Road & Track: 2011 Hyundai Sonata - Driving Impressions

[dataguy]

Warning to Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chevrolet, Mazda and Nissan: Your corporate lives just became more difficult.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/tests/impressions/2011-hyundai-sonata

 

[jailer]

I'm interested in knowing what the 0-60 is on a manual model with a few thousand miles on it. That is the one that might suprise.

Back end is cool. Tasteful, not trying to make any history, etc... does'nt "stick out". The front end is, IMO, still a throwback to when the "wrap-around" sunglass design was STARTING to become popular. That was quite a while ago. Thats just my take.

Interior is really cool, being an almost direct copy of a CTS. I also like that they are keeping a bunch of Americans employed, not only in production, but outsourced parts companies as well.

 

[Ruissimo]

So.... I was given a loaner while my R Spec is in the shop. It is a brand new 2013 Hyundai Sonata GLS.

My quick thoughts on it:

Exterior
The red is a beautiful color on this car. However, the body-colored grill is really cheap-looking and gawdy, in my opinion. I like the chrome grill on better trims levels WAY better. The wheels look really small - not sure if they're 15's or 16's. This car looked a lot larger to me BEFORE I bought my Genesis - I can now see how they managed to fit the Azera in between the two.

Interior
The interior is nice - however, this base model has cloth seats, and no toys. I was surprised to see a couple of features at this price point, however: BlueLink and the USB connection. Not sure if it is this trim level or not... but the interior plastics feel a bit cheap to me. The darker areas of the dash, like the top, do feel nice - they're rubbery and more expensive-looking than all the other plastic bits. However, overall, this particular GLS feels a lot cheaper than my 2002 VW Passat when it comes to interior materials. The aesthetics are nice though... and it is a really well-done, modern design. My Genesis feels $20k more expensive AT LEAST, though. Even if the design is not as modern.

The interior is pretty spacious, though considerably smaller than the Genesis - I noticed the roof was very low, especially since I'm only 5'9" and this car had no sunroof! I also find the updated design makes visibility a tad limited. The front windshield is small, and the rear window even more so.

Engine
Decent pick-up power for a 4-cyl. Feels pretty responsive, and has decent power in store as well.

Handling
Steering feels a little unresponsive, but then again, I am coming from the R Spec. The car handles well for its size, and absorbs bumps well too.

Technology
This base model didn't have much to talk about. I was happily surprised to find the USB connection - I removed my 16GB music flash drive from the Genny and plugged it right into this one. This model came with BlueLink standard... however, only the assisted navigation was available for use. Without the visual goodness of a large LCD display, I found the tech to be just adequate enough. Not much else to talk about though. I miss all my toys.

A good entry-level car. Not my bag.