Category: Large Family 
Price Range: No data available
Sharp-suited looks, generous equipment, voluminous space, praiseworthy build quality
Jangling ride, lack of initial diesel option, soggy cornering, traditionally high deprecation
Faced with the twin drawbacks of being a petrol saloon in a class that favours diesel hatchbacks, the latest Sonata fights back with a crisp design, generous equipment and a keen price. Well built and spacious, it still can't shake off its unsophisticated US driving style.
Previous Sonatas have all suffered for being set up for American drivers and roads. Shown a bend, the springs and dampers that ensured straight-line comfort compress too much to suit us. Now the Americans have their own car built (for the first time) in their own country, allowing Hyundai to doctor our Korean-built cars and tauten the suspension for our roads. The first positive difference over the old Sonata is in the steering. It's still American in its uniform lightness everywhere from just off the dead-ahead on a motorway to a fast A-road bend, and also in its total absence of feel. However, where the old car turned without enthusiasm, the replacement has a sharp turn-in and a keen response to driver wheel movements.
The big problem is the resistance to bumps. Despite a multi-link independent rear suspension (widely regarded as the set-up for a perfect ride/handling combination), the Sonata faxes every road imperfection straight into the cabin, with virtually every detail faithfully reproduced. Excellent work with sound deadening has muted the noise and retained the executive ambience, but it's not as comfortable as it should be.
The corner lean has been reigned in, but it's still there, which also contributes to the feeling you're driving a big car. The Sonata feels all its generous width and length, but the good visibility and tight turning circle means it's never intimidating.
Ignoring for a moment the thirst and unpopularity of big petrols, Hyundai's new all-aluminium 2.4-litre engine suits the Sonata very well. With 159bhp, the Sonata is believably claimed to do the 0-62mph sprint in 8.9secs for the manual (and 10.5secs for the auto). You'd create a fair bit of noise maxing it like that, but in normal driving you don't have to provoke the engine out its normal refinement to produce the speed you want. Only when you're searching for mid-range punch (161lb ft of torque isn't a huge amount), must you hunt through the nicely weighted five-speed manual gearbox. In the auto (expected to cost around £1000 more), you risk stirring up that high-rev racket again.
There are two answers to that lack of torque - a diesel or a V6, both of which Hyundai can supply. The Sonata already comes fitted with a new 3.3-litre 236bhp V6, but UK importers are still debating whether to bring it here. The 2.0-litre CRDi diesel is definitely coming next February, and updates Hyundai's current CRD unit to give 135bhp and 224lb ft of torque - exactly what this car needs.
Hyundai UK reckons four out of every five Sonata buyers will go for the automatic, and the smooth-shifting four-speed auto suits the restrained style of the Sonata. A 'Shift-tronic' function lets you sequentially swap gear ratios yourself if want, and the changes come fast enough for it to be enjoyable to use.
