Driving the 2011 Hyundai Sonata

Maintaining momentum with a strong redesign. Len Katz Photo.

Funny thing about incremental gains in automobiles, they eventually add to something big.

Last year was something big for Hyundai Motor America as it picked up more than one percentage point of U.S. market share during the worst business climate since the Great Depression.

Over the previous decade, the Korean maker edged slowly along, picking up a tenth of a point each year. However, taxpayer financed “Cash for Clunkers,” coupled with years of product refinement, reasonable pricing, along with some deft marketing of an extended warranty made for what was a ten-fold increase in the rate of gain.

The momentum has not stopped. This May marked the seventeenth consecutive month of year-over-year share gains for Hyundai. Year to date, Hyundai sales are up 23% to 205,000 vehicles compared with 2009.

The volume car at the heart of the lineup is the completely redesigned for 2011 Sonata sedan that is just appearing. So far, this sixth generation version has been well received. To find out why, I spent a week testing a pearl white Limited model – $26,315 delivered. There are leases advertised starting at under $200/month for less well-equipped models.

What emerged after several hundred miles of testing was a comfortable, fuel efficient (26 mpg average) and generally pleasant car. This bodes well for Hyundai, but not for competitors, since Sonata is, arguably, the most important launch thus far for the upstart Korean maker.

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If there is a problem here, it is caused by the companion company Kia with its Optima derived from the same corporate parts bin. However, that is a nit, and a longer-term marketing separation issue for the parent company as each brand grows.  Kia sales through May at 138,000 are up 15%. The overall market is up 17%, but that number is heavily influenced by Detroit Three fleet sales, which have doubled compared to the year before, and are running at 30% of units wholesaled.

Sonata is expressive both out and inside.

For the moment, the car’s the star and a pleasant one at that. It  starts with Sonata’s exterior shape. Styling matters are subjective, and I generally do not dwell on them, but the swept roofline and sculpted body sides, and chrome accents give the car a missile-like look – ignore the politics of the Korean peninsula – compared to the more mainstream entries in the class dominated by Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima. The sleek sedan is distinctive at first glance and has staying power.  (The bland on bland Ford Fusion and the plain vanilla Chevrolet Malibu are also competitors here – at least in  theory.)

By making a virtue of the reality demanded by higher hoods due to pedestrian protection regulations, stylists have worked it into the angular look and used the sides of one-piece hood to emphasize the horizontal sweep while also defining the large grille. It’s a more expressive approach, done by Hyundai designers in California, than is generally taken in this very conservative segment.

To get inside, there’s a “proximity key,” (non-key?) which leads to a start-stop button as the, well, “key” part of the interior where the same expressive exterior approach is used on the instrument panel. (Start-stop buttons and keyless transmitters are worthless devices, in my view, whose use is growing in all classes of cars like dandelions in spring. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now scrutinizing start/stop because of its role in the horrific deaths of a California Highway Patrol Officer and his family in an infamous Lexus unintended acceleration accident.)

Limited in Sonata speak is hardly that. It means leather seating surfaces with heated front and rear seats. Also included are:

• Dual automatic temperature control
• Auto-dimming mirror with HomeLink and a compass
• Premium door sill plates with “Limited” badge (ho hum)
• In-dash six-disc CD-changer
• HD Radio technology with multicasting
• Dimension premium speakers, subwoofer/external amplifier
• 17-inch alloy wheels with P215/55R tires
• Side-mirror turn signal indicators
• Power tilt and slide sunroof
• Floor console mounted rear vents

A navigation package is $2,100 more. It has a touch screen display and it replaces the six-disc CD changer, though. A rear backup camera, and Infinity premium speakers, subwoofer/external amplifier are also part of the deal.

Sonata is classified by EPA as a Large Car along with the Honda Accord. All the other competitors mentioned above are mid-size with less than 120 cubic feet of passenger and cargo volume. The Accord at 194 inches in overall length is 4 inches longer. The trade-offs here are Accord at 106 cubic feet of passenger volume has 2.2 more cubic feet than Sonata; whereas Sonata at 16.4 cubic feet of cargo room has a  2.4 cubic foot trunk advantage – that is before the premium sound system takes away almost 0.5. Hyundai styling presents another compromise as well. The rear seat bottom-cushion is low and tilted back because of the swept roofline. It’s an uncomfortable ride for some people.

Sonata comes with a new “Theta II” 2.4-liter gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine and a choice of six-speed transaxles. It has class-leading fuel economy ratings of 24 mpg city/35 mpg highway on its most efficient manual trans model. The Limited tested was rated at 22/35 with its 6-speed automatic. Sonata also has a class-leading 198 horsepower standard, 200 horsepower on SE trim. It is the best four-cylinder by far in a segment that has several excellent ones since it has roughly 20 horsepower or more from the same displacement by performance.

Engine performance is good, except for one quirk. The fuel saving direct injection design requires high fuel pressures, and the pump sits atop the engine close to the firewall. This produces a low-amplitude, high frequency hum during operation. The Koreans are aware of the refinement issue and are working on it.

Ride is tuned toward sporty so there is some feedback from the pavement via the tires into the seats. If you are considering the SE with the larger 18-inch wheels and performance tires, be sure to test drive first to see if it’s too harsh.

All Sonatas have a column-mounted, motor-driven electric power steering that adjusts to changing driving conditions while improving fuel economy over a conventional steering system. A quick-ratio steering rack is used for good turn-in. Sonata’s turning diameter of 35.8 feet is better than Camry, Accord, Altima, Fusion and Malibu. The feel is okay, in  a vague sort of way.

Overall, the assembly quality was good in a car that exquisitely prepped for delivery.  In February, Hyundai Motor issued a recall for about 46,000 of the 2011 Sonata models in South Korea and 1,300 of the defective Sonata models in the U.S. In a statement at the time, Hyundai said that it has “discovered a mechanical problem with its front door latches which, in very rare instances, will not close properly.”

Much has been made of the heavily promoted Hyundai extended powertrain warranty, dubbed Hyundai Assurance which is for 10 years/100,000 miles, which Kia has as well.  GM is also claiming something similar,  effective to 100,000 miles but for only 5 years. Hyundai’s basic 5/60,000 warranty is much better than all the competitors who are at 3/36,000, except for the 2010 Chevy Malibu at 5/50,000.

In short, Sonata has a lot going for it – best-in-class fuel economy, an EPA-designated Large Car interior, 198 horsepower four-cylinder and a starting price of $19,815 for the well-equipped GLS model.

More than 18,000  Sonatas were sold in March, when it first became available, another 18,0oo in April. The family car then sold more than 21,000 in May or +92% from a year ago. It appears that the only thing restraining this hot company will be the capacity of its new Alabama plant that assembles the Sonata and its four-cylinder engine. (Parts content: 41% U.S., 58% Korea.)

Sonata at the moment is sold out.

See also:

• Driving the Chevrolet Cruze
• Driving the 2010 Honda Accord
• Driving the 2010 Toyota Camry

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