Wrenching on one’s personal automobile is intimidating for the inexperienced, so it’s usually simpler for folk to pay more cash for a brand new automobile that has a guaranty than to purchase an inexpensive used automobile that may want some work. A Canadian TV present known as “Roulez au Suivant,” or “Transfer on to the Subsequent,” tackles the onerous a part of refurbishing a high-mileage automobile. Hosted by Quebecois automotive journalist Antoine Joubert, he and his workforce refurbish worn out automobiles and provides them away to people or organizations in want. The present’s newest challenge is that this 2008 Hyundai Elantra with a million kilometers on the clock that obtained a makeover within the fashion of the fashionable Elantra N.
Present host Joubert truly crossed this Elantra’s millionth-kilometer mark again in 2020 when reporting on the automobile and its proprietor, and Hyundai Canada donated the automobile to the present to make the restoration attainable. The earlier proprietor, Jocelyn Roy, was a supply driver who claims to have pushed a minimum of 107,000 kilometers per 12 months and adopted a strict upkeep schedule. Roy was the one handy his refurbished Elantra’s keys to its new proprietor, first-time automobile proprietor and 16-year-old Quebec teen named Éloïc Lachance. Lachance’s mom and brother registered him for the present with out telling him, and he was chosen as the brand new proprietor of the refurbished Elantra to offer him higher autonomy and begin his grownup life off proper.
A million kilometers could also be a shorter distance than a million miles, however it’s nonetheless simply over 621,371 miles, which is a hell of lots. The odometer stopped at 999,999 kilometers, so the workforce determined to reset it and add the primary to the gauge to honor its true mileage. The Elantra held up properly over these a million kilometers, however Hyundai Canada nonetheless selected to exchange the automobile’s engine block earlier than giving it to its new proprietor. It despatched the unique block to Hyundai’s High quality Assurance division for documentation of its longevity, however claims its cylinders and rotating meeting are nonetheless in excellent situation after preliminary inspection. The engine block alternative passed off at Hyundai Granby, the dealership that offered this Elantra to Roy again in 2011 when its odometer learn simply 30,000 kilometers, however the workforce of specialists from the tv program carried out the remainder of the restoration.
Now for the elephant within the room — the brand new paint job. Joubert and his workforce selected to pay homage to Hyundai’s recently-established N efficiency automobile division by portray this pre-Elantra-N Elantra a lightweight blue hue just like the N Division’s signature shade Efficiency Blue. After I first noticed photographs of this creation I believed it and its red-lined physique equipment have been a sick joke, however the extra I take a look at it, the extra I prefer it. Sadly, there’s no point out of precise efficiency upgrades added to this financial system automobile, however not less than it’s obtained a handbook transmission. Regardless of being an Elantra N wannabe, this little Elantra has an awesome story to inform, and hopefully many extra kilometers of protected journey in its future.
