longer also due to their lack of sulfur which would form sulfuric acid. Make sure you change your oil when the engine is fully warmed up in order to help get out the bad stuff. My other cars had mileages of 168k (Dodge Grand Caravan that finally blew its second head gasket), 227k (Honda Accord SE-I 5 speed stick whose bad clutch, body rust and dents made it not worth fixing) and 237k (BMW 325 ES driven by my son) under this regimen, so it works, and I have had no oil related failures, with the side benefit that my exhaust pipes lasted longer due to the chemical makeup of the Syntek. The 168k mileage car still had the original stainless steel exhaust system because I used Syntek in it since the car was new. The other two cars were bought used, so we can't talk about the exhausts on them.

I wish I had gotten the cruise control, aluminum wheels, sunroof and spoiler, but the car was parked outside at a college, and if it was too flashy, someone would have probably taken it, so we got by without these nice features. The fold down rear seat is very handy when taking larger things from place to place. My uncle had two Hyundai Excels at the same time and really liked them. This is quite a bit better than the Excel. I read that Hyundai sales are up something like 80%. Warranty and price for what you get must be the reason.

Update @50k: I installed 205-60 HR 14 BF Goodrich T/A radials, which are one size wider! They make the car stick to the road like glue and really grab around turns. They are great inexpensive tires that are good in snow also. Costco has them. Wait for a sale and get all four. The car is even closer to being a sports car with them on. The engine sounds are devoid of any lashing or thrashing sounds at idle, with a quiet purr only, so the Syntek is working great! Still no problems yet. Its a keeper! Be sure and buy the Hyundai wiper blades once a year, because they are so much nicer than aftermarket ones.

The insulation on a plug wire went bad at 58k miles, allowing the spark to escape to ground on one cylinder instead of firing the plug. I could have just wrapped the wire with electrical tape, had I figured out what was wrong. Under the 60k bumper-to-bumper warranty, Hyundai refunded me $143.00, but I had to write a letter to Hyundai to get it. The second dealer claimed that plug wires are a wear item. I maintained that they were covered under the bumper to bumper coverage for 60k miles, and finally Hyundai agreed with me. The second dealer I went to about it cheerfully told me who to complain to at Hyundai and how to do it, and sure enough, I got my money back. The first dealer I went to about this was not as helpful as he might have been, but did give me a hint that I should have figured out so that I could have fixed my problem myself.

I let the dealer change my timing belt for me when he fixed the plug wire to throw him a bone, but could also have done that myself to maintain the warranty. I inspected the belt and it was virtually new in appearance. It is important to maintain the warranty either by doing scheduled maintenance yourself and then periodically letting the dealer see what you did and initial your maintenance record, or else just let the dealer do the maintenance, which is expensive. I didn't initially realize that, so pay attention to what should be done and when it should be done. Your dealer will give you a handy list and schedule. Update Nov 2004: Someone ripped out the trunk lock in an effort to break in while my daughter was parked in the short term parking area at the Newark Airport. I told my daughter that if she had a Honda, they probably would have just stolen the whole car. They were unsuccessful in getting in the trunk. A stone from a large dump truck cracked the windshield, so avoid riding anywhere near the rear tires of semi-trucks on the highway and pass them as soon as you can get by so no stones hit your car. Stone-caused cracks in the windshield aren't covered under the warranty. An inattentive Lexus driver sideswiped the car and we had to get the right side fixed. Now the alignment seems not quite right to my daughter and she must take it back to the repair facility that did the accident repair.

Later model Elantras (2001-2005) seem to be a very good deal for the money, but don't seem to have a good resale value yet. This means that you have to drive them into the ground in order to get the best value out of them. A Honda, on the other hand, has a great resale value and more prestige associated with it's use, albeit at quite a higher initial cost. Your call on this one.