I will probably get flak for this, but we ended up purchasing a Corolla Eco Plus. Just to note, the car is for my mother. She's 55 years old and Asian so A/T is a must and brands outside of Toyota and Honda are a hard sell for her. While I really liked the styling on the Elantra GT and the elegant interior (with Style package) some things about it that bothered me during test drive were the blind spots (huge A pillars), higher road noise (compared to Corolla), and underwhelming electrical system. Voice recognition system in the GT was terrible. I've only spent 30 minutes fiddling with the Corollas electronics, but so far it's feels much better designed than the GT. The large touch screen and back up camera are a nice touch as well.
The biggest reason for jumping ship to Corolla was the MPG ratings. The Eco model is advertised to get 30/40 MPG, while the GT gets 27/37. 29-30 mixed. A handful stated they averaged above 37MPG though.
As for dealership experience, the Hyundai people were very pleasant and straight forward. Almost felt bad for not being able to close a deal with them. Toyota dealership wasn't a nightmare, but close enough. This was my very first time buying a car and I prepped by reading for hours about how to avoid pitfalls, etc. The recent reddit thread was incredibly useful, but in the end I definitely was not prepared enough to get the price I wanted.
The sticker price was $20,830. I offered $21,000 OTD (8% sales tax in CA). After a lot of back and forth with the sales guy and manager, they countered with $21,150 if I financed through them. They ran the numbers and came back with 1.9% APR for 60 months. They were consistent in getting my signature to seal the deal while beating around the bush with the terms of the loan. I asked them to completely lay it out for me on paper and it turns out the interest is front loaded if I finance through them. I told them no thanks, I'll finance with my credit union instead. Sales guy turns around and says "No can do, this price is only good if you finance through us." At that point, I got up and headed for the door. I wasn't bluffing since I was ready to head back over to Hyundai. Sales manager stops me in my tracks of course. He sits me down and disappears for another 20 minutes before coming back with an offer of $21300, and I can pay however I want. I caved. I feel I could have done much better than $21300 by being assertive, and in hindsight I should have pushed for more freebies.
I didn't make it known to the dealer, but the truth was we absolutely needed a car by Monday, and the one we negotiated on happened to be the exact color, trim and interior color my mom wanted so there was some emotional attachment. It was also one of two available in that configuration within a 25 mile radius, with the other one being at a dealer with a lower reputation.
It would have been nice to be able to wait until late November or the year end for a better deal, but it was a good learning experience nonetheless, and mom is very excited to show off her new appliance to her coworkers tomorrow.