An impressive car for the price
Nothing. It has been great!
Easy to maintain. Fun to drive. A quality workhorse.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 19th June, 2019
An interesting option if you want all the bells and whistles
Nothing.
This is the Limited edition with the 2.4 liter non turbo engine and all the options. It has the 16" wheels.
The good:
The seats have a beautiful leather, and are heated front & rear, and cooled in front.
The instruments are well laid out, simple to use, intuitive and have good quality buttons that feel pleasant to the touch.
The interior has enough legroom in front for drivers under 6' tall. The roof is quite low, and anyone over 6'1" will have his head hitting the roof handle.
Good legroom in the rear, and it's easy entry.
Manual sunshades for the rear passengers is a nice touch.
The rear camera is great.
The center display is perfect, but the touch screen needs to be a little more sensitive.
The average:
The ride comfort is unnoticeable. The car absorbs potholes well, but the ride has a touch of harshness. It's just lacking that 'comfy' pleasant feeling found in other vehicles such as a Toyota Camry.
The steering wheel is smallish, which may surprise some people. It has a good feeling controlling the car.
The handling is average. It feels a little floaty.
Seats: I found them a little on the hard side. Somehow like some German cars. It doesn't have a 'plushy' feeling.
Engine power: Nothing to write home about. I found it just decent, but it certainly lacks torque. It has 178 lb-ft of torque at 4000 RPM, so this is quite long before you get there. In city driving from a stop, it won't push your back in the seat. In other words it gets the job done.
Radio: I will rate this as average. It has Infinity speakers, a trunk sub-woofer and adjustable bass and treble, but it lacks a 'punch'.
The trunk has a high loading frame, which means it's difficult to slide in a thick and large suitcase.
The less good:
There is not much to say in this area. The only noticeable thing is the quality of the transmission. It's just slow to downshift causing poor acceleration, and the engine torque (call it acceleration) is not uniform across the transmission gears. I feel more torque at speeds near 25mph than driving from a stop in the 1st and 2nd gears. A bit strange.
I would also say that the standard tires are a little crappy - Kumho Solus HA31 - ask see if the dealer can deliver the car with some better Kumhos such as the HK16.
The radio display - shared with the climate controls - is terribly dim and the brightness can't be adjusted. Only this particular display is dim; hopefully they will revise this in the future models.
I wish they put a speed digital display in the middle of the gauges, it would be very simple to implement, perhaps they forgot about this.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 4th June, 2015
A few weeks later, I would like to add an update.
The car doesn't ride very well on the highway. It is 'mushy' when changing lines, and I believe the cheap tires to be the reason. I almost feel the tire sidewall bending. Really, ask the dealer to deliver the car with improved tires.
I was wrong about the digital actual speed display. The Sonata can display the actual speed in digital numbers, it's just that the menu is not clearly explained in the owners manual. To display it, set the display in the fuel consumption mode, then scroll with the OK button until it displays the speed in the center of the cluster.
The hard black plastics on the doors and under the dash scratch really easily. A finger nail is enough to cause a permanent scratch. Disappointing.
I was complaining about the transmission operation. I found out it has three shifting modes: Normal, Sport and Eco, accessible via a button on the shifter console. I found that in the Eco mode the transmission has a smooth and pleasant operation.
18th Mar 2020, 07:31
If you think these cars are great, have a look at this site with problems reported by owners, click on the text for each problem then scroll down to read the complaints.
Engine problems: https://www.carcomplaints.com/Hyundai/Sonata/2015/engine/
Other problems: https://www.carcomplaints.com/Hyundai/Sonata/2015/