2006 Sonata AC

Well, had my first real chance to use the AC in my Sonata yesterday. The temps were in the upper 80s with reasonably high humidity (I don't know what it was, but it felt sticky yesterday in northern PA).

I'd say the AC performance is consistent with the heater performance in the winter, which is marginal. I ran the AC for nearly 40 minutes straight and never could take the temp control below the coolest setting. And I hard to run the fan on speed 2 most of the time to keep it moderately cool. Compared to my Chrysler minivan and Chevy truck, this is weak performance. Both will cool the vehicles nicely within 15 minutes with the fans set on their low setting. And after about 15 minutes (I'm talking a similar upper 80s day, not 100 or something extreme like that), I have to start moving the temperature lever up off the stop to keep from getting too cold.

So, I still think that Hyundai needs to consider beefing up the HVAC system in the G6 Sonata. I can't imagine driving across Nevada with temps above 110 as I did last summer in a Chrylser T&C rental. The van kept us nicely cool on low fan speed and the coolest temp setting. I don't think the Hyundai would. Maybe with the fan speed on 4, but that is pretty loud and would get tiresome on a long trip.

What have others experienced with their 2006 Sonata AC?

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting
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Matt Whiting wrote in news:JhDeg.9121$lb.827252 @news1.epix.net:

We were a few degrees warmer, and probably a bit more humid here in central NJ, and I thought my '06 Sonata did an excellent job. Mind you, I don't have a Chrysler Minivan to compare it to, and my '88 Chevy P/U hasn't had a functioning A/C in it since about 2000. But comparing it to my Elantra's, it did a much better job. I also have to say that on a day like yesterday, without a baby around, I wouldn't have used the A/C at all in my car (home is another sotry). But the baby can't regulate her temperature that well yet and can get over-heated very easily.

So, long story short, I'm probably not as demanding of my car A/C as you are.

Hopefully other will chime in as well.

Eric

Reply to
Eric G.

Matt, I live in Nevada and have no problems what so ever with my XG350L's air. The car starts cooling down as soon as I turn it on and most of the time I have to turn the climate control down because after about 5 minutes my nose is numb.... I had a 2003 Dodge Quad with a 360 and my wife has a

2003 Santa Fe, in her Santa Fe after about 5 - 6 minutes you had ice cycles hanging off your nose and my Dodge, after 20 minutes you were still wipeing the sweat off your face.. The problem I found was The Santa Fe was white and the Dodge was dark Blue The Dodge dealer here said it was the color, the dark color was absorbing the heat into the dash and into the cooling ducts and it took that long to cool them down. My XG350, WHITE and cools down in under 8 minutes even when its 113*

Tunez

Reply to
Tunez

. I live in central Florida and as the temps are in the low 90's now. I can say that we have not had any problems with our HVAC, fuel tank, noise from the rear end or any other of the many problems you have experienced with your Sonata. Maybe it's time to trade for a Chrysler mini-van.

Rob

Reply to
Rob

I don't know about the Sonata, but the fan in the Elantra is really wimpy. I find that I need to run it on setting 3 or 4 to get any substantial airflow. However, the A/C pumps out plenty of cold air at those settings, more than I need in fact. I'm used to cars with higher output fans that only needed to be on setting 1 or 2 to do the job, but since I've quit fighting the desire to use lower settings I've found that both the heat and the A/C in the Elantra are more than adequate. Perhaps it's the same with the Sonata?

Reply to
Brian Nystrom

Yes, color certainly makes a big difference on a sunny day. My Sonata is medium blue so it absorbs a fair bit of heat when the sun is out. My minivan is silver and my pickup is green, which also absorbs a fair bit of heat.

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

I already have one. I had two before a drunk totaled one and I bought the Sonata. :-)

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

The Sonata seems to move a fair bit of air, at least on the higher fan speeds. It is a little wimpy on the lowest speed, but then so is my pickup, but it puts out colder air so it makes up for it. My 96 minivan had a fairly anemic fan also, but, again, put out colder air than the Sonata. My 03 minivan has a very powerful fan, almost too powerful. Even the low setting is often more than you need. Chrysler apparently really boosted the fan capacity when they did the redesign in 03.

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

I have to agree with you. Been all over the Northeast this weekend. Temperature were in the lower 80s. The AC was barely adequate.

Reply to
FGionni

Maybe it's the humidity. I just saw the evening news that they said the dewpoint was 70 with temp of 91. More of the same, maybe even worse, tomorrow...

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

I read hyundaitech's post and he was mentioning something about stuffing a thermometer in the vent grille and expecting to see about 45 degrees for a proper cooling. The temperature coming out of the vents was definitely not

45, not even 50. After all the temperature comfort level is subjective. I like it cooler than others. The Camry seems to cool more to my taste. I will test the temperature of the air coming out of the vents at various ambient temperature.
Reply to
FGionni

I don't have a decent thermometer that isn't affixed to my house, but that is certainly the first thing to check. I was surprised that hyundaitech gave an absolute temp value like that as other cars I've owned typically gave a delta value from ambient, and this is more reasonable from a thermodynamics perspective. Usually, you expect to see something like a drop of 40 degrees from ambient. So, on a 90 degree day you'd expect to see 50, but on an 80 degree day you'd expect to see 40. Likewise, anthing less than 60 on a 100 degree day would be considered OK.

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

Are you saying the air temperature is not real cold, or are you saying that the fan doesn't put out enough air volume?

I live in the deep South, and we have had plenty of 90+ heat and high humidity. I run my AC fan on speed "2", and the compressor to the coldest setting to cool off the hot car. It cools off within 10 minutes or so. I then have to back off to speed "1" fan and medium compressor to prevent my bare arms from getting too chilly.

Bottom line, the AC is plenty powerful for me, even in extreme heart and humidity.

Reply to
Bob Adkins

The air temp doesn't seem all that cold, but I haven't checked it with a thermometer.

Wow, my Sonata is nothing like this. I ran it steady on the lowest temp setting and fan speed of 1 for 40 minutes of driving with an OAT of 86 and humidity of probably 70% RH and never got even close to being cold. I wasn't even cool enough to drink my coffee without sweating.

Your description sounds like my minivan and truck, but not my Sonata. The minivan does have the rear HVAC unit, but then again it has probably

2-3 times the interior volume to cool as the Sonata.

I'll have to rustle up a thermometer and check the air temp at the outlet.

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

Matt Whiting wrote in news:DSYeg.9151$ snipped-for-privacy@news1.epix.net:

I just checked mine here at work with one of the calibrated thermometers the HVAC guys use. The ambient is 86F and the output was running between

38F and 40F when the compressor was on.

That was driving about 30MPH with the temp. setting at the coldest and the fan speed on "2". I didn't get enough time to try it on "1" (the slowest setting), but I expect it would be a bit cooler since the air has more time to cool.

Not extemely scientific, I admit, but I would guess that you should be in a similar neighborhood.

Eric

Reply to
Eric G.

I think that is about as scientific as one needs to get for a car AC test. Now if I just had a decent thermometer... :-)

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

Matt,

I have a GLS V6 and am in NC. This weekend was 90's with a humidity that made it feel hotter. My AC was VERY cold to teh point I had to lower the fan speed and dial down the cold. I would definitely get your coolant checked out.

Reply to
wolfcub27540

Matt Whiting wrote in news:Yv%eg.9155$ snipped-for-privacy@news1.epix.net:

I did leave out one parameter that I just thought of: I had the switch in "MAX A/C", meaning the recirc was "ON".

Eric

Reply to
Eric G.

I use the max setting for the first few minutes after getting into a hot car, but I like getting fresh air so I don't use it for extended periods. I'm more concerned with how the AC performs in "normal" mode.

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

Matt,

I'm having no problems with heat & cool issues nor any of the other

*features* that folks have posted. Don't know if the HVAC system or ducting is different on the LX versus other models. I have tried to duplicate the tank slosh noise at varying fill levels, Headlights work fine, etc. The car that I was in for the initial test drive at the dealer did exhibit the dash squeak and also had the problem with the rear of the headliner coming loose and dropping down ~2 inches.

Perhaps your specific car has build issues that should be taken care of under warranty, or maybe mine was just built on a *good* day..... if so, I consider myself lucky....who knows? :-). FWIW, our high temps have been running above the mid 80's with pretty high humidity (North Georgia). Usually we turn the air on full arctic blast for about the first couple of miles and by then things get a little chilly so we set it on whatever temp feels comfortable and forget it. We've never had an issue maintaining the proper temp (heat or cooling) yet. BTW, mine is Black exterior with Light Gray Leather interior and no window tint.

2006 Sonata LX V6 Auto. Purchased in Oct '05 and currently shows just over 11K on the odo. The last month fuel averages at fillup have been: 21.9, 22.4, 21.9, 22.2 with 98+% of the use being around town and almost no freeway use.

Keith

Reply to
KW

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