Tested: 2018 Hyundai Elantra GT Sport Automatic (2024)

The 2018 Hyundai Elantra GT Sport is a hot-hatchy take on the Elantra Sport sedan, the GT tag denoting its hatchback body style. Like the betrunked Sport, this one has a few crucial hardware changes that lend some credibility to its boastful badging. First, it replaces the regular GT’s naturally aspirated 2.0-liter inline-four with Hyundai’s versatile—if a little raucous in the upper rev reaches—turbocharged 1.6-liter engine. It also swaps the lesser model’s torsion-beam rear suspension for a more sophisticated multilink arrangement, while larger brakes are fitted front and rear (12.0-inch front and 11.2-inch rear versus 11.0- and 10.3-inch pieces on the standard GT). Encouragingly, Hyundai offers GT Sport buyers the choice of a six-speed manual or a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.

We’ve previously strapped our test gear to a GT Sport with a six-speed manual as well as the more pedestrian non-turbo Elantra GT. This go-round is focused on the 2018 Elantra GT Sport with the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.

Factory Seconds

The Elantra GT Sport with the dual-clutch automatic is a touch quicker than its manually shifted doppelgänger. Requiring 6.3 seconds to reach 60 mph, it shaves three-tenths from the manual’s time. The quarter-mile measure proved to be a tighter race, however, the automatic’s 14.9-second, 95-mph run just eking out a win over the manual’s 15.0-second, 94-mph sprint. More telling is how significantly the Elantra GT Sport defeats its non-Sport 2018 Elantra GT counterpart with the naturally aspirated 2.0-liter and six-speed automatic; that car’s 8.0-second zero-to-60-mph time puts it 1.7 seconds behind, and its quarter-mile run trails the GT Sport’s by 1.3 seconds and 8 mph.

The Elantra GT Sport with the automatic is also quicker than the Honda Civic Si, Civic Sport hatchback, and Mazda 3. While it may not possess the same level of holistic refinement found in any of that trio, it can at least beat them away from a stoplight. Only the venerable Volkswagen Golf GTI outhustles the Hyundai, and that’s regardless of transmission. A 2015 GTI manual needed only 5.8 seconds to reach 60 mph, and a 2015 GTI with VW’s dual-clutch automatic did the same in just 5.6 seconds.

As with many Hyundai models, a Sport mode can be called up via a button located near the shifter. Pulling the shift lever to the left or manipulating the wheel-mounted paddle shifters permits the driver to manually select gears, an entertaining alternative to full-auto mode. With either approach, the seven-speed dual-clutch provides crisp and efficient shifts in the same manner as it does in other applications under the Hyundai/Kia umbrella. However, our long-term 2017 Kia Soul uses a similar gearbox, and it began to show signs of slipping and rough engagement around the 20K-mile mark.

Shod with 18-inch Hankook Ventus S1 Noble2 tires, our Elantra GT Sport automatic stopped from 70 mph in just 162 feet. Equally impressive is the consistency with which it delivered these results. In six repeated fade-free attempts, it deviated from this figure only once, with a one-foot difference (the manual car wearing the exact same tires fared similarly). The standard Elantra GT, meanwhile, came in at 171 feet.

When the time comes to change direction, the Elantra GT Sport is eager to play, but it doesn’t exactly high-five you in return for deftly performed maneuvers. It posted a middling 0.85 g on the skidpad but feels livelier behind the wheel than that number suggests. The steering has decent heft and the front wheels carry out orders obediently, but the vehicle as a whole is short of matching the confidence-inspiring, grin-inducing repartee of the GTI.

If you don’t mind your compact hatchback being slightly funkier-looking and less capacious, Hyundai’s Veloster is certainly worth consideration, too. And the R-Spec model we tested recently wears much more capable Michelin Pilot Sport 4 rubber, with substantially better dynamic test results: 0.95 g on the skidpad and 70-mph-to-zero braking in 151 feet.

On the fuel-economy front, the dual-clutch-automatic-equipped Elantra GT Sport managed to improve on the manual’s mileage, if only by 1 mpg in both our observed overall results, where we saw 24 mpg, and in our 75-mph highway test, in which it managed 32 mpg. The last Volkswagen GTI we tested, a manual, managed a whopping 36 mpg on our highway test.

Cost of Convenience

Hyundai made its mark by offering a strong feature-content-to-cost ratio, and the Elantra GT Sport doesn’t deviate from the trend. Standard stuff includes blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and hill-start assist. LED lighting front and rear, heated power side mirrors with turn indicators, 18-inch aluminum wheels, and a rear spoiler also fall into the standard-equipment column. Interior perks include an 8.0-inch audio display with the now requisite Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, dual-zone automatic climate control, proximity key and push-button start, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, leather seating surfaces, and heated front seats. Only two options found their way into this test car: a $125 set of carpeted floor mats and the $3850 Sport Tech package (navigation, seven-speaker audio, a power sunroof, ventilated front seats, power seat adjustment and lumbar support for the driver, adaptive cruise with stop/start capability, lane-keeping assist, automated emergency braking with pedestrian detection, and a few additional niceties). Note that the Sport Tech package is not available on the Elantra GT Sport with the manual transmission; if any of its features are on your must-have list, you’re limited to the dual-clutch automatic because people who like to shift for themselves apparently don’t deserve nice things.

Combined, the $3975 worth of options brought the 2018 Elantra GT Sport DCT’s $25,235 base sticker to a still reasonable $29,210, although that’s a $4950 premium over the $24,260 out-the-door price of the car we tested with a manual transmission. If we were writing the check, we’d forgo the Sport Tech package and the automatic transmission and revel in the joy of a sub-$25K hot hatch with a stick. But with the automatic’s performance and character so closely approximating the manual version’s, we can’t fault anyone who makes that choice instead.