ELANTRA was one of the foundation stones of Hyundai’s – indeed, the Korean car industry’s – push into the Australian market that has subsequently reaped such great dividends, so the arrival of the all-new fifth-generation model would have been significant enough without it also being a radical new design.

The sleek new styling caused enough of a stir when it lobbed here in the middle of June 2011, but the new Elantra also offered plenty of safety and convenience features while still undercutting Japanese rivals such as the Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla, the locally made Holden Cruze and Ford’s German-made (but soon be come from Thailand) Focus.

This car – especially as tested in Premium model specification – embodies the new Hyundai determination to put behind it the cheap-and-cheerful reputation that established the brand here in favour of quality.