Better Steering and Shifting in Sport Mode - 2015 Hyundai Sonata Long-Term Road Test

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Better Steering and Shifting in Sport Mode - 2015 Hyundai Sonata Long-Term Road Test

I've been driving our long-term 2015 Hyundai Sonata a lot, often choosing it over sexier, more powerful cars.

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schen72

Does it stay in Sport mode after turning car off and back on?

iamthestig

schen72 said:

Does it stay in Sport mode after turning car off and back on?

The first paragraph reads "...To activate the ECO or Sport mode, you press the Drive Mode switch on the console behind the Sonata's shifter. Push it once for ECO, twice for Sport. And you must reactivate it every time you cycle the key."

allthingshonda

The Sonata reminds me of Honda and Toyota back in the nineties. They weren't the flashiest, fastest, or coolest cars you could buy but they just worked. This is the Sonata. It's not the coolest car but it just feels right. The seats feel right, the buttons and switches all work with precision, the engine is not the most powerful but it's not underpowered either. It's like your favorite pair of jeans or shoes.

havanajoe8

I love my 2015 Sonata Sport, almost 7k miles on it. I have played around with the modes a bit and I've found that ECO gets me about another 2 MPG but only around town (it does nothing once you are at cruising speed on the highway) and SPORT costs about 2 MPG around town (also does nothing once cruising on the highway); however, ECO mode is not worth it, there is some serious lag if you need to accelerate unless you really floor the pedal. SPORT is fun, I prefer the heavier steering and although the engine power doesn't change the altered shifting makes it feel like there is more power as it stays in the lower gears longer. Both ECO and NORMAL try to get to the highest gear as fast as possible to lower RPMs, NORMAL will downshift reasonably fast under acceleration but ECO bogs down. SPORT stays in the lower gear and where NORMAL may downshift one gear under moderate acceleration, say from 6 to 5 or 5 to 4, SPORT will often downshift two gears, say from 6 to 4 or 5 to 3. The effect is better acceleration which feels like more power. I use NORMAL most of the time but if I am travelling a nice winding road I'll switch to SPORT and make it a little more fun!

shabadoo25

I switch to Eco whenever I pull into my 25 mph speed limit neighborhood. As soon as I leave it, it's straight to Sport. Not sure I've ever been in Standard mode.