One of our Best and Brightest over in South Korea got the inside line on the new Hyundai Sonata. Here’s what he knows so far . . .
The car was officially released today [Hyundai press release HERE] in front of about 200 invited guests (I was NOT one of them). The car has been available for pre-sales for about 2 weeks and has, according to the salesperson I spoke to, sold over 20,000 units. For comparison, in August, the ‘old’ Sonata sold about 7,000 units. That number was probably down a little as people were no doubt waiting for the new model. In July, the ‘old’ Sonata sold about 9,000 units. So the new model has ‘pre-sold’ more than the last two months of sales of the old car. (These sales numbers of the ‘old’ model are official numbers from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association).
The salesperson told me that it would take about 45 days to get delivery of a new Sonata if I ordered one today. I didn’t order one, but I might. My wife (Korean citizen) has an uncle who works for Hyundai (who doesn’t in Korea, eh? lol) and he gets about a 20% discount on new cars that he can also transfer to family members. We bought our 2002 Elantra (called Avante here) that way. We ended up paying about 9 million won for that car and it even came with a full-size spare tire with matching aluminum wheel! I digress . . .
Dealers do not currently have any units in stock, only brochures and price guides. I was told that test-drive models would be available next week. I booked a test drive and would be happy to share my experiences with you (if you’re interested, that is).
Here’s some of the vital information from the brochure and price guide…
Prices range from 19.6 million won (base model, no additional options) to 29.3 million won (Sports model with all available options). The current exchange rate is about 1,200 won to the US dollar.
There are, if you can believe it, NINE different trim levels. Officially the car is known in Korea as the Hyundai Sonata Y20.
The base model (19.6 million) is the Grand edition. Next up is the Prime edition, available in two trims: Deluxe (23.15 million) and Super Deluxe (24.7 million).
Next up is the Premier edition, available in two trims: Deluxe (24.9 million) and Super Deluxe (25.8 million).
Between the Prime and Premier editions, there is something called the Premier Beige edition for 25.3 million.
Next up is the Top edition, available in two trims: Deluxe (25.95 million) and Super Deluxe (27.85 million).
Next up is the Sports model, available in only one trim (28.2 million).
Available options include:
Electronic Toll-road collection system for 250,000 won
A 3-piece panoramic sunroof for 1.15 million won
Intelligent DMB [look it up on wikipedia] 6.5-inch touch-screen navigation for between 850,000 won and 1.6 million depending on model)
A 6-speed automatic transmission (includes foot-operated parking brake, Eco-driving monitoring system, and rear-seat center console air vents) for 1.7 million won
Premium 8-inch wide-screen touch-screen navigation (includes JBL premium sound, voice activation, rear-view camera, and rear parking guide) for 2.0 million won
All navigation systems include real-time traffic information and the ability to play external video files (for example from a USB memory stick).
Sadly for me as I’m a big fan of manuals, a manual transmission (6-speed) is only available on the base model. All other models come with a 6-speed automatic. Only the top-of-the-line Sports model comes with paddle shifters.
There are three tire sizes available (all with aluminum wheels): P205/65 R16, P215/55 R17, P225/45 R18.
Premier editions and up come with rear heated seats. That’s something that I’ve never seen before on a car of this class.
The car is available in nine different colors, which is A LOT by Korean standards. Available colors are: Bright White, White Crystal, Slick Silver, Hyper Metallic, Dark Grey, Espresso, Remington Red, Blue Black, and Black Diamond.
Overall length: 4,820 mm
Wheelbase: 2,795 mm
Front overhang: 940 mm
Rear overhang: 1,085 mm
Vehicle width: 1,835 mm
Front track: 1,597 mm (16-inch wheel); 1,591 mm (17-inch wheel); 1,587 mm (18-inch wheel)
Rear track: 1,595 mm (16-inch wheel); 1,589 mm (17-inch wheel); 1,585 mm (18-inch wheel)
Vehicle height: 1,470 mm
Curb weight: 1,395 kg (manual transmission), 1,410 kg (automatic transmission).
The timing of this car is VERY important as Toyota will be launching its Korean dealer network NEXT month with four models, RAV4, Prius, and Camry (gas and hybrid). Naturally, the Sonata and Camry will be up against each other in sales. The petrol Camry here is expected to retail for about 35 million won. Must of the internet pundits have been predicting the Camry to fail here.
Generally, the internet buzz has been positive. The only complaint I’ve seen so far is about the steering wheel, muffler/exhaust treatment, and the paddle shifters only being available on the most expensive model. As I said, I’ll be driving the car next week and would be happy to email you about it.
Meanwhile, anything specific you’d like to know?
Yours in automotivity,
Huey
I seriously thought there was some sort of corruption going on in the jpg data of that photo. That grill.. yikes.. the rest of it dosnt look much better.
This will only widen the ‘perception gap’ that GM’s non-customers have.
Seems to have some cues from the Genesis cars…
Take a Lexus ES, add a touch of Audi…
In the photos the interior looks closer to Lexus than to Toyota. Does it look this good in person?
Definitely looking forward to your driving impressions.
The Sonata has been doing well in TrueDelta’s Car Reliability Survey. Hopefully we’ll be able to provide a quick result for the 2011, to see if this continues with the redesigned car.
http://www.truedelta.com/car-reliability.php
ENOUGH with the melty-car styling already! Cars shouldn’t look like chocolate bunnies that got microwaved. This era is going to be remembered as a wilderness of automotive design.
I assume he meant $1 = 1200 won. Therefore the top of the line fully loaded model will be just shy of $24,500. Wow. When do they go on sale in the U.S.?
I don’t like the front grill and the photos are a bit skewy, but the line and panel work on this car really work nicely. If anything, it’s less of a copy of other brands and something more uniquely Hyundai. This is good.
I’ll withhold further opinion until I check out the interior and give it the over 6 footer test – useless rear seats in a sedan are a complete fail for me regardless of how slick it looks on the outside.
That looks quite slick. I’d have to see one in person before rendering final judgment, but I’m impressed.
The front end is a Toyota Solara ripoff, while the side profile is a clone of the Mazda 6, and the interior is cribbed from the Lexus ES… shrug.
The only originality in car design nowadays comes from designers who are TRYING to make the thing as ugly as possible (I’m looking at you, Honda).
Looks a lot less like the VW CC in the flesh. More like the child of a hook-up between ES350 + A4.
Auto design purists will hate the design, but I think that this car will strike the perfect note with the suburban focus group crowd.
PS, somewhere in Gotenburg, a Volvo HVAC ergonomics guy is mildy flattered or about to commit seppuku.
Ford why did you have to kill Volvo?
My prediction: Hyundai/Kia will be the world’s number one automaker within 5 years. You’ve come a long way, baby.
And that interior is from a Chundai?
Must of the internet pundits have been predicting the Camry to fail here.
More expensive and fugly, also cheaper looking. Yeah, it has written FAIL all over it.
Unless snobs start buying it in masses … in which case… FAIL for the Hyundai.
Would not bother to consider it, far less buy it, but the few pics given look inoffensive enough.
The proof of its success here will primarily be VALUE, ie how much you pay and what you get.
It is interesting if the SOnata, which is also built in the USA like the Accord and the Camry, will EVER reach the 450,000 a year sales in the US that they get, despite their poor and boring styling. RIght now it does not even have one third of the above.
Ha ha. Koreans at their best: My 10 yer old 325Ci has exactly the same reflectors at the bottom of the rear bumper.
I also see:
Accord side-bulging headlights (applied to brake lights)
Accord falopian tube dash
Passat CC roof slope
Mercedes lower front fascia
BMW / Audi S5 trunk & inner tail light lines
Camry nostril
Subaru vibrating/melting grille
Lexus ES350 rear window shape
Mercedes A pillar & Audi mirror
Thank God there is no Hofmeister kink on the C pillar….
In fact I like the styling of your 1999 325 Ci much better than its Bungled (pun intended) successor
(I drive a 98 740iL with the original Nav and all kinds of bells and whistles myself, got it 4 years ago at 1/2 to 1/3 of what people will pay for the dumbass SOnatas, Accords (and I say this as an owner of a nice 90 5-speed Accord coupe for 14 years!) and Camrys.
This era is going to be remembered as a wilderness of automotive design.
No, that would be about 1978 through to about 2002. Try and visualize the 1987 Toyota Corolla, for example. I owned one, and I have trouble remembering what it looked like.
We’ve just come out of a very long period of design minimalism. For better (this or the Passat CC) or worse (the Honda Accord) we’re going to see a lot more 50s/60s-style sheetmetal perversion over the next few years.
If your design cribs from Accord, Passat, Mercedes,
BMW, Audi, Camry, Subaru and Lexus then you are being really creative. If you crib from one design, then you could be accused of being unoriginal, but originality often comes from pastiche.
Cribbing from far and wide though tends to put you with a generic look, but most people hate it when cars look different anyways.
Hyundai might be making a mistake with the amount of different packages available. Customers will be confused, and the most anal will want specific options colors etc. and request the dealers trade, or order them one. Great lessons from Honda and Toyota could be learned by limited options and packages.
psarhjinian that is a long era you mention! From bloated to boxy to bean-shaped to melty.
My specific complaint is that designers are generally choosing strong shapes and forms but then degrading them with cliches… either weird saggy details or fetishistic retro tchotchkes. Have some confidence people!
Hey guys, this car is not unattractive at all! Sure it is derivative, but what car is NOT these days? I like that it does not appear to have the droopy-butt of the CLS550, or the VW CC… and I personally think this car is attractive.
Hyundai has been making such HUGE strides in quality, and now design… I am proud of them. AND I am afraid for our domestic US industry if this is what we are going to be getting from “bargain” brands from Korea,
Nice work Hyundai.
I’m with Porsche986. If GM wants the best car to win, it won’t be a Malibu.
Viewed from head on… I get a strong whiff of Camry Solara
The second picture for me is a mash of CC and Es350
Not really bad… the front though could use some work… really I think its the disjointed grill.
On a side note… what is it with not being able to get a green car?
Its getting harder and harder outside of the luxury market to get green.
This decade is going to be remembered(NOT)as a wilderness of unoriginal bland generic mediocrity.
Hyundai is still cribbing design cues from everyone else, but I quite like it. Especially the interior.
@CyCarConsulting… Keep in mind that the option packages I reported on are for the Korean market. When the car goes to the US, I’m sure they’ll have different option packages and such.
Toyota and Honda won’t wake up from this nightmare.
I think it’s a good looking car and will sell well when it gets here. IMO definitely better looking than the current Accord or Camry, has overall an edgy design that no other car in its price range has. Hyundai looks poised to grab increasing market share with every product they and Kia have brought to market recently. Between their warranty, the vehicles themselves and the pricing I’d say they’re about to become a very formidable competitor. Every vehicle they introduce gets closer to being a prime consideration in its segment.
Autosavant :
September 17th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
In fact I like the styling of your 1999 325 Ci much better than its Bungled (pun intended) successor
+1 on that…but in fairness, I think the current 3-series is probably the best design BMW put out under “Bungle.” I think it’s a pretty handsome piece. I’ve been coveting an arrest-me-red 335 sedan for some time now.
What REALLY suffered, though, were the dashboards. Bimmers used to have that cool dash that wrapped around the driver. Now they curve away from the driver at the edges. And the hump for IDrive at the top of the dash is just awful. And don’t get me started on IDrive.
Good thing BMWs are so great to drive…
I didn’t like the profile view that was posted a while back, but these photos might just change my mind. I really like that rear three-quarters view. I’m not nutty about the front (Avalon grille, anyone?), though.
And I don’t care if that dash cribbed Infiniti’s nav screen and Volvo’s A/C controls – it looks great, and if it’s executed as well as the current Sonata’s is (i.e., no chintzy hard plastic), it’ll be a knockout in person.
But what I’m most interested in here is the “Sport” model – will Hyundai finally wean its chassis off Novocaine? The Elantra Touring, which I reviewed a while back (https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/review-2010-hyundai-elantra-touring/), drives European; if Hyundai can translate that same dynamic into this car, they’ve got a winner on their hands.
The car looks great in the pictures. I have been impressed with materials and fit and finish on the Sonatas I have been in. Not so much other models such as the Santa Fe
“I assume he meant $1 = 1200 won. Therefore the top of the line fully loaded model will be just shy of $24,500. Wow. When do they go on sale in the U.S.?”
If it is in a year $1 might equal 800 won. :)
@ csliwins… I’m just curious, what do you perceive to be the difference between what I wrote (The current exchange rate is about 1,200 won to the US dollar) and what you wrote (I assume he meant $1 = 1200 won)?
I’m no economics or mathematics wiz., but aren’t they the same thing?
I just saw a test-drive car on the road today, and boy did it look goooooooooooood!
i bet if this was released by someone other than Hyundai there’d be hardly any of the “omgz it looks like this and this and omgz they always steal everyones design can’t they do their own”
it’s so draining and boring.
imo congrats to Hyundai for taking a risk designing something a bit more different in possibly the dullest segment in the car industry