The 2011 Hyundai Sonata – Far Eastern Precision in a Daring Exterior
At first, about 10 years ago, Hyundai brought out its first Sonata, looking curiously like a cross between a Jaguar and a Mercedes E class. Their styling took on decidedly Accord-like features ever since. Hyundai’s quality of course, has steadily improved over the past 10 years. To the point where nowadays, the Sonata’s quality is much indistinguishable from that of the Japanese competition – the Accord and the Camry.
The 2011 Hyundai Sonata is the car that everybody always knew the company would end up building one day.
It’s a car that is as close to perfection as you would want. It’s a stuffed with the way more perks and extras than its Japanese rivals, and it costs $1000 less. The 2011 Hyundai Sonata is not an exotic or somehow an unconventional car. As a matter of fact, it’s rigidly conventional. What truly attracts you to it is the way everything is spectacularly well thought-out, well-made and well-finished. The attention to detail is staggering. It shows.
On the Hyundai Sonata, you don’t get a V6 like you do with other brands. You get a four-cylinder engine that performs superbly. The suspension is pretty conventional, and performance is what you would expect if nothing more. It’s in how everything comes together in a perfect quality product that stuns you. This year’s Hyundai Sonata is shaped sooner differently from the ones that came before it. No longer is it a frumpy Accord look-alike. Instead, it’s taken on a new snazzy appearance – the four-door coupe has the shape that Mercedes CLS has. Frankly, you could have people stopping around your car to take a picture. It’s that impressive.
The base model starts at just under $20,000; and it includes just everything – USB ports, 12 V power points, audio ports, wonderfully snug and supportive seats, Bluetooth’s cell phone ability in the sound system and just an overall hush of quality. All models put out about 200 hp. The six-speed automatic is utterly smooth and well thought- out, and you can even shift manually with a shifter that’s mounted on the floor. The fact that they have only used a four-cylinder engine means that the car is quite a bit lighter than the competition’s models. And that makes it a pretty entertaining drive. It’s actually faster than the Accord. And guess what, you don’t even need to use premium gasoline.
However, the biggest news of course is the new Hyundai Sonata Hybrid for 2011 that is priced at about $26,000. What is astonishing without this hybrid is that it doesn’t use one of those annoying continuously variable transmissions like they do on other hybrids. It uses the same six-speed automatic that every other car in the range does. It makes for a satisfying drive.
