The Sonata has had a facelift – and been reborn a beauty
I was not expecting much when I set off to attend the launch of the (not quite) new Hyundai Sonata, a car that I have always found about as attractive as an effluent facial. But then I saw it.
The real shame about cosmetic surgeries is that they generally make the person who’s overpaid for them look worse; witness the once gloweringly gorgeous Posh Spice and the fact that her lips now look like she kissed Donald Duck, stepped back and kept the bill.
Car companies, of course, are in love with the idea of facelifts, because in their world they are cheap. Creating an entirely new vehicle is expensive, which is why they generally exist in seven-year “model cycles”, and during that cycle they might be facelifted a few times.
Generally this means adding some new tech features and a few visual nips and tucks that are barely noticeable.
Thus, I was not expecting much when I set off to attend the launch of the (not quite) new Hyundai Sonata, a car that I have always found about as attractive as an effluent facial. Indeed, I was trying to come up with a plan for walking up and getting into it with my eyes shut, to avoid suffering, but then they showed us a photo of the new one next to the old one.
Imagine, for a moment, one of the ugly step-sisters instantly transmogrifying into Cinderella and you’ll have some idea of how profound this facelift has been. The Sonata badge goes back all the way to 1985, and the older ones were merely dull rather than actively ugly, but the most recent one had a genuinely offensive front end, with a sad whale shark mouth and depressed-robot headlights.
The new one literally draws a line through that, with sleek LED lights, a far superior grille and front end treatment, new hot wheels and even a much improved rear end that has touches of the Ford Mustang about it.
Honestly, this might be the first actual, genuine and successful car facelift I have ever seen. I’m not saying they’ve turned the Sonata into a Ferrari, but it has gone from a three to an eight. If I could do that, I would pay for cosmetic surgery.
The improvements continue inside, with a more modern seamless screen covering both the centre stack and the dash display for the driver. Through these screens you can access four levels of Active Sound Design, from Off to Shouty Showoff, which artificially boosts the sounds coming from the engine by pumping them into the cabin through the car’s speakers.
As this clearly fatuous feature suggests, Hyundai is now selling the Sonata as a sporty sedan, and to that end it comes in just one spec level, the N Line, which means lots of racy red bits, grippy seats (which are very comfortable, and also heated) and pronounced exhaust pipes that are possibly as exaggerated as the sound.
You can tell this is a zhuzh-up rather than a new car because the Sonata N Line keeps the exact same engine and gearbox – a 2.5-litre four-cylinder and an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission – as the previous version. It might only have four cylinders, but it’s still a large-ish motor, and an enthusiastic sounding one, with 213kW and 422Nm. Out on the open road, that means it’s got a reasonable amount of punch and it feels eager and willing to attack any section of sweeping corners you throw at it. Unfortunately, and this might be largely in my mind, it’s hard to escape the feeling when you’re revving it hard that it sounds a bit fake.
The chassis set-up and the steering seem fine, though the wheel itself could be offering up a meatier level of feel, but overall the driving experience is pretty good; I’d go so far as to call it surprisingly enjoyable.Turn off the silly Active Sound and it can then also cruise quietly on the open road.
Sadly, what lets it down for me is the seating position, which just feels too high to be involving. Basically you feel like you’re sitting on the Sonata, floating above it slightly, rather than in it; just a few centimetres of downward travel would have made such a difference to the whole experience.
Perhaps, of course, it’s just the designers trying to pander to the kind of buyers who want an SUV so they can see more. Speaking of which, Hyundai says its new-ish Sonata should dominate the “medium sedan market” in Australia, which was news to me, because I didn’t know we even had one any more.
I was happy to hear, however, that the company confidently predicts that some people will step into a Hyundai showroom thinking they want to buy another boring SUV, set their eyes on this little beauty and end up driving away in a Sonata instead.
In looks terms, at least, I can definitely see why, although, at $55,500, the Hyundai Sonata N Line is certainly no bargain buy. But then I guess someone has to pay for all that cosmetic surgery.
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