What do you think of the Hyundai Sonata?

I dont think about them at all, to be honest with you.

my son just bought a new one a few months ago and loves it. also, it has the best warrant in the business

I was behind a brand new Sonata on the interstate. i really do like the design of the vehicle. i witnessed something that disturbed me with the new Sonata. this vehicle hit a small hole in the pavement and the rearend appeared to be slow to recover from it. the rearend “bounced” as though the suspension system was not very flexible. i could have hit this same hole with my Solara and i would not have known it. my car has a Lexus 300 suspension system and that may be the difference. this vehicle has been given excellent reviews, so far.

This be from Top Gear:
” Apparently new but desperately off the pace mid-size saloon, the Sonata still represents Hyundai of old. Poorly styled and uncompetitive with Europe’s best.

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Comfort

Lacking the level of refinement people have come to expect in this segment, the Sonata really isn’t good enough to do all those middle management miles that the Mondeo was designed to plough through.
Rated 8 out of 20
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Performance

The surprisingly sprightly 2.0-litre diesel engine would be your best bet. There is a much faster 3.3-litre V6 petrol, but would you? In a Hyundai?
Rated 12 out of 20
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Cool

Not if you were high as a kite riding shotgun with George Clooney and a couple of nymphomaniac Swedish models would the Sonata be cool.
Rated 3 out of 20
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Quality

The dash is made from four different but equally cheap plastics. This should tell you all you need to know…
Rated 4 out of 20
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Handling

Bearing in mind you have the current, or even last gen, Mondeo as the handling benchmark in this sector, the Sonata singularly fails to make an impact. Expect possibly with the central reservation.

Rated 7 out of 20
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Practicality

The Sonata has a seriously big boot, so yes, it is practical. But that doesn’t excuse everything else about it that’s so truly dreadful. Remember the big picture here.
Rated 11 out of 20
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Running costs

Hyundai tends to build its cars well, even the bad ones. So the Sonata is unlikely to give you any grief. Haggle down hard on the price and you could do quite well over a couple of years.”

Hyundai’s have actually been proven to be better quality than Toyota. It’s just unfortunate that their past history of unappealing vehicles tainted the image. Otherwise, they are excellent cars. If we could get Korean models, we would have turbo versions, turbo diesel versions, and extremely economical cars.

The Sonata is a Hyundai, which means that it will be a little quirky but it will be reliable and inexpensive.

However, I would not like to have a car quite that big; I prefer compacts over mid-sized if for no reason other than handling. Unless you need to seat full-sized adults in the back seat ona regular basis, go with the Elantra.

@john65pennington That may be a design thing, or it may be just bad rear struts. You ought to see my car with it’s bad rear struts under similar conditions. I need to get it to the shop…

Not a pussy-magnet, that’s for sure. It depends what you need. The best warranty the KIA has as I know, 8 years, Hyundai “only” has 5 years. If you go for that. On the 1 to 10 scale of the comfort I wouldn’t give more then 3. That’s a car for grannys.

I owned one years ago, when they first came out. I was pleasantly surprised at all the room inside and the reliability. It did have a huge trunk, too. It wasn’t the smoothest ride in the world, but it totally changed my opinion of Hyundai in general.

@Otto_King Funny. I’ve seen enough Accents do well in FIA racing, and last I checked, the car that made it to the top of Mt Washington the fastest (seven minutes flat) was a Tiburon. As for comfort, I confess that it doesn’t have Lazy Boy recliners for seats and you can actually feel enough road vibration to know that you are driving instead of watching a movie, but I would place them at about a 5; average.

@jerv Point taken, we can call it 5 then. The truth is there is many many cars below 5 that they are “pushing” up Hyundai to its place. :)

I have a 2007 Sonata. It is the best money I have ever spent on a car. It’s a third vehicle for our family. I have a Mercedes SLK. I’m surprised at how much we have used and enjoyed this car. We have not had any trouble with it.