Are you amongst the minority who would rather fancy a sedan than a mid-size SUV? Good news! Hyundai Motor India has launched the mid-life update of the Elantra, and it starts at Rs 15.89 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). There are a bunch of cosmetic changes inside and out, and it gets a couple of new features as well. However, the most significant highlight is the powertrain. It has ditched diesel and now comes with a BS6-compliant petrol engine only. Before getting into the details, let’s quickly acquaint ourselves with the complete price list:

Hyundai has kept the list of variants short and crisp. Powering each one of them is a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder mill which produces 150hp/192Nm. Those who like to take full charge of the transmission will get a 6-speed manual. The rest can trade control with convenience with a 6-speed automatic gearbox. No matter which combination you choose, the claimed mileage is 14.6kmpl. There will be people with broken hearts as the diesel motor is no longer available. Honestly, the 1.6-litre engine lacked the grunt needed for this segment. Also, upgrading that engine to BS6 levels would have taken Elantra’s price list noticeably above the others.

Apart from its BS6 badge, the Elantra facelift has another ace up its sleeve. It becomes the second car in Hyundai Motor India’s line-up to gain the “connected car” label. The carmaker has fitted it with BlueLink technology which, with the help of an embedded SIM, offers features such as remote engine start/stop, live point-of-interest search, live car tracking, geo-fencing and vehicle immobilisation in case of a theft. Hyundai says there are a total of 34 such features, bifurcated into seven categories – Safety, Security, Remote, Vehicle Relationship Management, Location-based Services, Alert Services and Artificial Intelligence.

Even in its updated avatar, the Elantra is still one of the best-packaged cars in the price bracket. Its standard kit includes six airbags, rear parking sensors, ABS with EBD, all four disc brakes, projector headlamps, 16-inch alloy wheels, rear AC vents and support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Move higher up the variant tree, and gizmos like an electric sunroof, wireless phone charger, an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system, front ventilated seats, dual-zone climate control and 10-way electrically adjustable driver’s seat are available.

Do you think the refreshed Elantra has enough going for itself to take some market share away from the SUVs? It certainly will give the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla Altis and the Skoda Octavia a run for their money.