2006 Hyundai Sonata: Opinions?

Well - the Sonata in our family is my wife's car. It's an '04 GLS and we both love it. Every time I drive it I continue to be impressed with how smooth the car goes down the road. It's a beautiful little car. Very nicely done inside, though I'm really a leather interior guy, so I wish it had that. The seats sit too high for my preference and they're kind of hard, but not so much so as to be uncomfortable.

Remember all that snow we get? Well, it's on the factory Michelins with about 28,000 on them and they just chew right through everything we've faced so far this winter. The car handles very nicely on snow and ice and is quite predictable. That makes a big difference in how well a car is in the winter.

It's kind of hard to put in words, but what does the Sonata 'feel' like on the road. As I mentioned I like a smooth ride---not floaty and disconnected like a Merc. Grand Marquis, but definitely to the smooth side of average---but also like decent handling, i.e. when you turn the steering wheel the car actually turns right away, and you're not scared to drive in heavy freeway traffic for fear you won't be able to correct in time if someone does something stupid.

That's why I keep coming back to GM despite some issues with durability and refinement. In most cases GM suspension and steering feel right for me.

The Malibu Classic I drive now just 'feels' good on the road. When I hit a bump, on the one hand I know it's a bump; on the other hand it does not throw either me or the car for too big a loop. If I steer sharply to avoid the bump, the car will respond right away but will not run off the road, (or if it does it's my fault).

My old Saturn sedan was even better in this respect. If I could do it over again I would have kept that car and run it into the ground. Problem was it was just too damn small; the Malibu/Sonata ('06)/Camry size is just right for me.

Regards, Eric

Thanks for the info. If I do get a Sonata it will almost certainly be the '06 model. That's a quantum leap improvement over previous generations by most accounts. That's what made me consider Hyundai in the first place.

Note that I don't have to buy a car this year---my Chevy is holding up OK so far---and it would stretch my budget tight to get a new Sonata. Still it sounds so good from what I've read and heard that I am seriously considering it.

Of course if someone is giving away a low-mileage '04 or '05 Sonata for pennies on the dollar value, I would consider it....

Eric M

Thanks, Reverend.

I don't subsribe to CR but will keep an eye out for the March issue. If I buy a Sonata it will almost certainly be a four-cylinder. When cars this size started coming with 4-cylinder engines it seemed strange to me, but now having owned a 4-cylinder Malibu and having driven and ridden in a 4-cylinder Camry I'm a believer.

If you guaranteed gas would drop below $2/gallon and never top $2 again I would think about a V-6. Also, I don't know about Hyundai but in the GM world the Ecotech 4-cylinder is considered more reliable than the V-6, especially the troublesome 3.1L V-6 in the Malibu from a few years ago.

Regards, Eric M

This one is hard to say as feel is pretty subjective. I haven't driven many GM cars lately, just the occasional Grand Am rental car. The Sonata definitely rides smoother than the Grand Am and has more precise steering. I like a little more feedback in the steering than the Sonata provides, but it isn't bad. It is also much quieter than the Grand Am, but probably not much more so than some Buicks I've driven in the past. Braking is very good. I find the electronic throttle to be the worst aspect. It doesn't have the tactile feedback that conventional throttles have and is very light. This is especially trouble-some when starting out with the standard shift tranny. The engine is quiet so you lack sound feedback and don't have much feel from the clutch and throttle. It is hard to watch the tach and also watch traffic. I find I either overrev to 2000 RPM or occasionally stall it, and I've driven standard shift for 30 years, including OTR trucks. I'm slowly getting used to it, but it definitely isn't an easy stick to drive, at least starting out.

I'd say go test drive one. That is the only way to accurately gauge if the feel will suit you.

Matt

I just filled my Sonata for the first time last night. It got 27 MPG on the first tank. This seems a little low, but I'm guessing it isn't given the circumstances - break-in, winter, not knowing if the dealer really had it full at delivery and the fact that one tank does not a trend make. This was about 70% highway and 30% in-town driving.

I have to admit that one of my biggest concerns with Hyundai was fuel economy. Every test I've read shows that Hyundai's seldom achieve the EPA ratings and almost always compare at the bottom of the comparison group. The Hyundai dealer was handing out fliers of a comparison test that one of the car mags had down with the Camry, Accord, Hyundai and, I think, a Chevy. The Hyundai did well in most of the categories of comparison, but it yielded the lowest actual gas mileage by a fair bit.

It seems that Hyundai must really tailor the car for the EPA test cycle and not as much for the real world. Even though the EPA ratings aren't that different from the Accord and Camry, it seems the real world mileage is a fair bit different. Time will tell...

Matt

I have a LX (V6) with 500 miles. I did some tests on the highway using the MPQ (G?) on the trip computer. AT 70 mph, steady speed, level road,

2 mile stint, i was getting 27 mgp; at 55 went up to 33 mpg. But stop and go around town, droppig kids off at school, commuting through towns with stop lights etc im down to 18. Maybe I should have gotten the GLS 4 and saved a few thousand (btw..i paid 19.3 for the LX, no moonroof, after 2k rebates and includes destination charge; TTL extra; basically ~$200 under invoice).But I got the car a few weeks ago and believe that weather plays a significant role in mpg. I just filled up and gonna drive a couple of hundred miles and compare how much it takes to fill up vs the trip computer, then try to focus on the temperature differences.