New York: Hyundai Sonata Hybrid

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Hyundai’s just-unveiled Sonata Hybrid is the latest step in the Korean brand’s assault on the American automotive landscape, and it looks to have been a good one. No licensed bits from Toyota here, in fact Hyundai’s new powertrain does away with Toyota’s powersplit-CVT concept, simply replacing the torque converter on its automatic transmission with a starter-generator motor and a high-efficiency oil pump. Ok, maybe not simply.



Hyundai claims the design is lighter and more robust than the competition (the Sonata Hybrid is 236 lbs lighter than Fusion Hybrid), allows it to operate in EV mode up to 62 MPH, and offers more “balanced” efficiency gains in city and highway mileage. With efficiency gains from aero work [“because only Hybrids deserve improved aerodynamics,” glowers Sajeev in his notes], Hyundai projects the Sonata Hybrid will do 37 mpg in the city and 39 mpg on the highway. Whether those numbers hold up in the real world is one of the many questions we’d like answered by some time in the driver’s seat. All we know for now is that the styling seems to be the best compromise so far between the Prius, Volt and Insight’s “just-crawled-out-of-a-wind-tunnel” look and the “let’s just slap some badges on it” school of hybrid design.



Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Philadlj Philadlj on Apr 01, 2010
    "Whether those numbers hold up in the real world is one of the many questions we’d like answered by some time in the driver’s seat" Let's hope it does better than the Equinox! I actually prefer this to the standard Sonata, whose chrome grille is a bit too slasher-pic.
  • Ian Anderson Ian Anderson on Apr 01, 2010

    There's already a few people in my neighborhood with the new Sonata. I'd imagine the hybrid version might replace a few of the Camry hybrids floating around. I've yet to see a single Fusion hybrid aside from the dealer. Front end looks like a compacted Elantra Touring. I'm liking their styling, while it maybe a mish-mash of other cars' looks, at least they make it look GOOD.

  • Zipper69 A Mini should have 2 doors and 4 cylinders and tires the size of dinner plates.All else is puffery.
  • Theflyersfan Just in time for the weekend!!! Usual suspects A: All EVs are evil golf carts, spewing nothing but virtue signaling about saving the earth, all the while hacking the limbs off of small kids in Africa, money losing pits of despair that no buyer would ever need and anyone that buys one is a raging moron with no brains and the automakers who make them want to go bankrupt.(Source: all of the comments on every EV article here posted over the years)Usual suspects B: All EVs are powered by unicorns and lollypops with no pollution, drive like dreams, all drivers don't mind stopping for hours on end, eating trays of fast food at every rest stop waiting for charges, save the world by using no gas and batteries are friendly to everyone, bugs included. Everyone should torch their ICE cars now and buy a Tesla or Bolt post haste.(Source: all of the comments on every EV article here posted over the years)Or those in the middle: Maybe one of these days, when the charging infrastructure is better, or there are more options that don't cost as much, one will be considered as part of a rational decision based on driving needs, purchasing costs environmental impact, total cost of ownership, and ease of charging.(Source: many on this site who don't jump on TTAC the split second an EV article appears and lives to trash everyone who is a fan of EVs.)
  • The Oracle Some commenters have since passed away when this series got started.
  • The Oracle Honda is generally conservative yet persistent, this will work in one form or fashion.
  • Theflyersfan I love this car. I want this car. No digital crap, takes skill to drive, beat it up, keep on going.However, I just looked up the cost of transmission replacement:$16,999 before labor. That's the price for an OEM Mitsubishi SST. Wow. It's obvious from reading everything the seller has done, he has put a lot of time, energy, and love into this car, but it's understandable that $17,000 before labor, tax, and fees is a bridge too far. And no one wants to see this car end up in a junkyard. The last excellent Mitsubishi before telling Subaru that they give up. And the rear facing car seat in the back - it's not every day you see that in an Evo! Get the kid to daycare in record time! Comments are reading that the price is best offer. It's been a while since Tim put something up that had me really thinking about it, even something over 1,000 miles away. But I've loved the Evo for a long time... And if you're going to scratch out the front plate image, you might want to do the rear one as well!
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