2006 Sonata GLS v6 Initial Quality Feedback

Your loss Dave!

Do your self a favor. Go drive the car, then go drive the other similarly equipped Mom Cars. Not 1 of them are totally free from such problems. And for the price, the Sonata can't be touched.

Am I happy about the niggling little flaws? Of course not! However, even if I traded it for another car, there would most likely be just as many little flaws to live with.

Note: I only experienced 1 of the flaws from the laundry list. I think some may have possibly been fixed in production, because mine has an assembly date of 2006-01-29.

Marc,

I'm getting 26.1 on 80% highway 20% city. (39mph average speed), and I'm delighted. I'm also delighted that my trip computer is balls on accurate, and also reports exactly 26.1mpg.

I feel like I'm stealing gasoline. 26mpg on a car that size and weight, only

800 miles on the clock, and with an engine that strong is almost too good to be true. And,,, it may even improve 1-2mpg!

I'm commuting about 40 miles a day, from West Los Angeles to downtown LA. I now have 3000 miles on my V6, and I have not yet been able to reach 20 mpg, but that's ok compared to other V6 cars.

My only complaint is the front seat. I have the manually adjusted seat and even in it's lowest position, it feels as if it's tilted forwards. On the other hand it's very easy to get in and out due to the short seat. I have not yet done any long distance traveling, but I have a feeling that the seat would get very uncomfortable after a couple of hours.

Other vise it's a very sweet ride, and it's always good to know that you have the 5/10 year warranties.

Yes, you should always drive before buying. I set out to buy a Toyota Corolla, but after driving 3 different samples, I just couldn't tolerate the relative position of the pedals, seat and steering wheel. The wheel was too close to the plane of the pedals. If I set the seat where my legs were comfortable, my arms were stretched like a banjo string. Conversely, with the seat in a comfortable position for my arms, my knees were crunched against the bolster. Toyota really got the wheel too close to the dash on the current Corolla and a scan of the newsgroup shows that I'm far from alone in this assessment. So, I took the $16,000 that a Corolla would have cost and bought a Sonata instead. I'm fairly happy with the decision overall, but some of the little annoyances really are pretty annoying. I guess I was too used to the comfort of my Grand Voyager minivan which had fewer of these issues. Then again, a new minivan would have cost $10,000 more so you don't get something for nothing.

For another car in the same price range, I agree.

Which have you and have you not experienced? I'm curious as to which ones may have been corrected.

Matt

You are easy to please! I rented a 2005 Chrysler Town & Country minivan for vacation this past June and it returned 25 MPG in similar driving and it weighs much more than the Sonata and was carrying 5 people and loads of baggage. I expect at least 30 from a car this size in the driving regime you mention above. The full-size Buicks get 28-30 in such driving so there is no reason for the Sonata to get less than that.

My 4 cylinder is returning only 27.5 or so in similar driving (I'd say maybe 70% highway rather than 80%) and I consider this abysmal mileage given the 24/34 EPA rating. I expected at least 30 MPG in 70-80% highway driving. Maybe in warmer weather and with more miles (I have

3600 now). I'm hoping at least!

Matt

I like our '04 Sonata and it's pretty much every bit of what we expected, plus maybe a little. I did want to address your comment above though. V6 engines should be well able to achieve 24-26mpg around town. I've had GM V6's for a long time. I've had supercharged 3.8L, non-supercharged 3.8L,

3.1L. 3.4L and they all achieved this kind of mileage. All of them got 30 or over on the highway with cruise set at 72mph. I've got a pretty heavy foot and I like to feel a car accelerate, so my driving style does not eeke out the last possible mpg. The supercharged 3.8L might have been a little under 24 - maybe hovering around 21-22 around town. Rock steady 31mpg on the highway though. As predictable as taxes.

New engine break in time does have an effect on most motors and it's common for them not to develop their proper power or their proper fuel mileage when new. I'd sure hope to see 24 around town out of the new Hyundai motor after break in.

My in-laws have owned two Centuries and I've driven a couple of larger Buick rental cars, and this has been my experience as well. However, Chryslers, Fords and other makes seldom seem to match GM in this regard. The Camry and Accord will yield similar mileage, but only with both a smaller car and small engine. The Buicks are really impressive in highway mileage. I'm not sure how GM does it, but I've seen in many times in Buicks. My experience, however, with Chevy's isn't quite as good.

Me also! I'd even more like to see 30 in my daily ~18 mile commute to work that is mainly on level two and four lane highways. So far, 27.5 is my average, but I check every tank so I'll report back as the mileage increases (3,600 miles so far) and the weather warms as spring approaches.

Matt

Matt,

The only problem I have experienced is the thunking sound from the trunk area. The sound reminds me of a loose exhaust pipe rebounding against the undercarriage. The noise does not happen when the rear wheels suddenly go up, but when they go back down. (Should that tell us something about the cause?)

I have never heard the fuel sloshing, but I suspect it is there. Why do I suspect that? I was vigorously waxing the trunk lid last weekend, and the car was bouncing up and down. I could easily hear the fuel sloshing. :) Maybe it's my hearing. Its generally good, but admittedly not perfect.

There is no perceptible "flat spot" or hesitation in the throttle response at any speed.

Gas mileage is great at 26.1, and trip computer MPG accuracy is spot on.

There is no tire or driveline noise or vibration at any speed. It's absolutely jet-smooth from 0-80mph.

What did I miss?

Man, all these wonderful MPG figures make me wonder. I've never been so lucky (or is it so optimistic?) My 4cyl Toyota Pickup gets ~18, my former

4cyl Mazda 626 got 24 on a good day.

All figures are with A/C running. It's always so warm down here that I never finish burning a tank of gas without a good bit of A/C operation.

Most of my experiences were with Buicks as well. I'm a Buick guy. We've had Park Aves, and a Regal. All of them I've loved, especially the Regal. The 3.1L I mentioned was in a Malibu. You're right though - Buick does find mileage in those motors and not at the cost of power.

I'm assuming you aren't driving 70-80% in highway mode. I get 16-17 with my K1500 extended cab pickup and 22-23 with my Chrysler minivan.

Mine are year-round averages that include slightly lower in the winter when it is below freezing (often below zero) and summer when it is 90+ with the AC on and everything in between.

Matt

I don't have the suspension sound all that often, but have heard it on occasion.

Well, hearing tends to go bad in certain frequency ranges so maybe yours is just weaker in the range that the tank sloshing sound makes. My wife doesn't hear the noise much either, but I hear it very distinctly.

I haven't noticed that either. Mine is just ultrasensitive compared to my other vehicles and the throttle effort is too low. Going across bumps in the road will jiggle my foot enough to get a PIO going at times. PIO = pilot induced oscillation for those not familiar with aviation terminology.

With the V-6, I wouldn't feel too bad about that as that is in the upper half of the EPA 20-30 range. However, I only get slightly better with the 4-banger and am in the lower half of the 24-34 range for it, actually in the lower third.

Pretty much the same for me as well. The only noise is wind noise and a whistle from the hood deflector that I installed to protect the sharp nose of the hood from stone damage in our winters.

The main things for me are the poor HVAC heat distribution to the foot well area and poor defogging with a car load of people. The seat belts are also too close to the side of the car making it hard for me to get my fat fingers in between to grab the belt. And the passenger side buckle will bang against the side of the car if I go across rolling bumps that rock the car side to side. The lack of good storage cubbies that seem to be just a little too small for everything I want to store. The dash cubby is too narrow for a standard-size 4x6 spiral notebook that I use to log my gas purchases and maintenance and the console bin is also too small for this notebook and also too small for the standard size square tissue boxes that I carry in my vehicles. And the cup holder rubber insert isn't robust enough to hold a small drink such as a water bottle.

My single biggest complaint though is the electronic throttle. It makes driving the stick shift almost more work than fun and I'm a person who really likes to drive stick shift and have avoided automatics for 30 years. This is the only vehicle I've owned where i regretted getting a standard shift tranny. And I've driven everything from VW Beetles (the original Beetle with almost no power) up to tractor trailers. This throttle is too light, too touchy, and has a slight lag that makes starting out and shifting smoothly a real high concentration activity.

Matt

It was a Park Avenue that I rented to drive from Corning to Boston a few years ago. I was driving 75-80 most of the way and that beast got 31 MPG. I thought it had to be a mistake, but the fill-up matched the computer within a few tenths and I duplicated the performance almost exactly on the way home a few days later. Amazing for a car that size at that speed. I still almost don't believe it.

Matt

16-17??? Holy cow Matt - that's big time mileage. You must have the super secret mileage booster package. My 1500 gets a steady 15mpg no matter how you drive it. Local driving - 15mpg. Empty drive from Syracuse to Philly (72mph in NY state, 80-90 once on the Northeast Extension) - 15mpg. Full of my daughter's belongings bringing her back from college - 15mpg. This truck only knows one stinkin' mileage rating - 15mpg. Unless of course I stick it in 4WD. Plowing snow in 4Low and it's a steady 6mpg. I never use 4Hi for long enough to know what that would be. Hell, I couldn't get 16-17mpg if I coasted the truck down hill for half a tank of gas.

I have a 94 K1500 with the 4.3L V-6 and the wide ratio manual transmission (I forget the designation, maybe MT8, but the one with the granny low ratio). Mine pretty much is stuck on 16 like yours is on 15, but I occasionally get 17 and occasionally 15 (mostly in winter). When I plow I get 10-11.

I replaced the stock 3.73 ratio diffs with 4.56 ratio as the engine was simply lugging too much at 55 MPH (only turned a little over 1600 RPM in OD) and I actually got better mileage with the lower ratio and it starts out a lot better and plows better.

I plow in 4-high and in L gear (the shifter isn't labeled 1-5 like the close ratio 5 speed was (if memory serves), but rather L-1-2-3-OD. With the 4.56 gears, even in high range the low gear is pretty low. :-)

The best ever mileage was 19 MPG that my brother-in-law achieved on a trip to Ohio to deliver his daughter to college. That was the only really long highway trip the truck has ever had.

I have a fiberglass cap on the truck which cost me a little mileage and I put a hood deflector on which cost me some more. I was getting closer to 18 on average before adding these two items.

I generally drive 55 - 60 on the highway, but this truck sees 50% highway at most. The weird thing is, as you say, it almost doesn't matter how I drive the truck. I can run it hard and rev it high before shifting, I can drive at 50 or 65, it still gets 16 MPG almost all the time. Weird.

Matt

I have bought a new GLS V6 in December. Driven less than 2000 miles so far.

I used to drive 1996 Camry before.

I am very happy with the new Sonata. Yet to find a problem with it.

Only disappointment is that it gives me about 20 mpg and I drive mostly in the city with lots of traffic lights. I have noticed that mileage is much better on highway, but I haven't recorded any numbers.

I can't compare the mileage with my old Camry because that was

4-cylinder with much less power.

Good luck with your decision.

My Silverado is a '94 with a 350. Has a fiberglass cap on it also. High-rise style.

Makes you wonder if the carb is calibrated very lean. It makes the engine run hot, but really helps mileage. The down side is that it could shorten engine life a little.

Same here. I suspect the difference between my mileage and yours is the V-8 vs. the V-6.

Matt