Hyundai Elantra Life Expectancy – How Many Miles Can You Drive an Elantra?

You may have heard that Hyundai Elantra is still one of the most popular compact sedan cars on the American market. In the US only, over 120,000 vehicles are sold yearly, and in the best years, the Elantra sold over 200,000 vehicles. Also, this car is selling pretty well in China, South Korea, Canada, and Mexico. So, this is a vehicle that is worth your attention.

Today, we'll be speaking about the longevity of the Hyundai Elantra - how many miles can it go? And we should say that the Korean sedan surprised us with its results. This is not the most durable car on the market, but it's pretty good compared to all its counterparts that come in the same price niche. We investigated Elantra's longevity very carefully.

And now, we'll tell you about the following:

1. All generations of Elantra and the estimated longevity.
2. Latest generation - more about the durability of the new vehicle.
3. What are the main problems of the Hyundai Elantra?
4. The good mileage to buy and sell your Hyundai Elantra.

Let's get started!

All generations longevity - is Hyundai Elantra a good car?

We decided to look at the historic trends of the Korean sedan and we were surprised that the first generation of the Elantra was made in 1990. It was a vehicle for the inner market, but we still know some facts about it. Of course, we'll focus more on the generations that are available today for American buyers, but we'll also look at different Elantras.

By the way, the longevity we give below is estimated in a certain way. We count the miles a car can go without any major damages and very expensive repairs. It doesn't mean that on that mileage mark your car turns to a piece of scrap metal. But it's not economically correct to drive it anymore in most cases.

Here's what we know about different generations of the Elantra:

1. Elantra 1 (1990-1995). This was not the best Elantra in the world. Small engines only allowed it to drive for about 180,000 miles without any major problems.
2. Elantra 2 (1995-2000). Most engines were the same, but the top engine was a little different. The 2-liter Elantra actually can drive much more miles, so the average longevity can be estimated at 200,000 miles.
3. Elantra 3 (2000-2006). This is a more modern car with a more beautiful design. But the longevity is still poor - we would say 200,000 miles is the maximum for this vehicle.
4. Elantra 4 (2006-2010). Well, these cars you can even find on the roads of the US. And they were actually much better than previous generations. This Elantra can go around 220,000 miles.
5. Elantra 5 (2010-2015). This is one of the most popular generations of the Elantra. A cool car and it can go around 220,000 miles, too, offering great engines and transmissions for the American market.
6. Elantra 6 (2015-2020). This vehicle is also not bad at all in terms of design, technologies, and main units. But some problems with base engines and transmissions shortened the expected lifespan to 200,000 miles again.
7. Elantra 7 (2020-now). The new generation offers a lot of Smartstream engines, cool power, great design, and high-quality materials, but the problems will appear much sooner than with the previous generations. We would say, the new Elantra has a longevity of 180,000 miles.

Interestingly, the new Elantra has the same estimated longevity as the oldest Elantra generation. You can see that after the first generation wasn't very reliable, the company did a lot of work to make the model better and to attract clients all over the world. But now longevity is not the most important factor for good sales.

It's a pity that new cars don't last as long as the vehicles that were made 10 or 15 years ago. But it's all about business. Companies want to sell a lot of cars and they want you and me to change our cars every 5 or 7 years.

The new generation Hyundai Elantra - more about durability

Now you know that the fresh Elantra is not a very durable car. But let's dig a little deeper and find out which engines are better, and which transmissions you should choose when you buy this vehicle. First of all, we want to say that in the US you can now buy a Hyundai Elantra for $21,200, but the most popular trim will cost about $22,500.

The Elantra is available with a couple of different engines and powerplants:

• the base 2-liter engine is actually good, it offers just 147 horsepower, but it's one of the most durable units in the lineup;
• then, there is a 1.6-liter engine with a hybrid powertrain that offers just 139 horsepower and is aimed to save your money, but it's not that durable;
• you can also choose a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine with 201 horsepower which is insane for such a displacement, and yes, the durability falls sharply;
• the top 2-liter turbocharged engine for the Elantra N offers 276 horsepower and is more durable than the 1.6 turbo but less durable than the naturally aspirated base engine.

Also, the Elantra offers a couple of options for transmissions. And here comes the bad news about the vehicle's longevity. Let's look at transmissions:

• the CVT transmission is available with the 2-liter naturally aspirated base engine, and this transmission is not durable at all;
• the simple automatic transmission is available for the hybrid version, but we've already said that the hybrid isn't that durable;
• the turbocharged Elantras are available with a very durable 6-speed manual transmission or a dual-clutch transmission which will need an expensive repair at 100,000 miles.

So, what do we get? We have a good 2-liter base engine, but it comes with an awful CVT transmission. Then, we have a wonderful automatic transmission, but it comes with a so-so hybrid powertrain. The dual-clutch transmissions are good, but not durable, and the manual transmissions are durable, but who needs manual transmissions in a modern car?

So, we just can't find a trim of the Elantra that would be both durable and fun to drive. And this is a disappointing thing. So, Hyundai thinks that you have to choose between some units with poor longevity, and that's why we offered the expected longevity of this generation of the Elantra at 180,000 miles.

What are the common problems with the Elantra?

We've decided to investigate the possible problems with the Elantra and we were just shocked by the number of problems. So, we just kept searching for the three latest generations. It wasn't hard because these vehicles are still on the road and people are discussing them on forums. Also, we took statistics from salvage car auctions and saw engine-damage and transmission-damage cars, and analyzed their mileage.

Here's what we have got:

1. CVT or dual-clutch transmission problems. These are the most expensive troubles that will happen at least at 100,000 miles or even sooner. The price of the clutch will shock you. The CVT is hard to repair, so you will probably have to replace the transmission.
2. Engine sensor failures. Unfortunately, the eternal problem of the Korean cars, the engine sensors, is presented in the new Elantra. The sensors will fail one after another and you will have to invest some money in engine repair regularly.
3. Defective airbag system. The previous generation of the Elantra was known for an Airbag light flashing on without any reason. Some trims were engaged in recalls because of this.
4. Body rust. These are "budget-friendly" vehicles, so the paint is not very durable. Unfortunately, it will chip off from time to time and you will have to pay to repair the body, otherwise, it will rust quickly.

Also, Elantra owners say that their vehicles have poor-quality plastic in the interior and it starts making sounds after just 20,000 miles. But we should say that the newest Elantra generation doesn't have this problem. Also, the fresh generation has been here for a couple of years only, and we just don't know some of the problems that are going to show up soon.

If you want to drive over 200,000 miles in your Elantra, you should pay attention to the regular maintenance. You also have to keep an eye on different common problems and repair them once they appear. Because otherwise, your Elantra will not be very durable.

Final words

Be careful with these cars if you want to buy them used. The best mileage is when your potential vehicle is under 60,000 miles. After that, these cars may have a lot of minor problems. But the average longevity of the Elantra is around 200,000 miles. It's not bad, but it's hard to say that the result is very good.

If you own the high-mileage Elantra, you should pay attention to possible problems and sell your car once it starts showing the signs of bad breakdowns. Or you will have to invest thousands of dollars to keep driving your vehicle.