BMW still builds the sport sedan everyone else chases, the steering feel, the balance, the way it shrinks around you on a back road, but the company is actively dismantling what made people pay the premium. The 2023-and-later models strip out physical climate buttons, delete cargo nets and glove boxes, cheapen the materials, and slap an oversized touchscreen onto a dashboard that used to feel like a cockpit, all while raising prices. If you want the 3 Series people actually love, hunt a 2019-2022 G20 before they're gone; if you're shopping new, understand you're paying luxury money for an increasingly unluxurious experience wrapped around an admittedly brilliant chassis.
The Elantra is a compact that split its reputation clean in half at 2021, before that line, you're shopping engines that seize and cars thieves steal with USB cables; after it, you're getting a genuinely competitive sedan with sharp looks and a warranty that backs the turnaround. The 2021-up cars deliver on value and the hybrid hits 40+ mpg without trying, but pre-2021 models carry catastrophic engine failure risk (Theta II bearing seizures, oil consumption) and the 2017-2021s remain theft-prone even post-recall. Buy 2021 or newer if the price works and you want modern features without the baggage; anything older is a gamble best left to someone else.