2011 Hyundai Sonata

backy · February 2010

OK, looks cheaper. Better?

wolverinejoe80 · February 2010

I disagree with most of your comments.

How could anybody compare current gen to last gen? 2011 sonata is so much better than last gen IMO.

also i have owned 6 honyotas from 90's. please tell me which model you think has a better interior than new sonata. I've had a camry, 2 accords, 2 civic, and avalon. please give me a year and model. because i bet you my house that the material they used aren't better. yes, 2000-2003 Lexus had some of the best interior materials. but those are lexus. not toyota and honda. My brother drives pristine acura legend coupe. the material isn't better than today's car.

backy · February 2010

One thing I haven't seen anyone mention yet is the design change in the trunk. The 2006-10 Sonata used gas struts to support the trunk lid. That design maximized usable trunk space. The 2011 Sonata uses conventional hinges, which I suspect are less expensive than the gas strut arrangement. Several competitors use the same design. The hinges can crush cargo. On the plus side, the trunk opening can be (and probably is) wider with the conventional hinges, and I noticed that when the trunk is opened with the remote release, the trunk springs fully open--which doesn't happen with the gas struts, you have to lift the lid and it takes not a little force to do so.

m6user · February 2010

Hyundai probably figured it was better to get something into the trunk and get it crushed than not be able to haul it at all.

I'll take the hinges. I like as big of opening as I can get, can adjust my stuff for the hinges(did it for many years) and I like the trunk popping up so I don't have to free a hand to lift it.

napsfan · February 2010

Is there any way to upgrade the audio (in GLS or SE) without paying for the $1700 nav? Like others, I have a Garmin already and just want a decent quality audio in the car. (The base readio is the one thing that was disappointing from my test drive.) It seems there is no way to do this, but I thought I'd ask if anyone knows any different (or has after-market ideas). Thanks.

m6user · February 2010

Yes. Buy the GLS and go to Best Buy(or any car audio store) and have a great aftermarket system put in if that is the one and only thing you don't love about the car.

mikemartin · February 2010

I disagree with most of your comments.

How could anybody compare current gen to last gen? 2011 sonata is so much better than last gen IMO.

also i have owned 6 honyotas from 90's. please tell me which model you think has a better interior than new sonata. I've had a camry, 2 accords, 2 civic, and avalon. please give me a year and model. because i bet you my house that the material they used aren't better. yes, 2000-2003 Lexus had some of the best interior materials. but those are lexus. not toyota and honda. My brother drives pristine acura legend coupe. the material isn't better than today's car.

Of the many, I'll name one to keep it simple (and it's a low priced one, too):

1994 Honda Civic EX. Sublime. Perfect fit and finish - outstanding materials throughout.

I won't even get into 1995 Toyota Camry or 1988 Mercedes Benz territory, specifically...

jaimz · February 2010

I drove an early 90's model Civic for years, and liked Honda so much I leased two Civics between 2001 and 2007. Then, made a move to Corolla. Nice cars. Fuel efficient...peppy for the cost, basic inside....BASIC I say. I test drove an Accord a few months ago. All nothing to write home about.

Test drove the 11 Limited yesterday. Wow...what a sweet frickin' ride. Smooth, quiet, responsive, and a nice combination of forgiving and tight on the road. The interior, while not luxury was very nice; spacious and sharp.

I'll be happy to buy one soon.

backy · February 2010

Six to one, half-dozen the other. How much you wanna bet though CR will ding Hyundai for not using the struts, due to the cargo-crushing scenario? They usually mention that. (They don't think to consider the downsides of struts, though...)

They'll probably also prominently mention the "hard plastic" bits, even though it's de rigueur these days in this class of cars. And probably note the reduced headroom in back. I think overall they'll like the car, though... maybe even enough to put it at the top of the I4 mid-sized class.

dash5 · February 2010

I'll agree with you on the Honda interior for the Accord. Nothing special. My parents just got a new one and I drove it so I had a baseline to compare as I shop. Drove great, very nice car and I even like the styling of the exterior (to a degree). Interior was nice, but pretty humdrum.

Sonata is a big jump from the Accord interior. Actually now that I think of it, the Honda interior in our CR-V was probably the reason we picked it over the RAV4. I like the Honda interior, but the Sonata's is better. Exterior, the Sonata is far superior in my eyes. Still have to test drive the Sonata though so no comments there.

dash5 · February 2010

The initial CR video mentions the headroom and visibility but explicitly says they "get around those problems" whereas the Passat CC or MB CLS suffer for that styling:

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2010/02/2011-hyundai-sonata-first-review.h- tml

chrono · February 2010

You really can't go backwards when comparing car interiors. Everyone has been cost cutting for years. The 2001 Prelude I used to own had the best quality interior of any car I've owned to date which includes a 330i. I had a chance to sit in the 2011 Sonata and it's a very nice package. It's much more upscale looking interior then Camords. Finally a gauge cluster that looks good not like cardboard.

m6user · February 2010

Your're probably right about CR. I spent a decent amount of time playing touchy-feely(with the car) in the new Sonata and didn't really notice the hard plastics that people mention. I pay particular attention to the center armrest as I like to rest my arm there while driving and like it to feel fairly soft. Also the windowsill I like to be soft to touch as I also rest my elbow there a lot. Besides the steering wheel and gear shift(like leather) I'm not really too concerned with the rest of the dash unless it looks bad or cheap. Sometimes those gummy dashes can be a real job to clean while the hard ones clean up real easy.

backy · February 2010

I don't think there's a problem with visibility. As for headroom, it's definitely less than in the previous generation Sonata, but can fit kids and average-sized adults just fine. Basketball teams of high school or above will need to look elsewhere.

m6user · February 2010

A car that sold for $18500 in 2004 would cost $21,200 today adjusted for inflation. But the 2011 SE has much more on it than that 2004 Sonata, e.g. six airbags, ESC, 200 hp engine, 6AT with paddle shifters, 18" alloys, Bluetooth, sport-tuned suspension, etc. More interior room also. Not bad for about $2200 more than in 2004

Somewhat off topic but an example of how prices have held steady or even gotten better. I sat in an Infiniti EX35 at the auto show and really liked it and it's features. We bought an Infiniti QX4 new in 2002 which stickered for about $38.5k. I just priced out a 2010 EX35 AWD Journey w/a couple of big option packages and it came out to about $42.5k. That's 4K more for about the same vehicle. But here is what we would get now for that price that is not on our '02 QX4:

Navigation w/ voice controls
Rearview Camera
All-around view from 4 camers around the car
Power second row seat backs
Dual Zone Heat and A/C
5 speed auto (vice 4 sp)
52 more hp
9.3 gig musicbox harddrive
Bluetooth
push button start
Power lumbar support
Auto tiltdown outside mirrors in reverse
Autoleveling headlights
18" alloys (vice 17")
USB/MP3 etc. connections
Power steering wheel tilt/telescope
Tire Pressure Monitoring system
A bunch more airbags and safety stuff

I figure adjusting for inflation the vehicle would cost about $42.5k not even counting all the above additional stuff. Quite amazing actually.

The base Sonata would possibly be a very similar scenario but I'm not an owner of an older model to make that direct comparison.

stickguy · February 2010

Hopefully once the initial ramp up is over, they will start offering the moonroof without having to get the Nav too. $2,400 is one expensive moonroof!

I could take or leave the nav 9and for ~2K, it would be left) but a moonroof is a must have, deal breaker option.

Not sure how many people feel the same way, but there are some. Maybe a few bite the bullet and get the nav package, but some will move to another car instead.

caseybru · February 2010

I am looking at the Hyundai extended warranty for when I get my 2011 Sonata SE.
There are 5 choices. Power Train....Silver...Gold....Gold Plus....Platinum... Each covers a little more that the other with [of course] the Platinum covering the most.
Does anyone know the price of any or all choices.??
My price is $1,707 off the MSRP. The options of wheel locks, carpeted floor mats , and iPod cable are part of the deal. I will probably get the Pacific Blue, silver blue, or Harbor Gray. Got to look at each first. There are very few photos of the Pacific Blue. I looked at 2 photos that were posted but they were not close ups or in sun so the color looked black.

pegasus17 · February 2010

REF: 669
1. Looks blue to me
http://www.bobpoynterchrysler.com/detail-2011-hyundai-sonata-limited-5165122.htm- l

2. Beware that the typical markup on extended warranty plans is 100%. Offer them 55% of what they say is the cost and see what happens. Btw, the base warranty is more than adequate and you have more than one opportunity to purchase the extended in the first 5 years of ownership. Just my .02

ryster · February 2010

Looked at both a 2011 GLS and Limited.

I am 6ft5in tall, and fit in the car just fine. Even the Limited with the sunroof was adequate from a headroom standpoint.

The interior materials were somewhat disappointing. I would have preferred more soft-touch materials on the dash. The piano black trim in the Limited is "pretty", but it is a poor choice to have in a car. It will show every fingerprint, and be more susceptible to scratches than the brushed aluminum grain trim in the GLS. Putting such a large expanse of it on the upper door panels and around the interior door handles is a questionable move by Hyundai. Watches, rings, bracelets will really nick up that piano black piece quickly. The soft, padded middle section of the interior door panel seemed of questionable durability. Very soft, very easily marred. I lightly pressed on it with my fingertip, and it left an indentation that didn't want to come out.

The driver's seat adjustments were odd. When raising the front part of the seat cushion it puts the rear of the seat cushion at an odd angle. The seat cushions seemed somewhat short as well. The steering wheel could tilt a little higher.

The 2011 Sonata was at the top of my list as a possible replacement for my '06 Impala. It has moved down several notches after evaluating it. The materials and overall presentation didn't seem any better than a Chevy Malibu, Ford Fusion, Mazda6, or Nissan Altima.

swingman · February 2010

Sure, anything that makes it more clear as to what might be the issue with the interior is better for all. I haven't seen the interior in person and was thinking black would be my preference so was curious as to exactly why it looks cheaper than the others. I wasn't trying to ruffle your feathers, just trying to get a more accurate idea of what might make it a bad choice.

backy · February 2010

When you go look at the black interior car, look at the door panels in particular. An unending sea of black, mostly hard plastic. A little padding in the middle, and the elbows part of the armrest is padded. But monotone black. Very boring, and IMO cheap looking. Reminds me of the door panel on my '74 Vega wagon (w/o window crank). I think it's hard to do an all-black interior well.

shabadoo25 · February 2010

The all black interior looks fantastic and far superior to the faux wood nonsense.

zornundo · February 2010

I'm looking for some good shots of the wine leather interior. So far, the dealers nearby either have the black leather or grey for the limiteds, no wine. So I'm curious as to how it looks and how they treated the rest of the non-seating surface interior.

swingman · February 2010

It definitely looks blue in those pics. I wonder if it only looks black in sunlight. Other pics I've seen make it look black (like in the link I provided earlier). I know when I was building one on their site and went back and forth from black and pacific blue, I thought it was broken and didn't change the color lol.

wolverinejoe80 · February 2010

I had 1993 civic EX and 98 civic LX. honda civic interior was nothing to brag about. cheap hard plastics that can't be found in today's interior. my wife's 2006 civic LX interior is 10 times better than 90's civic. it's humiliates the 90's civic.

and i would say current civic/accord interior materials is on par with new sonata. some better, some not as good.

also, i used to have one of these
http://www.samarins.com/reviews/img/camry_01_int_large.jpg
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/2/2612/3321/19029160120_large.jpg

and it was ok. nothing sublime about it. it's basically same hard black plastics used in almost all japanese cars made in 90's. i really don't know what you see in them.

dg0472 · February 2010

Yeah, sunlight makes the difference. I've seen them at night and with overcast skies and they look blue. Today was sunny and there was a truck at the dealer delivering a blue GLS and a black Limited. When the trucker pulled the black limited up behind the blue GLS, they looked almost the same color at first.

dg0472 · February 2010

Re the seats: the front of the cushion raises and lower ON its frame, not WITH it. The rear control moves the whole frame, including the back. So you likely will need to adjust all three to truly get comfortable. I'm 5'9" and found the cushion OK now. Much better than my '06, and a little better than the '09 I tried.

syitalian25 · February 2010

I originally had the same impression of the base audio when listening to the radio or XM, which I expected to be top quality - it's not. I have been using the iPod integration and it sounds excellent for a 6 speaker base system.. and loud enough to really piss off the neighbors if I wanted even with the windows rolled up, all while still sounding clear.

If you are going to test drive and check out the audio system, I implore you to bring an IPod + Cable or a CD and give that a shot so you know the source is clear.

syitalian25 · February 2010

Why don't you just ask the dealer to put in an aftermarket sunroof if it is that important to you. It will probably cost you around $1500 but that will still barely break the price of a Camry and still beat an Accord, for an all around better car.

chrono · February 2010

Anybody see any indiglo blue examples? Curious what it looks like besides on hyundai's website.

caseybru · February 2010

I agree with you swingman. In the other 2 photos it definately looked black. When you look at the site where you click on a color and the car changes color both black and pacific blue both look the same. I also tried several times trying to see what was wrong. The color on that site was a bit color blind. But in " Bob Poynter Chrysler" site it is positively beautiful. That is going to be my color. A GLS in Pacific Blue is at my dealers. Hope the SE shows up soon. It will be mine.

syitalian25 · February 2010

I test drove a Limited in Pacific Blue, and initially thought it was black. In the shade it is basically black, in the sun I think it is more of a dark blue with a slight hint of green. Definitely a nice color. I would say the pacific blue, black, gray and maybe white (if you like white cars) are the nicest.

syitalian25 · February 2010

I think we have finally settled who won the drag race in the video that was posted a while back...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiH9tmMUQbs&feature=related

dash5 · February 2010

http://cars.about.com/b/2010/02/22/2011-hyundai-sonata-test-drive-coming-soon.ht- m

2011 Hyundai Sonata test drive coming soon
Monday February 22, 2010

The embargo on drive impressions of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata lifts today at 12:00 noon Eastern time (9:00 am for those of us on the west coast). I have my Sonata review queued up and ready to go, so check back at zero hour to get the scoop on Hyundai's new mid-size sedan. -- Aaron Gold

osaka75 · February 2010

Backy,

I was writing more from a price perspective, not just a sunroof availability perspective.

Accord EX (4-cyl) $24,595 + $710 Destination = $25,340.
Sonata SE $22,595 + $2,600 Nav + roof + $720 Destination = $25,915.

Of course, in most cases, the price out the door after negotiation will be lower on the Sonata than the Accord. With resale taken into account, I figured that the Accord would be better simply from an economics perspective. However, a previous poster wrote that Sonata has the second highest resale value in its class so perhaps Sonata comes out ahead in that category, too.

In the end, I would just rather have the option to pay for only the sunroof. I very rarely use the GPS and half the time that I use it, I am in someone else's car.

backy · February 2010

Consider that for the additional $575 for the Sonata SE, you get:

* Navigation system
* High-zoot audio system with HD radio
* Bluetooth
* 18" alloys
* sport leather/cloth seats (vs. cloth on the EX)
* 6-speed auto with paddle shifters (vs. 5-speed with no manumatic feature)
* Better fuel economy (factors into TCO)
* Dual exhaust
* Fog lamps
* Proximity entry with push button start
* 5-year, 60k miles bumper to bumper warranty (vs. 3/36k; factors into TCO)
* 10-year, 100k miles powertrain warranty (vs. 5/60k; factors into TCO)
* 5 years of roadside assistance (vs. none)

Not bad for just $575 more, is it? If you don't want to use the Sonata's nav system, don't. But it could very well increase the car's resale value because many buyers do like nav systems.

osaka75 · February 2010

Very good points, Backy. Well worth $575. Some of the stuff (leather pieces on the seats, 18" wheels, paddle shifters) doesn't matter at all to me but can't complain if I'm essentially getting it for free after I factor in the increased resale appeal/value.

splx · February 2010

there is no HD audio with Nav.

m6user · February 2010

However, a previous poster wrote that Sonata has the second highest resale value in its class so perhaps Sonata comes out ahead in that category, too.

No, the Accord was #1 in 3yr resale value according to ALG chart I just saw.

backy · February 2010

For now... Hyundai says that is a "late availability" feature. How late, I wonder?

dash5 · February 2010

Test drive review is up at about.com:

"Here it is -- our first test drive of a 2011 model year car, and a thumpin' good car it is. I've always been a fan of Hyundai, but with the new Sonata, they've really outdone themselves. This is not just a really good fringe product, like the Genesis Sedan or the Genesis Coupe. (Gawd, do I wish they'd given those cars different names.) The new Sonata is aimed directly at the best-selling cars in this country. Rather than be a bargain-priced alternative like the old Sonata, Hyundai has designed the new Sonata to be the pacesetter in the mid-size class -- and by gum, I think they just might have done it. Get the details in my 2011 Hyundai Sonata test drive and review. -- Aaron Gold"

http://cars.about.com/od/hyundai/fr/11_sonata.htm

ergsum · February 2010

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/sedans/112_1002_2011_hyundai_sonata_se_test/- index.html

m6user · February 2010

I'd come across working-class bits like the plastic dash or the gooseneck trunk hinges. That's a bit cheap, I'd think to myself

From the review, it starts about the hinges.

Backy, it's not going to be just CR that complains about those hinges.

backy · February 2010

Yeah, I wonder if they made the same comment about the trunk hinges when they reviewed the new-for-2008 Accord.

chrono · February 2010

Good stuff coming out so far. No worries about power. The 4 cylinder seems to be up to the task. V6 is overkill in this segment. I bet the turbo will be a hoot.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/hyundai-sonata-first-drive-review.html

In this Olympic year, Hyundais NVH engineers deserve the gold medal for ride refinement, especially when you stop to consider the Sonata is powered by a balance shaft equipped four-cylinder. The quiet four-cylinder powertrain showed its strength through the two-lane mountain passes near San Diego. We were impressed with the quick shifts of the automatic transmission and the Sonata's general ease of use.

As for getting dinged on the hinges, if that's the worst anyone can come up with I see that as a win.

ergsum · February 2010

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/22/2011-hyundai-sonata-review/

ergsum · February 2010

http://www.autoguide.com/manufacturer/hyundai/2011-hyundai-sonata-first-drive-12- 99.html

m6user · February 2010

All in all this is probably the most complimentary review I think I've ever read about a redo of current model. The trunk hinges(which don't matter at all to me), a couple pieces of plastic where you don't really touch or care about, a little harder to get in the back seat(a tradeoff for the nice roofline) and some buzz under hard acceleration from the I4 that every auto writer feels obligatory to include in their reviews of any 4cyl car are the only things that he found to complain about.

All in all a big hit with that auto writer.

ergsum · February 2010

http://www.motorauthority.com/review/1042792_first-drive-double-take-2011-hyunda- i-sonata

avucarguy · February 2010

This is a very nice looking car for this price class. I have never owned a Hyundai product, mostly Honda/Toyota, but this Sonata definitely would change my mind. One of these days, I would have to take some time out and test drive one. The Sonata definitely looks better than the Accord and Camry. I used to think Honda and Toyota was at the front of automotive technology, but not anymore.

2011 Hyundai Sonata

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