2012 Hyundai Elantra Gls Sedan 4-door 1.8l on 2040-cars

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2015 Hyundai Sonata cheaper than last year, starts at $21,150*

Prices for the 2015 Sonata range from $21,150 for the 2.4-liter SE to $33,525 for the 2.0-liter, turbocharged Sport 2.0T.
The arrival of a new generation of a successful car is usually accompanied by a small surge in its price, ranging from a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars. Hyundai, though, is eschewing that practice, delivering its heavily redesigned Sonata for less than its predecessor. It's only a $300 difference over last year's base model, the Sonata GLS, but we don't think the savings will be lost on consumers. The move is part of a larger reshuffling of the Sonata line. The outgoing GLS trim has been replaced by the SE as the base car, while the 2.4-liter engine can now be ordered with the Sport trim. Meanwhile the 2.0T Sport is both the sole turbocharged offering, and tops off the Sonata pricing hierarchy.

Hyundai announces N performance sub-brand at WRC launch

It's been well over a year since Hyundai revealed its initial prototype for the i20 WRC at the 2012 Paris Auto Show. Now it's revealed the final version (pictured above, complete with Shell Helix livery) and it's also announced the full team that will field it next year in the World Rally Championship, including Thierry Neuville and additional drivers Juho Hänninen, Dani Sordo and Chris Atkinson. That's plenty exciting for rally fans, but the news that caught our attention was buried deeper in the press release.
That is the announcement of Hyundai's new N performance sub-brand. Named after the company's R&D facility in Namyang, South Korean, the N brand "will be used to symbolize Hyundai's high performance technology," not just on the rally car but also "future mass-produced high performance cars" for the road. The WRC car wears the logo that we'd expect to represent that new cadre of performance Hyundais.
Having hinted at the emergence of a European performance sub-brand a couple of months ago, the Korean automaker hasn't revealed any further details on which those road cars might be, but promises to transfer lessons it learns from the rally stage to the marketplace. We're looking forward to finding out more, but a roadgoing i20 hot hatch would be a good first bet. Here's hoping the North American product lineup won't be left out.

WRC driver fills radiator with beer from sponsor Corona

Rallying requires lightning quick reflexes and the ability to turn off one's sense of self-preservation. This much is not in doubt. Anyone that's ever seen a rally car hurtle along a tree-lined spit of dirt road at high speeds could tell you that. What many people don't know is that it also requires a strong mechanical sense. Knowing how to repair one's car when far from the service garages is a must. A strong sense of ingenuity is pretty handy, as well.
It was that sense of ingenuity that came to the aid of Thierry Neuville (shown above during last weekend's Rally Mexico), a WRC driver for the Hyundai Motorsport team, after his i20 suffered a radiator leak during the drive back to service. Neuville and his co-driver, Nicolas Gilsoul, hopped out of the car, assessed the issue and realized they needed to patch the radiator leak and refill the coolant, which they were fresh out of. So, instead, they used beer.
The pair had been awarded a magnum-sized bottle of Corona from the Rally Mexico's corporate sponsor after the final power stage. As Neuville doesn't drink, they tossed the beer in the back of the i20 and set off for the garages. It was a good thing they did, as adding the Mexican lager to the car's system allowed them to limp back to service.