A Little Gutless, But Trouble-Free and Comfy After 10,000 Miles - 2015 Hyundai Sonata Long-Term Road

Edmunds.com

A Little Gutless, But Trouble-Free and Comfy After 10,000 Miles - 2015 Hyundai Sonata Long-Term Road Test

We've driven our 2015 Hyundai Sonata for 10,000 miles. So far, it's been nearly trouble-free and well-liked by our editors.

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allthingshonda

I like powerful cars and that pushed into the seat acceleration that comes with it. But really, do we need that much power? I'm telling my age but I remember the 1990's when the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord blew up in sales. The Camry LE and Accord LX each had 4 cylinder engines that made about 125 horsepower. A Ford F-150 with the 5.0 V8 made about 150 horsepower. Yet nobody really complained about not enough power. So I'm wondering where the balance point is, when is there enough. The new F 150 5.0 engine has more than double the power of it's grandfather and the Camry's V6 has more power than the V8 that was in the original LS400 and the Accord V6 would make the original NSX jealous. Twenty five years from now will the family Honda Accord have a 500 horsepower engine to get the baby to daycare on time? And I guess you would need an 800 horsepower F-150 just in case you have to pull your house off it's foundation.

clownstrike

allthingshonda said:

I like powerful cars and that pushed into the seat acceleration that comes with it. But really, do we need that much power? I'm telling my age but I remember the 1990's when the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord blew up in sales. The Camry LE and Accord LX each had 4 cylinder engines that made about 125 horsepower. A Ford F-150 with the 5.0 V8 made about 150 horsepower. Yet nobody really complained about not enough power. So I'm wondering where the balance point is, when is there enough. The new F 150 5.0 engine has more than double the power of it's grandfather and the Camry's V6 has more power than the V8 that was in the original LS400 and the Accord V6 would make the original NSX jealous. Twenty five years from now will the family Honda Accord have a 500 horsepower engine to get the baby to daycare on time? And I guess you would need an 800 horsepower F-150 just in case you have to pull your house off it's foundation.

You're absolutely correct! The standards have changed, so Edmunds feels the need/responsibility to report on cars as compared to others in their test fleet. That's understandable. But when it comes to what we really *need* to be able to safely and comfortably operate in the daily traffic grind, it's another story.

When I returned my Infiniti G37x (leased), I purchased a 2015 Hyundai Sonata. The G37 is very powerful (sub 6 secs 0-60). I wanted to move to a mid-sized sedan with better gas mileage and drove everything in the class. There is no question that adequate power (by my subjective standard) was on my shopping list. I knew I was giving up on fun-level power. The Sonata is not powerful by current standards (nor are the 4 cylinder Camry or Accord), but it is definitely enough for normal situations. My wife would never say it has slowed my driving ...

metalmania

I do feel that things have gotten a little crazy, particularly on the high performance end of the spectrum. I'm talking about 700+ horsepower Dodge Chargers for a "mere" $65k, 650 hp Corvettes, etc. Don't get me wrong, they're awesome, but I'm not sure Joe Neighbor is really qualified to wield that kind of power on public roads just because he (or she) can afford to write the check. Let me put that into perspective: the new Z06 (and the previous gen ZR1, and actually that Z06 too) are actually MORE powerful than the C6 and C7.R race cars that the official GM Corvette team has been running the last few years. You know, the same guys that won Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans this year (awesome accomplishment, by the way)! Yes, the race cars are still lighter and faster, but they're world class pro racing drivers. Do you think the guy down the street (or you) is as good or better handling a road missile than them? Nope. Probably thinks so, but no. Several years back the old GT1 C5.R and C6.R were making (reportedly) 600 - 650 horsepower. I'll go out on a limb and say the landscaping business owner two houses down isn't as capable a driver as Ron Fellows - but the Vette he just bought is packing the same (or more) power.

I'm not saying people shouldn't be allowed to have fast cars, it's a free country, but I've driven stock C5 and C6 Corvettes and they were hellaciously fast. Call me a wimp but I couldn't see where I would need another 100, 200, or 300 horsepower. If you're going for lap times on a track - well I guess that's a different story. Otherwise, for the average owner I think it's become just bragging rights over the biggest numbers, or who can burn off their tires faster.

For a daily driver, my threshold for "enough" power is the point at which I'm not sweating out passing a truck at highway speeds with other traffic coming up behind me, or being able to merge onto a 60 mph highway from a stop with a reasonable gap in traffic without fearing for my life (I do have a few such entry ramps where I live). I don't need the car to be "fast", but I want it to be strong enough to get up and move with my family of 4 on board when I need it to. I can't stand that "gutless" feeling of standing on the gas and it seems like nothing happens. Cars have been getting heavier with all the additional safety and entertainment equipment out there now. Sorry, but a 170 hp 4 cylinder in a 3,800 lb vehicle just doesn't cut it. It's got to work hard to move that mass, and then those optimistic EPA fuel economy numbers go out the exhaust pipe. Maybe a 300 hp V6 is still overkill. I think that's really the problem - the "right" mix of power and efficiency isn't actually available a lot of the time. It's either the anemic base engine, or the big gun motor, where another one right in the middle would probably be strong enough to give decent performance without having to push it too hard, which might in turn help the real world mpg too.

Having said that, would I enjoy driving a Hellcat or Z06 Corvette? Uh, YEAH! But I'd be more than happy with the base Vette or regular Hemi versions too, and if I were to actually blow the money on a car like that, that's what I'd get. They're still way faster than public roads and traffic (at least where I live) will allow.