2019 Hyundai Elantra vs 2019 Honda Civic in Montreal

For those who are shopping for a compact sedan, several choices are available, including the two subjects of this comparison, the 2019 Hyundai Elantra and the 2019 Honda Civic. For this new year, the former has received a significant update, and the latter, for sale at your Spinelli Honda dealer in Montreal, a few minutes from Laval, adds a Sport version as well as a few aesthetic modifications.

Both the interior and exterior of the 2019 Elantra have welcomed changes such as a new grille, a redesigned car body and a new dashboard, among others. Yours for about $17,000 for the Essential basic version, it is offered in 3 other models, namely, the Preferred, Luxury and Ultimate.

The 4 variants are outfitted with a 2.0-litre 4-cylinder engine of 147 horsepower and a torque of 132 lb-ft, paired to a 6-speed manual gearbox or the 6-speed automatic transmission with Shiftronic manual mode. Depending on your model, you will get wheels of 15, 16 or 17 inches.

As standard equipment, we note the heated sideview mirrors, the rearview camera, the Bluetooth hands-free phone system and the 60/40 split-folding rear seats. For a relatively similar price, the 2019 Honda Civic offers you a whole lot more. Even in its entry-range version, the DX, it adds cruise control and Hill Start assist as well as the Forward Collision Warning and Collision Mitigation Braking systems to the features mentioned above, just to name these few.

The engine of the Civic is also more powerful, it’s a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder i-VTEC of 158 horsepower for 138 lb-ft of torque in the DX, LX, EX and Sport versions. A 1.5-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder engine of 174 horsepower equips the Touring, and the Si makes that cavalry climb to 205 horsepower. Despite this higher power output, its fuel economy ratings are, for their part, still lower than those of the Elantra, namely at 7.9/6.1/7.1 L/100 km, as opposed to 8.3/6.4/7.4 L/100 km.

Although it is quite well-equipped, the Elantra will never match the driving dynamics, the reliability nor the quality of the Civic. It's a fact. Come test drive it at Spinelli Honda in Montreal, close to Laval, and find out more about Honda financing plans and current promotional offers. See you very soon!