I live in Northern Alberta where the roads are crap. Test drove a couple of ES's up here with the 18" rims and they were really rough - also met a couple of guys with VT's that have broken rims on the horrible pothole roads.
So I talked the dealership into trading me for 17" rims off a regular Elantra to use as my winter rims. Then in the spring, I'm going to buy some aftermarket 17" rims for my summer tires.