It seems that as Toyota becomes the new G.M., Hyundai becomes the new Toyota.

The exterior of the Passat CC, MKS, Buick and Genesis look just like the Lexus GS.

The interiors of all these cars look like the Lexus now too.

And now the engine choices are decreasing to V6 engines around 3.5 or 3.6 liters.

Uh,did you take feedback into account? Accuracy? There is way more to quality steering than effort to turn the wheel. Regarding stiffness of the chassis, I was under the impression that stiffer structures allowed softer suspension settings without compromising the handling. Torsional and bending stiffness are the latest Madison Avenue buzzwords.

DIY suspension upgrades can help enormously, but only if parts are available. The aftermarket is going to need some volume to make money on production. Not sure if a Sonata is going to make the cut…

I fully expected a few comments regarding my higher octane choice, it’s 91, while the Fit runs on 87. Still, I expected 100% gasoline to perform a bit better than it did. I have had zero success finding any pure gas at 87, so I have no recourse but to purchase this flawed fuel.

Ideally with the centrality of energy to our economy, politicized decisions will be eliminated over time.

http://www.hyundai-blog.com/index.php/2008/12/15/next-generation-hyundai-sonata-yf-renderings/#comment-1777

It appears that it may have more “personality” than the present model.

Taking into account that putting too HIGH of an octane into your car can reduce MPG since the higher octane gas burns at a different rate and can’t be fully taken advantage of in an engine which is set-up (and has the lower compression ratio of) a regular-octane engine, then taking into account the ethanol (see my many ditribes on TTAC about the poor mileage of E10) put your mileage down.

So when you went to 87 octane E10, it may have gone straight back up to the efficiency you’d been expecting.

I experienced this phenomenon on our trip to the Canadian rockies in July/August. I took some of the advice of my Canadian friends here, and when I could, I actually put Shell Premium fuel in the Sonata – and measured carefully, expecting a bit of an increase over the prior tank of E10. Nope; it was identical.

Yet, other than that one tankfull (actually, even including that one tankfull), my efficiency was 6% better on real 100% gasoline compared to E10 over 5000 miles (8000 km).

If the B.O. were as “smart” a leader as he and the lamestream media swooners think he is, he’d abolish ethanol; eliminate the multiple and varied fuel standards all over the place (to reduce costs, increase efficiency and reduce the at-pump price); encourage American industry to adopt garbage-to-oil as one answer (see http://www.changingworldtech.com); likewise butanol instead of ethanol (see http://www.butanol.com); get rid of CAFE regulations; homogenize crash and emission standards with Japan and Europe to reduce costs for everyone (making cars more affordable and give buyers more choices instead of fewer); and would tell California that CO2 is NOT a pollutant and that instead of adding costs, the state could start planting more trees to soak up the CO2 and put out oxygen to help clean the air.

Of course none of the above are going to happen.

I was running V power through my 09 Fit until recently. Mileage declined over the winter weather to roughly 6.5 litres per 100k, and stabilized there. For curiosity’s sake I have run over 3 tankfuls of 87 octane from Shell, with no conscious change in driving style, and mileage is currently back to 6.4 litres.

Admittedly, this is not measured or controlled data, but I am content with the 87 for the moment. Curious.

Well if you need a not so expensive car to drive around Chicago or New England to be bombarded with pot holes, ICE Storm, Sliding on Interstate 90 and 95 or having your bumper got frozen overnight and in the morning you accidentally pulled that bumper from your car.

I will buy a Hyundai with no worries with a 100,000 mile warranty.

What was the news about Hyundai Financing that if you can’t pay your car just return it. I heard it on the news a couple of weeks ago.

Hyundai is from the Land of the Can do Spirit

hey I dated a korean for 6 hours from Seoul to LA on Northwest Airline. What else can you complain about?

Of course, the EPA is responsible for “oxygenated” fuels, so this is a conflict of interest?

My Elantra is getting around 19MPG in “short hop” driving (<2 miles), the engine is barely warm when I get to work – it’s also “cold-blooded”, it takes a long time to reach operating temperature.

(Lets see – Do ethanol blends burn “cooler” than gasoline? Hmmmm.)

It has been the coldest January in years here in Western PA, though…

Hyundai has quite a good rep here with plenty of advertising, and fits ABS, side airbags and ESP to every model in it’s range right from the cheapest Getz. every model has a diesel option too

Drove it for 5 days and over 1000 miles.

Don’t remember a thing about it.

That’s sort of the point of this car I think.

Bang for the buck, these cars are perfect for folks like my wife and me who are just normal folks needing a solid ride to do all our junk!

Nissan’s CVT is probably the best automatic in this class, and the only one really done ‘right.’

Its the perfect transportation appliance. White bread on wheels.

Camry 5-auto with a 4 cyl is awful. If Sonata’s tranny is any worse, I can’t even imagine it.