Anyone have a new Hyundai Sonata?

[Bimmerbill]

I'm searching for a family oriented vehicle. Since my daughter was born we have sold my wifes 2 door Honda Civic and have been looking for something with enough room for the 3 of us.

My wife likes Honda (Accord, CRV, Pilot), but they are expensive, even for 3 or 4 year old ones.

Has anyone had experience with the new Hyundai Sonata? I can get a fully loaded one, with great safety features, for less money than a used Honda.

thanks,
Bill

[frayne]

I have test driven and researched the Sonata and think it would probably be a best buy for your money, IMHO. Resale value may not be all that hot but if you drive your cars until the wheels fall off, you could do much worse.

[Non sequitur]

I never touched one, but I'm impressed with the features and the styling.

[brewer12345]

2006 is the first year of the new model, right? If so, I would wait a few months and get a 2007 model. Give them time to work out the bugs.

BTW, you planning on more kids? Might want to buy something larger than the Sonata if you have future expansions in mind.

[lets-retire]

All I can say about Hyundai's is I don't ever see old ones on the road.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

If you're going to keep it forever, and I mean forever, then you might have a better deal.

Market on a used sonata is not only weak to the point where you'd have to give it away, you'd have a hard time getting a buyer.

You'd get a good return on a honda/toyota on resale, and probably a quick buyer.

I learned a lesson on saving a few bucks buying an Isuzu Trooper and an Infiniti Q45. Cheap to buy, took me months to get a buyer and I only sold them by cutting the price down to wholesale.

For example, looking at 2001 Sonata's for sale in CA, I'm seeing asking prices around 6-7k; Accords going for 13-16k.

That having been said, I hear they're pretty good cars that have really improved over the last few years.

[eridanus]

They have a 10 year powertrain and a 5 year bumper-to-bumper warranty.

http://www.hyundaiusa.com/global/warranty/warranty.aspx

(Read the fine print: The 10 yr may not be transferable to the 2nd owner.)


The brand is still being penalized for its days as a known POS.

[Bimmerbill]

My wife drives things until the wheels fall off. She would have kept her Civic 2 door forever I am sure. But it was a tight fit for my 6'6" frame, and loading the baby in the back seat wasn't working! Not to mention that it was a total stripper, with no options to include AC.

Undecided on whether to have another kid. I'll be 40, she 42 shortly. So we already pushed the envelope a bit first time around...

[HDMan]

JUNK!!!

[dkpearson]

Our trusty Sable finally put to rest (93 model) and we picked up a new Sonata, unfortuneatly the warranty is only 5 and 5 up here in Canada...seems we've been buying a bunch of them so they don't need to be as generous way up here.

Anyway, had it a few months now and love it...don't know how they do it but it feels HUGE inside, very comfortable, drives great, and was a lot less than a camry.....

Definitely not junk!*

...dan...


http://www.ginnunggap.com/

[gtmeouttahere]

Get the Honda Accord, in the long run it is by far the better buy. It will last you a very long time w/few issues. The reason why they are so expensive used is because they don't lose value near as fast as other makes and are built upon a reputation of reliability. You won't be dissapointed. Honda owners have the most owner loyalty than anyone in the business. I've never met a disappointed customer and never heard anyone who owned a Honda say it was a piece of crap. After five years see how much your Sonata is worth compared to the used Accord, you may be suprised. Happy hunting.

BTW your wife is a very smart woman, you should listen to her!!! But then again it is summer and the doghouse might not be all that bad this time of year.

[Bimmerbill]

Thanks everyone. I may go test drive a Sonata since the local dealership sells Honda, Ford, Hyundai.

I am starting to see a few used 2006 CR-Vs on the market. A couple of grand cheaper than new, with 10-15K on the odometer.

I may hold out until the 2007MY hit the showroom floor and see what kind of deals pop up.

[Jay_Gatsby]

Hondas are probably the best buy on the market these days. I just bought an Accord EX with leather, 6-disc changer, sunroof, alloy wheels, etc... for $21.5k before tax, tag and license. Absent a V6 and a navigation system (neither of which is really worth the extra $2k apiece), the car is essentially top of the line.

You might want to check Edmunds.com for resale values and the true cost to own for various vehicles. The Honda will probably end up being the best choice based on the numbers.

[Andre1969]

One reason you don't see a lot of older Hyundai Sonatas on the road is that they just weren't that popular until maybe 3-4 years ago. With the latest 2006 model, they seem to be suddenly all over the place, and everybody's darling.

Reliability on them isn't so bad, but they do have a lot of things going against them. First, there's perception. People remember those nasty Excels from the 80's, and other models they foisted on us in the 90's that were junky. It's very hard to shake a bad perception.

Secondly, because Hyundais are so cheap, they appeal to a large demographic that's credit-challenged. They often get bought by people who have no business buying a new car in the first place, so they get repossessed, or traded on something else with the negative equity rolled, etc. And they also appeal to a lot of cheap people who just abuse them and run them into the ground, without taking care of them.

The only thing that would really scare me away on the Hyundais these days is resale value is something came up that I had to sell the car prematurely. But then, at the same time, if I were to buy one it would probably be at a deep discount anyway, so there's some consolation.

I've sat in the new Sonata, and do have mixed feelings about it. It seems pretty roomy at first, but in the back seat the wheel wells really cut into the passenger cabin, turning it into essentially a roomy 4-seater. Try to get three people across, and it may have the shoulder room for it, but you're going to be bumping asses!

The interior also seems much more plush than something like an Accord or Civic, with more soft, padded materials. But at the same time, the plastic parts seem a bit cheaper. It's like they took an interior that may have originally been a cut below an Accord/Camry, but then tried to spruce it up with some thicker, ritzier materials here and there. That's a trick that American Motors used to do in the 70's with its cars.

[samclem]

I just got a Sonata today as a rental (for one week). It is quiet, seems roomy for 4, the trunk is big and has good access, and it has a lot of very nice do-dads (that I suspect might break someday). The one I'm driving is a V6 and has plenty of power off the line (not that I'd ever drive a rental car differently than my very own vehicle ). The car has 15K miles and I don't hear any squeeks or see stuff falling off.

If you go for a test drive, check on the throttle response in slow/very slow driving. Twice today the car seemed to be pumping power to the wheels for a split second after a took my foot off the gas. It was a minor annoyance, but could prove more than that when eeking into a tight parking spot.