Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
All about the detail
2018 Hyundai makes features king in refreshed Sonata Limited
Manufacturers are having to work much harder to attract buyers to mid-sized sedans, and customers are the beneficiaries of that.
Almost anyone buying a mid-range, mid-sized sedan such as the refreshed-for-2018 Hyundai Sonata can afford pretty much any vehicle with the descriptive “mid” attached to it.
So, when Hyundai tries to figure out how to market and sell its mid-priced Sonata sedan, they aren’t just competing with the other similarly priced sedans, they’re competing with every other type of mid-priced vehicle. These are the customers who might consider a crossover sports ute, a real sports ute, truck, sports car or convertible, simply because they can.
That means Hyundai must give potential owners a reason not to consider those other categories of transportation, and stick to sedans. Then they have to get the other mid-sized sedans off that customer’s consideration list.
This is obviously a daunting task, and it is daunting to all of the manufacturers of sedans in this segment. But it is good for us, because the manufacturers haver responded by adding in bunches of features which a mid-priced car would never have seen a decade or so ago.
In the case of Hyundai’s Sonata, the Limited trim level model I tested recently had features which could have defined it as a luxury car. The interior, decked out with leather, plenty of informative screens and a clearly high level of craftsmanship is the heart of creating that impression.
There is a renewed center stack and instrument panel and the designers even redid the gauge and dial design. There is a new three-spoke steering wheel which has controls to help the driver keep hands on the steering wheel. Hyundai used piano-key buttons for audio and temperature controls for both a premium look as well as feel.
The exterior of the car has new LED daytime running lights and LED headlights are an option on some models. The front face of the car appears more macho and aggressive, but flows cleanly back into the fenders, hood and eventually roofline. In back the taillights were tweaked with a bigger Hyundai badge which now houses the trunk-release button. There are also new wheel and tire options.
The changes weren’t just cosmetic, though. The chassis is reworked to improve ride and handling with the torsion bar now being 12 percent stiffer for more responsive steering and feel. There’s also a change to the steering calibration to give the car more on-center feel – and a more exacting feel.
Sonata also got an updated rear suspension. The trailing arms are 21 percent thicker, making them stiffer and more controllable under heavy suspension loads. New bushings on the new suspension arms makes the ride smoother but doesn’t “soften” the suspension’s response time to control wheel motions.
The 245-hp. 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, which generates 260 lb.-ft. of peak torque is a carry-over but now sends that power through an eightspeed automatic transmission. It sends that power to 18-inch wheels, now with Michelin tires. The EPA fuel efficiency rating for the Limited 2.0t is 23 mpg in the city and 32 mpg on the highway.
Equally important features to make a car luxurious is plenty of safety features. The Sonata has seven airbags and a whole alphabet of active safety systems. These include – and a Google search sill explain them -- VSM, ESC, TCS, ABS, EBD, BA, and TPMS. You can also add on blind spot detection which includes rear cross-traffic alert.
Other than the partially capable driving assist packages, there’s little different in these safety features from the most expensive of sedans. Furthermore, this safety technology is standard. You can also add lane departure warning and lane keeping assist – which will pull you back in your lane should you begin to wander.
The Sonata Limited 2.0T has a starting MSRP of $32,450. That’s the top-of-theline in both features and price. The base Sonata SE starts at $22,050. While that’s a serious spread of price, the two models are rarely considered by the same potential buyers.
Sure, the SE buyer would like all those features, but their primary motivation is value, so pricing is key. They aren’t jealous of the other buyers because they know someday they’ll be in the market for more expensive cars.
For the Limited buyer – in every sense – their motivation is that have the features they want in a car priced attractively for them. Their ambition is to get these features without having to move to another, more expensive brand.