Juvenile Delinquents: 2022 Hyundai Elantra N vs. 2022 Subaru WRX Limited
As any aging punk rocker can tell you, youth is fleeting, and it’s hard to maintain the proper level of shameless rage as you get older. This is the dilemma facing Subaru, as the fifth-generation WRX attempts to please its maturing fans with adult styling and comfort while still holding on to its turbo-whistling, four-wheel-gravel-spitting persona. In the meantime, the Hyundai Elantra N has burst onto the scene, rude and exuberant, with none of the expectations of nostalgia weighing on its spoiler. Which earns the most sport-compact cred?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and may not be what either brand is attempting here, but we’ll assert that neither the WRX nor the Elantra N would be the star of the catwalk. The Subaru is chunky and cladded. It’s not radically different from Subarus past, but it’s toned down. The WRX still has a wide-fendered stance, but without a big shopping-cart wing and a jutting front lip, it looks more like a hiking sneaker than a rally racer. Not that the Elantra N can throw stones. Its huge frowning grille and crinkled body lines had a few staffers wincing. Let’s just say the word “tacky” made more than one appearance in the logbook.
Inside, the WRX continues its mission of inoffensiveness, with a comfortable but unremarkable cabin that has carbon-fiber-patterned accents, red stitching, and a vertical 11.6-inch touchscreen. The materials’ feel and finish are upgrades over the previous model’s, though we had to reference the photographs to recall those details. The Elantra, on the other hand, sticks in one’s memory. Microsuede and faux leather surround a 10.3-inch touchscreen, and BMW-like steering-wheel buttons promise all kinds of Sport-mode mayhem. There’s a cherry-red unit just for rev matching, a convenience all manual-transmission cars should adopt. Want it? Press it. Don’t want it? Don’t press it. The Elantra seats get mixed reviews. Some of us liked the driving position and high side bolsters; others felt they lacked padding and combined with the N’s stiff ride in tailbone-bruising malice.
