And Here It Is: New Hyundai Sonata

Man... *Pulling out my matchbox CLS for comparison* Honda and Toyota have never been at the top of the design heap..., just looking at current Accord and Camry solidifies that comment. They both have their own design theories for their mainstay brands. I personally don't think either borrows or steals from any automaker.. with exception of the bangle butt on the Camry. Neither has the ability of any stretch to design from an existing design (like the CLS from an E) something so out of the ordinary.. as to start a trend. The debate could be started about compact SUVS / CUVs on car frames.. or hybrids on CAR FRAMES... but those whole vehicles not prexisting designs like the E. Honda was about uncomplicated interiors, with airy and low belt lines with wide open greenhouses and model tumblehomes on cars that got good fuel economy on 4cycl motors never stretching past 3ltrs... now its the opposite. (Wont even mention the debacle of design and product that's going on over at Acura.) Toyota is much the same as Honda in this respect... without as many rules as Honda. But they too have / are trying to stretch the design pen on the Lexus brand. -------------------------------- But the CLS isn't a bad looking idea.. even though they just shrink-wrapped the E class and asked ya to pay another 30g on top of a 50g base E - which itself is overpriced. Now they can sell a good design, ON TOP OF the E-class mechanicals. Now every sedan currently on the market inline to be redone, or that's EVEN coming to the market (Mondeo) is going to have that design objective. Just like companies copied the bangle butt. (Camry) The CC just doesn't look as good. Even though.. VW is doing EXACTLY the same thing to develop the car as MB did. Take an existing sedan and shrink wrap the rear.. and or charge plenty more for it, even though its the same design. I don't see the "value" or the purpose. The Sonata.. takes so many different "foreign" design aspects and COMBINES them in ONE vehicle, without a premium name or price.., that the name will / often loses point or purpose, and the design ITSELF is panned as being a copy.. which it is. Now, Anyone who has ever has designed cars professionally (or even remotely tries to analyze design trends) knows that, a character line comes off of the TOP of the front tire arch, or some VERY close tangent.. (see BMW / MB / Audi for examples) OR forms a single belt line all around the vehicle to unify various elements all over the car (greenhouse / belt line offsets, rear lights hang off of it or with it), that still comes off the area around the top of the front tire arch. (One good trait I like about current Accord, even though less pronounced). NTM, There are plenty of distracting elements of this car.. that really don't work well together (much like every other thing Hyundai has slopped together in their "design pot of hell): One, its has the classic wedge design.. that is fine for most front drivers. Not good for trying to emulate a PREMIUM REAR DRIVER! Two, it has the lower rear arch to the rear. That's do-able, if ya reduce the height and greenhouse. See the Panamera for that other EXPENSIVE MISTAKE! Three, that stupid character line. It doesn't define anything, it doesn't start from anywhere and if it doesn't HELP the car.. then it HURTS it. Four, the CLS has a rather diminutive grill with a set of neat aerodynamic front lights set in a neat UNIFIED front clip, (that helps to unify the car as a whole) unlike the Sonata that doesn't mimic it in that respect at all. Sonata uses the grille to take up as much visual real estate as it can get, flanked by upswept lights (see Mazda 6 for more info) whose PRONOUNCED trailing line ACCENTUATES the INADEQUACIES of the massive grill and reduces the visual appeal of the unification of the full front clip, almost COMPLETELY forgetting about the whole rest of car. This is on top of the strakes that define the hood and those lines that lead into the front clip and frame the front lights are much wider than the CLS, with much worse effect. The CLS which has the option of a 6.2 Ltr V8.. this engine bay could probably hold a V12 EASILY. Where as the Sonata and or the VW barely hold a V6. ---I know there are plenty of cars with (LS) massive grilles, but damn.. stick a few burgers on that.. and ya still got room for the ribs AND STEAKS! Five, the CLS also has a very neat rear clip (can't remember the design term). Its a place where the air flow / wind comes together to form a positive space and flows away from the car without breaking up. Instead of where on the Sonata, the air is being confused and is just swirling around with a CC style rear clip complete with Porsche whale tail out back. M-B spent plenty of money in the wind tunnel and plenty of CAD-CAM time working out the rear end issues of the CLS.. and it shows! Six: As if we didnt see this TREND coming like a freight train... years ago. Every "midsized car" is now 1/4 LARGER than they were 5yrs ago. Seven, M-B essentially reduced the livable rear passenger room about 20% in height for aesthetics on an existing E class car. As bad as I think the CLS is for its design issues on a 50g + 30g premium = 80g+ car. they did a very cohesive job (probably cost them a coupla billion dollars to work this out), one that the VW and the Sonata just don't. ----------------------- In the end: The coming Sonata design isn't original. Its not even remotely good looking. They are taking a 4yr old design that debuted on a pricey German car.. selling for 80g whose current closest knock off is 1/2 the price (and 1/32nd the quality execution) and trying to FORCE it on a vehicle in a price class where nothing matters except for the price, and that damn warranty. People dont buy Hyundai / Kia for their design excellence. They also don't buy it for its torque or engine and or design superiority. It doesn't say anything about Hyundai's ability to style a vehicle that looks appealing.. just their ability to rubber stamp their way into people-who-dont-give-two-shits-about-cars car. And in case ya wondering, the CC, Sonata and Panamera AREN'T the only ones who are doing this.. The Aston Martin Rapide and Jag-U-ar XF is also.

The designer of the CLS, Murat Gunak, left Mercedes-Benz to join Volkswagen Group, where he was lead designer of the CC. General opinion of the design community is that the CC is an improvement over the CLS, with better headroom for rear passengers. No, Gunak hasn't left VW for Hyundai, and you can tell. The Snorata is at least an improvement over trying to copy the Accord-the official vehicle of the Witness Protection Program... Accords: VW is doing EXACTLY the same thing to develop the car as MB did. Take an existing sedan and shrink wrap the rear.. and or charge plenty more for it, even though its the same design. I don’t see the “value” or the purpose. Wrong- The CC is priced $1200 LESS than the Passat.