Seat Time is a chance for us to share our impressions of vehicles being tested in the Autoline Garage and at media previews from around the globe.

Reviewer: Chip Drake
Manufacturer: Hyundai
Make: Elantra
Model: GT M/T
Type: 4-door hatch
Competitors: Mazda3, Volkswagen Golf, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus, Chevy Cruze
Price: $18,750 (base); $25, 485 (as tested)
Made in: Final Assembly: Uslan, Korea (Engine & Transmission from Korea)
Drivetrain: 2.0-Liter DOHC 4-cyliinder (173horsepower); 6-speed manual transmission
EPA Ratings: 24city; 34highway; (28combined)

Final Impression:

The staycation seems to be a thing of the past. Airplanes are filled with families flying off to exotic and interesting locations. But one of the big fears of those 7 to 10-day vacationers is the budget busting car rental; depending on what you get it can run into the 4-digits. To save money some go for the cheaper route, especially couples, opting for a compact car. The challenge you face with a small car though is luggage room. Many adults prefer more than one bag for that length of vacation time so they end up spending more on a a bigger car. If that’s a story you and your significant other have experienced then maybe — if you’re lucky — you can check out a Hyundai Elantra on your next out-of-town venture.

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Seat Time is a chance for us to share our impressions of vehicles being tested in the Autoline Garage and at media previews from around the globe.

Reviewer: John McElroy
Manufacturer: Volkswagen AG
Make: Volkswagen
Model: Golf S
Type: 2 and 4-door compact
Competitors: Honda Civic, Ford Focus, Mazda 3
Price: $21815
Made in: Puebla, Mexico
Drivetrain: 1.8 L TSI; 5-speed manual
EPA Ratings: 25 mpg city/37 highway/30 mpg combined. Observed: 32 mpg

Final Impression:

The Golf is one of the best selling cars in the world, but VW can’t seem to make any headway with it in the American market. This is the 7th generation of the car, so VW has encyclopedic insight into what its customers want and has translated that into the most refined Golf the world has ever seen. Even so, in the U.S. sales plummeted 54% this year. What the heck is going wrong?

First off, this car has great bones. The structure feels as if it were carved from solid rock, at the same time that if feels light, nimble and tossable. Despite being an inexpensive compact car, it feels and rides like a full-size sedan. It’s equally comfortable in short, urban commutes, or on long hauls down the highway.

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Seat Time is a chance for us to share our impressions of vehicles being tested in the Autoline Garage and at media previews from around the globe.

Reviewer: Seamus McElroy
Manufacturer: Honda
Make: Honda
Model: Accord Hybrid
Type: 4-door sedan
Competitors: Ford Fusion Hybrid, Toyota Camry Hybrid, Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
Price: $35695
Made in: Marysville, OH
Drivetrain: 2.0L four-cylinder w/ electric CVT and two-motor hybrid system
EPA Ratings: 50 MPG city/ 45 MPG highway/ 47 MPG combined. Observed – 43.1MPG

Final Impression:

The hybrid version of the Honda Accord makes its return to the line-up for 2014. Through the first six months of the year, fewer than 7,000 have been sold but that’s way behind the competition. In the same time period over 20,000 Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry hybrids have been sold and even the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid has nearly double the amount of sales of the Accord Hybrid.

I found the Accord Hybrid to be a bit of a mixed bag. The transition from electric mode to the engine wasn’t always smooth and was a little noisy. And while it does get good fuel economy for a big sedan, in my time behind the wheel it didn’t really come close to its EPA numbers. However, Honda isn’t alone when it comes to this. It’s been our experience that hybrids equipped with a lithium-ion battery fall short of their EPA ratings in the real world.

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Ford says getting suppliers in on product planning early means critical products like the Mustang and F-150 are reaping big benefits in the form of unique features.

CAR Chief Economist Sean McAlinden reports that we’ll see at least 40 million Chinese vehicles produced a year by the end of the decade, and the nation’s energy policy, not environment, will drive the types of vehicles built.

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It’s a special edition from the 2014 CAR Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Michigan!

SPECIAL GUESTS:
Chuhee Lee, Deputy Director, VW Electronics Research Lab, VW Group of America
Han Hendricks, VP, Advanced Product Development and Sales, Johnson Controls, Inc.
Dr. Mark White, Chief Engineer, Body Complete Business Unit, Jaguar Land Rover
Kregg Wiggins, SVP, Powertrains, Continental
Prof. Frank Zhao, PhD, Director, TASRI (Tsinghua Automotive Strategy Research Institute)

All that and much more with John McElroy, Autoline.tv and Gary Vasilash, Automotive Design & Production.

Thanks to our sponsors who make Autoline After Hours possible: Bridgestone and Hyundai

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New technology from Continental takes the top-down camera view to the next level and allows you to virtually walk around your car in 3D — all from the rear-view mirror.

What do you think is the future for vehicles?! Combustion engines, diesel engines, electric, hybrid or hydrogen fuel cells? V.P.s from Nissan, Toyota, BOSCH and Delphi sound off. #MBS2014 #internyazaki

Autoline is partnering with Yazaki to offer a unique perspective of the 2014 CAR Management Briefing Seminars. During the week of CAR MBS, Yazaki interns will be posting their insights to Instagram and Twitter using #InternYazaki. We’ll be sharing some of the most interesting of those posts right here on Autoline.tv, so check back often. The opinions and reports from the intern correspondents are their own and do not reflect the editorial position of Autoline.

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As diesel continues to play an increasing role in the automotive landscape, Mike Mansuetti, President of Robert Bosch LLC, explains what the company is doing to make sure automotive technicians are prepared.

Learning about the wifi feature in GM vehicles! Technology in the automotive industry is innovative and transforming for the millennial consumers! #internyazaki #MBS2014

Autoline is partnering with Yazaki to offer a unique perspective of the 2014 CAR Management Briefing Seminars. During the week of CAR MBS, Yazaki interns will be posting their insights to Instagram and Twitter using #InternYazaki. We’ll be sharing some of the most interesting of those posts right here on Autoline.tv, so check back often. The opinions and reports from the intern correspondents are their own and do not reflect the editorial position of Autoline.

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