Well I just got a rental car because I'm gonna be driving down to DC for a business trip tomorrow. I was expecting a Malibu or Impala but instead I got a Sonata.

As some of you may have noticed, I'm not really into Hyundais, so this is probably the only chance I'll have to check this car out.

I started it up and the engine sounded pretty rough. At first I thought that it was maybe because it had been driven harshly a lot, but then I saw that there were only 9 miles on the odometer.

But as I began driving things smoothed out. But for comparisons sake I rented a Rav4 recently and it also was a brand new car with 5 miles on it and it was smooth from the get go (and yes it was an I4 Rav...).

Another quirk was I felt the side view mirrors were too small. It felt like I had a lot more blind spots than I do in my GS.

The interior was nice. It was no Lexus, but it was ok. There was some soft touch plastic on the door and a little on the center armrest, but for the most part it was acres of hard plastic. Attractive colors, but still lots of hard plastic. There were nice chrome touches, nice stitching on the clothe seats, and a leather-like substance around the shifter. Those touches made the interior feel nice, but at the same time it felt no better than a Mazda3 I rented a few weeks back...

So the drive overall was good. Not firm not soft with decent handling.

After I got home I took a few more pics and decided to inspect the rest of the car.

On the outside the design is very intriguing. I still don't personally like the front end, but the sides and rear are very attractive. But that stylish raked roofline really takes it's toll on interior space...

The rear seat was a joke IMO. It had as much space (maybe less come to think of it) then a Civic/Corolla in the back. That's completely unacceptable in this class of car. My head was brushing the top of the car and I myself am below average in height. The legroom was equally bad, especially if the front seat were to be put all the way back.

Then I looked at the trunk more closely. To me it looked like it had 1/3 less space than the Camry. Overall this is what will probably put a damper on longterm sales for the car. Right now its selling pretty good, but after the hype dies down, and people are really comparing this car to the competition is just doesn't stack up. For more people in this class it's about function over form but the Sonata is the exact opposite.

Form over function pretty much sums up this car to me.

 

Nice review. I agree the interior is well done but not some leap above the others, just a leap for Hyundai. I will say they got the aesthetics right, it really flows well to the eyes. This is another car I liked the styling at first but now that I've seen them on the road they look like bulbous bugs that are melting in the sun from Starship Troopers and it only gets worse since most sold have the puny small wheels.

Overall though, it seems most consumers are blind and people like it for other merits b/c I've seen quite a few around and the sales seem to be good so far.

How are the brakes and acceleration?

 

Well there's a lot of hype around the car now, and I honestly don't think sales are gonna hold up once the hype dies down. The Sonata looks great, but it's just not a practical car in a segment that's all about practicality.

The acceleration was decent, it felt in line with most of the I4s I've driven in the class, which is partially surprising since I believe it's rated at over 200hp?. It wasn't as peppy as an 08 TSX.

The brakes were good so far, but I'll get a better idea of how they hold up after my drive down to DC.

 

Hmm nice double stitching on the cloth seats. I dont even have double stitching in the RX (or the new RX for that matter)

I love the styling of the new sonata. If you get the GLE trim leve, the grill becomes fully chrome instead of body colored and it makes the car look a lot better.

as a whole, I think this is a great step for hyundai.

 

These cars are selling well around here, and not just rental car/fleet sales, but regular retail sales. Looks like they will be showing very significant sales increase over the last gen Sonata. In this price range, a very competitive product and styling wise at or near the top.

I've sat in back seat in a couple of these, I'm of average height for my age bracket, no problem, and obviously no negative impact on sales year over year.

 

Well the Sonata is getting the normal "shiny new" car sales bump that all cars get. After that begins the true test of time for a car. After the newness and shininess wears off, we'll see if it can maintain it's sales high.

IMO the backseat is unacceptable in this class. With cars like the Camry and Accord having more "fullsized" interiors, I can't see families settling for the Sonata's more cramped accommodations.

I haven't looked up the specs yet but the trunk and backseat seemed more inline with the Civic and Corolla than with the Camry and Accord.

As a sidenote: I'm surprised that I've seen as many as I have in rental fleets considering it is an all new car. The first place I saw a Sonata in the flesh was at a rental facility. Not a good sign IMO.

 

That's all great and so subjective it doesn't matter. We've already seen the rear seat measurements and trunk measurements for comparison purposes, pretty much a non-event comparison.

No doubt a track record has to be established in sales, but it's off to a good start and certainly an statistical improvement in sales over the last gen Sonata.

 

This is definitely a great step fro Hyundai.

I personally think the last gen was more practical, but this one is a definite step up in quality and design.

Most of my gripes were related to space efficiency, but all in all its not a bad car. It's more of a poor man's Passat CC. Not really a family car (because of interior space), but more of a DINK car if you know what I mean

The Camry and Accord and the various CUVs on the market would suit most families better.

As far as the stitching it looks like Lexus will be getting a little more creative with stitching with the CT200h which is long overdue. I don't want to take this thread off topic but looks at the CT interior pics when you get a chance...

 

Just as fyi nothing more, interior space facts (instead of the usual subjective internet chatter) per EPA: Passenger volume / Luggage volume

Sonata sedan 105 / 16
Accord sedan 106 / 14
Camry sedan 101 / 15
Civic sedan 91 / 12
Corolla sedan 92 / 12

 

I just looked it up and the Corolla actually has 2 inches more rear legroom than the Sonata. The Civic matches the Sonata in rear legroom and headroom. I think that WILL matter to FAMILIES looking at this car. Most families get midsized sedans because they want more space than compacts...

Agreed.

 

It's nice that you can cherry-pick out certain statistics from various manufacturers that aren't necessarily comparable, not likely real buyers will bother doing this.

Note; look up above ^^^ (post #9) and I did post comparable statistics as published by the EPA. No surprise the Sonata sells well in its class of cars. No surprise it's more roomy than a Civic/Corolla, it's a bigger car, no kidding.

Nice sales traction too:

CARLINE APR/2010 APR/2009 CY/2010 CY/2009
------- -------- -------- ------- -------
SONATA 18,536 11,815 50,283 37,472

 

You can nit pick this and that, but there is no denying the car is selling very well and there is no reason at this time to think sales will drop off unexpectedly. In the market, it's a successful competively sized family sedan.

 

That little window on the C-pillar is odd...

 

Nice review, (Cj). Having checked it out myself, I agree with many of your comments. The 4 is a little noisy and unrefined as it gets some revs but has relatively good spunk. I'm not a terribly big fan of either the new exterior or interior styling, but that, of course, is subjective. You are absolutely correct about the rear seat...for taller persons, I agree it is unacceptable, but that's more of a factor of the sharp drop-off of the humpback-whale roofline than of the rear seat itself (the roof is obviously done for purely style reasons rather than for function). It's not that the rear seat itself is so tiny, but that it's very difficult for many people to get in and out without banging your head or, once inside, having it push up on the ceiling.

Did you notice the superb paint job this car has, especially in the darker colors? Hyundai makes a big deal, in their Sonata ads, about paint quality...in this case, they're not kidding. IMO, it equals the also-superb paint job on the Camry, something that few other mid-sized cars in this price range can say.

 

I'm definitely not going to argue sales numbers, but most new cars in the class get a decent sales bump, most recent examples being the Fusion/Malibu/Accord.

It's great to know the specs, but as you eluded to, most buyers won't care about the actual statistical specifications. They will subjectively look at the car and compare it to other cars, and that's what I did.

I'm not in the market for a midsizer, but if I were and I had a family of 4, the Sonata wouldn't be the most appealing option. If I were single or if it was just me and a partner than the Sonata would make a lot more sense.

There's a decent amount of space upfront and the seats can travel pretty far back meaning that there is a lot of comfort for drivers and front passengers. That's why I mentioned in an above posts that this would be a great car for DINKs. Its a poor man's Passat CC.

The trunk space specifications surprise me, but it may be because the opening to the trunk is rather small (because of the vehicle's raked roof and short deck lid). A friend of mine has a Camry and he's able to transport his entire drumset around in the trunk without having to put the rear seats down. That's a feat that I doubt he'd be able to do in the Sonata...