Hyundai Sonata

[storm79]

My friend recently just got a 2007 Hyundai Sonata and I gotta say that is one nice car. The seats are comfortable the interior is pretty nice...and there is sooooo much leg room in the back...it's got about as much leg room as my dads 2008 ford f-150. And my friend has the v-6 version and man that thing actually gets up and goes really fast...it beat this neon rt that was modified and stuff and yeah it's a really nice car for the price of it. The only thing i would complain about is the climate/AC controls and the radio control positions they seem like they are too far away from each other and like you reach for the radio but it's actually the ac and yeah.

Oh and one other thing i would change is the gauge/climate controls/radio controls color...they are all lit up in green and i think they should have went with a blue or something..im not a fan of green sorry.

But what do you think about this car?

EDIT*

Here's some images of the slightly redesigned 2009 Hyundai Sonata and it's nice because they did address all the problems i had which i said earlier in this post and yeah i think the interior is really luxurios.

[theholycow]

I think it's a great car that doesn't get anywhere near enough credit. I test drove one about 5 years ago and was very impressed. It's comfortable, nice to drive, quick enough, available with a manual transmission in most configurations (at least it was back then, don't know for sure about now), well warrantied, and cheap. Hyundai has caught up to the rest of the industry and has been producing decent products for 5 or 10 years now.

[Emher]

I rented one when I was in the US two years ago and I have to admit I really liked it. First thing when I got it was that I thought it felt HUGE inside! Way Bigger then my Saab, and that's always a nice surprise. Easy to drive, pretty decent autumatic gearbox. Worked just fine the nine days I rented it.

[stovt001]

Hyundai/Kia are really making great strides. Like the US manufacturers they just need to get over their perception as being unreliable. I really think the performance, economy, and reliability gaps are closing among the US, Japanese, and Korean products.

[lafountain]

I agree they have come a long ways in their reliability. Back in 2002 I remember a co-worker of mine got preapproved for a loan by his bank and they told him he could go buy any car he wanted except a Kia or a Hyundai.

[storm79]

i agree hyundai is becoming a really reliable/luxurious/nice brand

their new genesis sedan is coming to the US soon and it's beautiful!!!!

also these cars get awesome gas mileage!

also in those pictures i LOVE the gauges i think they did them perfect

[stovt001]

Yeah those gauges are just about perfect.

The speedo threw me at first, when I saw it went up to 240.
Then I realized it was in Km/h

[TAG UR IT]

I don't know about the multicolored speedo....might want to do just two colors or maybe three. But, everything else on the inside isn't too bad. Anyone else think that wood grain on the wheel looks...mmm...not as luxurious as it could? I think it's the wood tone. And the dash has the wood parts that angle down from the doors to the center of the dash. Kind of makes them look like boomerangs.

Don't get me wrong. I don't dislike the car. It's just that it's not something I woudl buy.

[LnLSS]

I had a 2006 Sonata which for the price had many bells and whistles. I was a bit cramped in the drivers seat as my knees rested on the bottom of the dash board. I'm 6' 2" so I would dread to see how cramped anyone was that is taller then that. I only owned it for 6 months as some bozo ran a stop sign and I braod sided him at 35 mph and that speed totalled it out. I was glad it did have many saftey features as I walked out of it with out a scratch.

[stovt001]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

I don't know about the multicolored speedo....might want to do just two colors or maybe three. But, everything else on the inside isn't too bad. Anyone else think that wood grain on the wheel looks...mmm...not as luxurious as it could? I think it's the wood tone. And the dash has the wood parts that angle down from the doors to the center of the dash. Kind of makes them look like boomerangs.

Don't get me wrong. I don't dislike the car. It's just that it's not something I woudl buy.

The wood grain isn't the worst I've seen, but its also not the best. I'd call it about average, maybe even good for the price range. I agree with the boomerangs comment.

[storm79]

heres some pics of the new genesis sedan...which reminds me of a mercedes kind of...imo anyways

but the only problem i have with the genesis is that it seems like the interior is kinda plain like the drivers side is fine..just the passenger side seems like something is missing.

[AirGoya]

^ Tell me if i got this wrong. But I heard at the autoshow, when they were revealling the genesis sedan, the polled to see if it looks better with, or without a hyundai symbol on the hood. The poll came out obviously to keep it off. To me thats kinda sad. A brand should be able to display their badge proudly on the hood or grill.
By the way i think the whole rear part of the car looks a lot like a 5 series bmw.

[stovt001]

Actually I think the interior is just about right for an upscale sedan. Its elegant and not overdone. Unlike the Accord, its center stack does not resemble the Starship Enterprise's control panel.

[JaysonAych]

Originally Posted by AirGoya

^ Tell me if i got this wrong. But I heard at the autoshow, when they were revealling the genesis sedan, the polled to see if it looks better with, or without a hyundai symbol on the hood. The poll came out obviously to keep it off. To me thats kinda sad. A brand should be able to display their badge proudly on the hood or grill.
By the way i think the whole rear part of the car looks a lot like a 5 series bmw.

If I recall, it wasn't just that it had the other option had a Hyundai symbol on the grille...it had an entirely different grille as well. It's more traditional...in natural lighting, the honeycomb pattern wasn't as obvious, so it looked more like a Sonata grille, as you can see in the attached pic.

The grille they went with for the Genesis definitely looks better IMHO. Maybe they could have put the badge on the front somehow, but it looks fine without it. One of they Hyundai reps was saying tongue-in-cheek that they at least put a big Hyundai badge on the back, so that BMW and Merc drivers unable to tell would at least get a good look at what kind of car it was after it flies past them.

[AirGoya]

o ok thanks ^. I dont really keep up with hyundai. To be honest, im extremely biased. GM ALL THE WAYYYYY!!!!!!
I just dont understand why people would buy a car from a different country, even worse ... korea, especially with our economy in the state that its in.

[TAG UR IT]

^People buy them because of the price they offer, warranty they offer, etc.

I wanted to buy GM ..heck, I wanted a Tahoe. But, wife really wanted the Sorento. I drove it once and loved it. If you want to know why, go drive a loaded Kia Sorento and you'll see EXACTLY why (coupled w/ a price tag of $25,000 total for a new Sorento) some folks go for the foreign vehicles.

Seriosly, I LOVE our Kia. It's aweome and woudn't hesitate buying another one....although I want a Buick Enclave instead.

[storm79]

Originally Posted by AirGoya

o ok thanks ^. I dont really keep up with hyundai. To be honest, im extremely biased. GM ALL THE WAYYYYY!!!!!!
I just dont understand why people would buy a car from a different country, even worse ... korea, especially with our economy in the state that its in.

foreign vehicles are actually really good vehicles but thats just my opinion lol

[storm79]

sorry for the double post but i saw a hyundai genesis in a car dealership the other day man those r some sharp looking cars...at first i thought it was a mercedes and then i was like wow those r wicked nice!

[Beelzebubba]

I drove the Sonata. It was a good car. A little soft and spongy in the corners for my taste.

The Optima was worse. Drove like a late '80s FWD deVille. WAY too soft.

I ultimately chose the US built Mazda 6 instead

[JaysonAych]

Before I had my Dodge, I had an '01 Hyundai Elantra...that was a really good car. The fit and finish were outstanding, the car drove really well, and was far better than I expected. IMHO, after testing out a current-generation Honda Civic, it isn't as good as that Elantra was.

But I got a job about 60 miles away from home, and I wanted something bigger, more comfortable, and less noisy on the highway, so I traded it in for the Dodge a couple of years later. But I'd put 45,000 miles on that Hyundai in that short span of time including a road trip to New Mexico, and it was a solid little car.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by Beelzebubba

The Optima was worse. Drove like a late '80s FWD deVille. WAY too soft.

I loved the ride in my '87 FWD deVille.

[Beelzebubba]

Originally Posted by theholycow

I loved the ride in my '87 FWD deVille.

You're kidding right?

They would wallow around for a few seconds after every bump. Apparently, to Cadillac engineers, a comfortable ride meant very little compression or rebound damping and springs out of a click type ball point pen.

and the steering? It was not exactly precise. Vague would best describe it. Again the Cadillac engineers decided that comfort should mean completely isolating the driver from the driving experience. Like they were trying to make the steering feel like the predecessor's recirculating ball steering, but worse.

Going 70 over a long bridge with big expansion joints would have been scary. Fortunately the HT-4100 would have broken down long before 70 mph was acheived.

It took GM a couple of attempts after the outstanding ZL1 to properly build an aluminum motor. The linerless Vega motor and Cadillac HT-4100 were collosal failures along the way to the again outstanding LS-es

[theholycow]

You sound like you had sportscar expectations from a luxury car made when people mostly didn't want to combine the two.

The wallowing wasn't too bad...certainly no worse than my 1980 LeSabre.

The soft springs were really nice unless you were in a hurry around a turn -- but 16" rims with 205/55R16 tires made it handle better than any SUV and half the new sedans available today, in spite of the soft springs.

If, by "vague" steering, you're talking about the power steering that actually adds power instead of "sporty" steering that requires you to use both hands to yank the wheel, well I really enjoyed steering lock-to-lock with one finger. I miss that and wish I could get it even on a "sporty" car usually equipped with "road feel" -- I can tell what's going on just fine without any "road feel" in the steering wheel, thank you very much.

Going 70 over a long bridge with expansion joints was not scary, it was comfortable. You could hear them but you couldn't feel them.

You're right about the HT-4100, though. Piece of shit engine.

[Beelzebubba]

Your LeSabre shouldn't have been that different than the 1983 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale I had.

That was a good big car. The 307 left it a bit underpowered but everything was slow from the factory in '83.

Got stuck between two cars in a flood. The car behind me wouldn't back up and the car in front wouldn't go forward when the water was only about 6 inches deep. I watched the water slowly rise and consume the car in front and put my car in about 2 feet of water while blasting the horn and flashing my reverse lights on and off until the horn went under.

Ruined a really nice interior and the car never ran right again. :(

I liked that car...certainly more than any of the pre-Northstar FWD Caddies

[Cubanaso]

They are a good car company...period, on top of that they are in WAY better shape than our friends the big 3.

The Genesis sadan is handsom, not my cup of tea (I like sporty aggressive looks), but it sure does look like a G35-37 mixed with BMW and Lexus. Nothing to be shamed of there, they are all good looking cars.

That's why the more I read about the Genesis Coupe...the more I like it.