Hyundai Sonata VIII

Been driving a used 2015 Sonata LF for the past 11 months.

Good:

1. Spacious interior - legroom and headroom plenty for driver and passengers. Rear seats can fit even 4 adults.

2. Boot size is generous and rear seats can be knocked down to fit bicycle.

3. Quiet and comfortable ride. My wife sleeps when on long drives.

4. Good looking sedan and I like that it is uncommon on the roads.

5. Sound system is good and clear, even at high volume.

6. Value for money, car is competitively priced.

7. Fuss free maintenance and reliable.

8. Spare parts available easily and inexpensive.

Bad:

1. Fuel consumption could be better - 10.5km/l to 11km/l. However, I mostly do city driving.

2. Car is heavy so initial pick-up acceleration is not the fastest.

3. Base model has no cruise control, blind spot detection or lane assist.

4. No in-built touch screen navigation system.

This so-called face-lift version is essentially the same car (pre-face lift) with the same engine, transmission but the price has increased by more than 10k, without any new features. The showroom car had cloth manual seats, small LCD screen, very small 16-in rims which looks ridiculous for such a big car. Side door panels and dash had plastic, brown patterned decor that looked hideous. I have never seen such a sorry looking Sonata cabin. It looks even sadder when parked next to the well-appointed Elantra. Huge disappointment.

I'm writing this one and a half years after taking delivery of the car in April 2016. I've really enjoyed driving the car, especially on long trips to Cameron Highlands. The car is very well insulated from road and tire noise, and NVH intrusions. It's also very stable at high speeds (160 km/h). While Eco & Normal modes are rather sluggish, once you switch to Sport mode and really step on the accelerator, you get a different beast. Everything has been working well, nothing has broken down and I have not gone back to the AD since. The mileage is now 20,300 km, and I'm about to get it serviced outside.

Read about it since 2 years ago. Research it for about a year and finally own it. Collected the LF Sonata last Saturday. After 5 days of driving it around the country, I am very satisfied with what I got.

I travelled a good 500km since collected it at 25km to begin with. It seems to have a sense of soft elegance and a good presence on the road. The lane change assist and blind spot detection are very useful for busy roads such as the morning BKE towards SLE and evening BKE towards. Road noise insulation is good. This translates to more better music/sound enjoyment.

All variants come with a 7" Touch screen HU with navigation system. This is an update to the official review.

New review after 1 year of owning the Sonata VIII.

Clocked 16,000km.

No regret buying this car in terms of reliability and style.

Bought it at a steal! 116k COE at 61k, glad that i signed on the dotted line 1 year ago when i trade in my VW GTI MK6.

Totally different class, so I'm not comparing between them.

Own C200 W204, KIA Forte SX 2.0 before, Sonata VIII have the top notch interior and exterior quality. Modern DRL, basic model came with driver side electric controlled seats, auto folding mirror when you open or lock your car.

Was getting 13km/L on their stock 17" Rims.

Done up 20" Rays rims, k&n filter, bootlip, rear windscreen spoiler with led, philips 6000k d3s. Thats the best things you can do to touch up the already stylish exterior.

This is a huge car, with a modern interior and tons of niceties. The panoramic sunroof, big LCD screen with GPS, electric seats, handsome exterior and Hyundai-known reliability.

The engine and gearbox work like butter: quiet, quick to downshift even in eco mode and made the car seems lighter and agile.

It is simply not competitive at this price range. The Mercedes A class (much smaller but with the badge) cost the same and the B class cost (feels as airy) about 10% More. There are also mainstream Continental brands like Peugeot and Citroen that are extremely competitive.

I had been driving my Sonata VIII for a month. To be honest, I have not seen any sonata on the road (less the taxis).

But I got to say that, don't stereotype sonata just because our comfort taxis are using it. The brand new sonata is different from the one comfort is using.

The veh went thru a serious face lift and additional new and cool feature.

Give sonata a try. You might love it.

This is my second Hyundai. My first was the Elantra in 2001 in manual transmission. In between, I owned a manual Subaru Impreza for 9 years before trading that in for the Sonata VIII sunroof trim. This car has been nothing short of a revelation in terms of its build quality and feature set as compared to the Elantra 14 years ago. It is a whole level up and its quality in every area is comparable and even exceeds the Japanese marquees and some Continental ones as well.

There's not enough space for my full review. So do take a look at the link below for a fuller write-up and for pictures one page down.

http://www.Mycarforum.Com/topic/2694083-hyundai-sonata-2015/page-8

It is my second drive for the first week after collection, the driving experience is great, excellence insulation, interior built quality and easy reaching range to control panel while on sitting position, personalise features setting are simple and easy and i don't even need to refer the owner manual.

On The Road :

Start up the engine may feel a tiny vibration from the steering wheel due to 4 cylinders layout (i get use to 6), its acceptable as is natural aspirations. Moving off smoothly and quietness is a doubt, you can't even feel the 6 speed gear switching up, but dropping gear could be obvious, engine loud roar when heavy acceleration if you need power and it will not let you disappointed about the power except the irritating engine noise. Road noise is in acceptable lever. It stable perform at 90km/h but

road handling are just so so.

Interior :

Soft touch everywhere with wood trim panel makes elegance looks, spacious passenger back seat comfortably for 3 adults and it still plenty of leg room left. It a great balance for both driver and passenger. Oh... Forget to mention Pockets are everywhere from front to back.

Sound System :

Factory fitted hi-fi system produce sounds quality, adjustable High, Mid, Low frequency to meet your taste, soft bass punch wouldn't making you heart attack, clear and sharp vocal mixed with low-mid feel pleasure. Lastly, the high note are just nice and it not too high. Great balance as i can say, i don't need to spend extra to upgrade.

Overall :

I'm quite happy with it accept the 4 cylinders engine, no options as its only available 2.0L variant while i prefer 6 cylinders 3.0L.

Fuel Efficiency :

No comment yet but one thing for sure that is... It will be better than my previous Chrysler 300C 3.5L V6 fuel drinker..

Conclusion :

Korean engineer in car industries are being mature over the years, you can feel they're really putting their full effort to made good cars with quality workmanship to change the mindset for those who are doubts to Koreans made.

Go ahead why wait !!

I had been driving my Hyundai Avante for the past 5 yrs. Was a very reliable car. 50 litres could make about 500KM.

Recently decided to upgrade to a bigger car. Compared between Mazda, Toyota and Hyundai. Finally after much consideration Hyundai won my heart. For the price and features, the Hyundai Sonata VIII was the best car. Definitely it's not a Taxi.

Collected my car on 1st week of December. The looks was luxurious to the likes of Lexis and Jaguar on the outlook. Tons of reliable safety features with 6 airbags. Keyless start. HID lights. Blind spot indicators. Sunroof and Moonroof.

A very comfortable drive on the busy city and highways. Drove on average speed of around 90km/h. The 70 litre could make around a total of 700km. Not bad for a 2.0 litre car. Which comes with an 18 inch rims.

Overall a superb comfortable car which is quiet and stable on the drive. Except for the engine power which is slightly sluggish. However it picks up speed soon after.

Thumps up! I'm convinced.

The new Hyundai Sonata is in many ways a really surprising car. Its easy to get sucked into thinking that its just a taxi, but in many ways the new sonata is a very different car.

It looks handsome. Its really well equipped too, lots of gadgets and equipment. Its super spacious, tons and tons of leg room. Its a comfortable place to sit in, definitely one for the family.

admittedly its not the most exciting car to drive. Engine is on the sluggish side, handling isn't particularly quick or focused. But i suppose that's not really a big knock on the car, because i think it was designed with comfort and families in mind, and you don't exactly want to be throwing your rear passengers around.

all in all, i feel its a really good family sedan. Very quiet to drive, comfortable to drive or be driven in. Its becoming a rather viable option as a family car.

Test driven, walk around it.

price ok? Sign at the dotted line.

just booked the all new sonata on sunday.

price was attractive.

however the delivery of my sonata will have see if i can secure the COE successfully.

The first Hyundai car I bought was a Sonata in 2004 and I changed it 5 years later due to high fuel consumption. The high fuel consumption could be due to the weight of the car as it was really solid. Changed to the i30CW in 2009 and I like it because of the spacious boot and leg space. Fuel consumption was better compared to my Sonata. Went to test drive i40 and Hyundai Sonata VIII in April 2015. Ended up buying the Sonata VIII after also trying other brands and models.