TrueDelta Reviews the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2019 Hyundai Elantra GT
2019 Hyundai Elantra GT Seat Room and Comfort: Cons
Year
Comment
The front seats are comfortable and supportive in both cars, with Hyundai's likely agreeable for a wider range of body sizes and types.
And the rear seat?
Here we have another area where the Elantra Touring excelled, but neither Elantra GT has. The culprit this time isn't design, but a decision by those who make the big bucks at the corporate level. Hyundai offers Europeans the i30 (the same car with a different model name) in two lengths. These are marketed as a hatchback and as an estate or touring or tourer or kombi or whatever other label might help sell what Americans call station wagons. With the Elantra Touring, we got the latter, and consequently far more rear seat room and cargo carrying capacity than in any other compact hatchback. But we didn't buy the car. So with the first and second Elantra GT we've been getting the much less lengthy, more athletically proportioned hatchback.
As it stands (or rather, sits), the Elantra GT's rear seat shouldn't be condemned as useless unless you're a driver of above-average height with similarly sized passsengers. At 5-9, I fit behind a driver seat set for myself with perhaps three inches between my knees and the seat back and about a half-inch to spare between the top of my head and the headliner (in a two-pedal Elantra GT with the optional sunroof). But people even a couple inches taller than me will feel cramped. The rear seats in the GTI and Civic are roomier.
One plus in the Elantra GT's column: its rear seat passengers get air vents. The Civic's don't.
In terms of cargo space the Elantra GT is more competitive, but nothing special the way it was with the Elantra Touring.
see full Hyundai Elantra GT review
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TrueDelta Reviews the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2017 Volkswagen Golf / GTI
2017 Volkswagen Golf / GTI Seat Room and Comfort: Pros
Year
Comment
2016
As I've noted before (when reviewing the e-Golf), the seventh-generation Golf's front seats are shaped and padded to provide nearly ideal comfort and support in daily driving. The CX-5's driver seat also fit me well, but not quite as well as the Volkswagen's.
Compared to other compact hatchbacks and its ancestors, the current Golf has a roomy rear seat. I can sit behind my 5-9 self with about five inches of air ahead of my knees. Unless unusually tall people populate both rows, the amount of space should be beyond adequate.
Compare the Golf SportWagen's rear seat to that in the CX-5, and a funny thing happens. On paper, the Mazda provides about 3.5 more inches of legroom. When sitting behind myself in both vehicles, though, I had about half as much space ahead of my knees in the CX-5. I've noticed in the past that VW measures rear legroom very conservatively, and apparently they continue to do so. The Golf's interior is roomier than the official specs suggest. Plus its rear seat passengers get air vents. The Mazda's do not.
This said, I'm not entirely comfortable in the Golf SportWagen's rear seat. To me it feels overly reclined. In neither the GSW nor the CX-5 is the degree of recline adjustable. It is in some compact crossovers.
see full Volkswagen Golf / GTI review
What Our Members Are Saying about the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2017 Volkswagen Golf / GTI
2017 Volkswagen Golf / GTI Seat Room and Comfort: Cons
