Sonata Preowned Best Year?

[TJPark01]

What is the best year of the current model Sonata? I think 2006 was the first year, but it came out mid year 05. Should I try and get an 07 or have people had good fortune with the new 06 model. Please advise!

 

[dataguy]

Commuter car or are you downgrading?

 

[TJPark01]

HA! No I have a buddy who needs to get a decent car and he was looking to spend the least amount of money 8-10k. I have the feeling the spread in terms of a used Camry/Accord/Altima and the Sonata, is not going to be that big in terms of quality and reliability. But the premium you pay for the Japanese cars is pretty high.

 

[scottdk]

My girlfriend (we're now engaged as of May 31) bought the all new '06 Sonata LX (fully loaded V6) when it came out and she has around 55K and it still runs and drives and sounds like it did with 100 miles on it. She is in love with it, although she loves my car and cannot afford it, nore would she care to since she isn't car crazy like myself. From her experience I would recommend this car. Although her's is the first year of that style and engine for the Sonata, she's having a great experience with the car. Maybe I'll post pics. I tinted her windows and put a rear-lip spoiler and it and the car looks sharp!

 

[TJPark01]

My girlfriend (we're now engaged as of May 31) bought the all new '06 Sonata LX (fully loaded V6) when it came out and she has around 55K and it still runs and drives and sounds like it did with 100 miles on it.

Very helpful thanks for the response. From what I've gathered looking online. You can get a 03 accord past warranty with lots of mileage or an 06 Sonata still under warranty for another couple years for about the same money. The gap between those two cars in terms of dependability seems to be pretty narrow.

 

[MattG]

My wife just recently got a new '09 Sonata. We were not originally planning on getting a car right now, but we had a qualifying vehicle under the Cash for Clunkers program, and between that, Hyundai incentives and the price that we were able to get with our dealer, it quickly became a no brainer. A car purchase that was initially a target of opportunity has quickly become a household favorite.

We looked at Toyota first (in our case the two dealerships are essentially next door to each other), and the conclusion that I walked away with, after taking the "Pepsi Challenge" so to speak, is that Hyundai actually makes the better car from an experience point of view. Are some of the other cars more reliable? Perhaps. Is their reliability better enough to justify the premium in price (especially given that they are not, at comparable trim levels, as fun to drive)? Hell to the no!

If it were not for the fact that Uncle Sam and Hyundai helped us with the down payment to the collective sum of $6.5K though. . . Had our older vehicle developed a really expensive problem, I would be hard pressed to think of a better car than an off lease Sonata when balancing all of the main things one looks for in a good used car.

 

[Pahaska]

I had a 2006 V-6. I had zero problems in about 45,000 miles. I traded it for a 2006 Azera and had one problem with it, fixed under warrenty.
Azera was traded for Tau a month ago and no problems so far.