Hyundai is taking big styling risks lately and one of the biggest is the current Hyundai Elantra. When I road tested the Elantra N, many of you voiced your displeasure for the styling, and the standard model really isn’t much different. It’s a fair concern: Styling is a matter of taste, and the Elantra is visual Marmite to many people. However, the Elantra’s look is likely going to change soon. Hyundai has shown off a refreshed version of the Korean-market Avante, which is just an Elantra with a home-market name, so let’s take a look and see what the designers cooked up.
Hyundai’s design team has gone with a horizontal motif for this facelift, and it really pays off. While I still wouldn’t call the 2024 Hyundai Avante pretty like the Mazda 3 I tested last Spring or handsome like the Volkswagen Jetta that Jason drove last September, the new front end feels more harmonious than the current one. Look closely and you’ll notice that this facelift is rather extensive. Not only is the bumper cover and all the grillework new, the headlights are new, and the fenders are new. Changing metal parts is pricey, so kudos to Hyundai for investing in it.
Those aforementioned new headlights are much shorter than the current ones, taking on a more horizontal form. They blend nicely with the new upper grille accent to make the Avante look wider than it is, a good decision given the car’s relatively tall and narrow form. Dialing the upper grille back a few notches so it doesn’t run through the bumper beam makes the car look more expensive, while a deep lower grille provides a suitable place for the forward sensor array. Filling out the front fascia are two air curtain ducts with a whiff of Elantra N about them. Not only do they cut positive space, the flics around them help anchor the fascia.
Around the back, a new bumper cover fixes a gripe I had about the Elantra’s rear end. The current model has far too many character lines on the bumper cover that break up the paintwork and make the decklid look quite tall. Hyundai has now ditched almost all of them, instead going with a massive slab of black plastic with an unusual mustache-shaped silver trim insert. It’s a slightly heavy-handed approach but nonetheless an improvement as the new bumper cover’s visual height takes some of the weight off of the trunk.
On the inside, the Avante seems more or less unchanged with one huge exception: When was the last time you saw a compact sedan with green upholstery? This seafoam color carries from the leather seats to the dashboard and door cards, offering a funky dash of ‘50s-inspired ambiance in what is otherwise a fairly inexpensive interior. Needless to say, I adore it. More crazy colors, please.
Details on the refreshed 2024 Hyundai Avante are sparse, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn more before the end of the year. Regardless of the small stuff, expect the refreshed Hyundai Elantra to look pretty much like this once it comes to America. Sure, you’ll likely see amber reflectors in the headlamp housings and an Elantra badge on the back, but this more mature look should be a hit among American buyers.
(Photo credits: Hyundai)
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Hyundai is more French than most French auto manufacturers. Prove me wrong here.
I simply no longer trust this brand. I’ve been watching a number of youtube videos with mechanics who have worked on these and the engines are basically disposable. The same is true with the transmissions. Great styling, great EVs…. terrible cars
I think the current one looks better but if this fixes the front end of the N, then it will be a success.
This looks a lot better, but I’m more focused on the weird greenish interior! I hope that interior color isn’t limited to, well, the limited trim. And then limited to the silver exterior color. And then limited to an optional package on top of that.
Hyundai styling never âges well. When you see a ten year old Hyundai, it looks every second of its age. On the other hand, a MK3 Golf, if it’s well kept, still fits in today. It’s like that black turtleneck. Never really at the fine point of fashion, but never lumped in with bell bottoms, or parachute pants.
I completely disagree with this statement. While Hyundai tends to do pretty dramatic design theme changes that make it clear that the models aren’t the latest ones, the designs hold up.
A third-gen Santa Fe honestly looks fresher than a current-gen RAV4, let alone a VW Tiguan – which honestly looks like it would have been a bit dated in 2007 – it’s on my mind entirely because I saw one on the way to work this morning.
As for the Mk3 Golf, you’re just being silly. It looks every bit like a conservative car from the early 90s.
To be fair, a lot of the cusp-of-the-millennium Hyundais were pretty fishy and weird (gen2 Elantra, Tiburon, gen1 Santa Fe) but they grew out of that in a big hurry.
Do people still wear turtlenecks? I haven’t seen one in 10 years and even then on a older professor at a college faculty mixer.
This isn’t the first time I’ve said this to someone: Nice facelift. Your eyes are no longer droopy, your chin has more definition, and straightening your teeth was a fine idea. I don’t think your rear needed any work, but you do you.
That’s hot, I’d drive that without hesitation.
I like a lot of Hyundai’s designs and can appreciate most of them no matter how weird they are, but the current Elantra is one that I simply do not like and liked less after seeing it more. I don’t think it will turn around the whole design for me but this does look like an improvement.
Meh. The front is better, sure, but it ruins the cohesion of the shutline that used to run through the DRL. Look at how the facelifted horizontal hood shutline is incongruent with the angled shutline at the trailing edge of the headlight. It comes off as clumsy, but to be fair BMW and Mercedes do just as bad of a job with that. I do prefer the new grille shape and front bumper valence, though. However, the rear is worse; what is up with that horrid swoopy silver trim in the bumper?
Hyundai would have called it the ‘Avante’ globally, but alas even though we aren’t sold ‘Avants’ here in the States Audi still has that name all to themselves.
Please make it to the Elantra N please make it to the Elantra N please make it to the Elantra N PLEASE MAKE IT TO THE ELANTRA N