With the new, 6th-generation Hyundai Sonata hitting dealerships now, avid followers of the car’s hybrid iteration may be asking yourself where the hybrid model is. Nicely, if these folks existed, they’d surely be curious so far, the 2015 Hyundai Sonata lineup consists of 3 gas-only powertrain combos. The outgoing Sonata gives a hybrid iteration (pictured here), and we’ve found out the new vehicle also will offer you such a model—but it won’t arrive till later this year or early next.
So what’s to become of the Sonata hybrid till it is re-launched in the new body style? At the drive occasion for the redesigned 2015 Sonata, Hyundai told us that the current hybrid will christened as a 2015 model and sold alongside the new sedan till the new hybrid arrives. Even although Hyundai enhanced the Sonata hybrid slightly for 2013—mostly to boost the EPA fuel-economy figures soon after it was caught fluffing those numbers—we’re hunting forward to seeing what the automaker’s organizing for the new version, particularly offered the efficiency improvements to the gas-fed 2015 Sonata.
The base 2015 Sonata is powered by a 2.4-liter 4 bolted to a 6-speed automatic and gets up to 25 mpg city, 37 mpg highway, while the 2.-liter turbo-powered Sport 2.0T‘s window sticker displays 23/32 mpg. Nevertheless, the 2016 hybrid’s real internal competition will come from the new-for-2015 Eco model, which utilizes a modest turbocharged 1.6-liter 4 and a 6-speed dual-clutch automatic to eke out 28/38 mpg—not exactly a threat to the outgoing Sonata hybrid’s 36/40 mpg functionality, but not poor, either. We count on to see the new Sonata hybrid appear at an auto show this fall or early in 2015.
Over its life span, the Hyundai Sonata has seldom produced a potent styling statement. (We’re not counting the powerfully ugly ones.) But the final Sonata stood as the looker in its set until it was eclipsed by its elegant Kia Optima stablemate and Ford’s new David Brown Fusion-Martin. For 2015, Hyundai has dialed back the radical in favor of an automobile constructed to blend.
In the interest of tractability (and fuel economy, no doubt), the engineers have gone light on energy at the prime of the line, equipping the prime-spec 2.-liter engine with a smaller turbocharger. As a result, horsepower drops to 245 from 274, and the new Sonata gives up a considerable 1.9 seconds to our 2011 lengthy-term 2.0T in the -to-60-mph sprint. The base car sallies forth with a naturally aspirated, 185-hp 2.4-liter 4, while a turbocharged 1.6 arrives as the Eco-badged fuel-miser specific. The 2.4 and the 2. turbo are paired with a 6-speed autobox, but the 1.6 gets Hyundai’s 6-speed dual-clutch unit. The hybrid soldiers on with the old physique style until 2016.
Back on the topic of styling, Hyundai seems to have lost some momentum right here with the Sport version. The new design simply doesn’t hang with each other as well as did the previous hewn-from-soapstone model. The chrome on the sill extensions of our loaded Sport 2.0T looks unnecessary and slightly chintzy, whilst the rear spoiler appears as if somebody stuck it on as a test and then forgot to remove it. The lesser cars are more aesthetically effective.
In contrast, the interior is nicely believed out. There are no glaring ergonomic flaws, and the supplies are at least typical for this very competitive class. Rear-seat occupants acquire an inch of legroom over the outgoing car. The Sonata registers BMW 7-series quiet on the decibel meter, even though the noises that get in are not the most pleasant. Wind roars about the A-pillars, and overt turbo whoosh pairs inharmoniously with some ’90s-hangover engine thrash. The visibility’s great and the seats are comfortable, and family people and traveling salesmen won’t discover driving the automobile fatiguing.
Our test automobile was a preproduction unit that Hyundai had driven out to California from its Montgomery, Alabama, plant, and it did suffer a considerable mishap. An undertorqued hose clamp let go between the turbo and the intercooler. The resultant lack of enhance at altitude in the Angeles National Forest left the auto with what felt like a third of its rated horsepower.
We limped to a gas station for an ad-hoc repair with an undersize screwdriver, which held until our 30-to-50-mph test run at Hyundai’s high-desert proving ground. Facility techs torqued it back down and the car presented no additional concerns. But all of this could have resulted in compromised—read: slower—performance numbers, and we will be executing our battery of tests on another 2.0T as soon as feasible.
We can’t say that the Sonata Sport shone as brightly as the Mazda 6 or Honda Accord on the mountain back roads prior to its loss of enhance, but it’s every single bit as rewarding to drive as a Fusion. Nor can we pan it as a disconnected machine. The grip-averse tires, which served up .80 g on the skidpad, nevertheless transmit enough warning to keep issues from going hairball, whilst feedback by means of the wheel was present, welcome, and surprisingly vibrant. The Koreans have typically been excoriated for engineering the numbest steering in the enterprise, but the Sonata Sport 2.0T is one more signal right after the 2015 Genesis sedan that the trend could be reversing. The rack—unique amongst 2015 Sonatas—even betters those in some a lot far more expensive iron from Europe.
The chassis improvements are striking, and braking suffers only 1 demerit: a pedal that’s a bit too eager to bite at very first. The rest of the pedal’s travel is nice and linear, and our measured stopping distance is class-competitive at 178 feet from 70 mph.
Nevertheless, we query the company’s choice to get in touch with this model “Sport,” unless the sport to which they’re referring is curling. With that extra rear legroom and a trunk measuring 16.3 cubic feet, the Sonata will happily carry a burly 4-man squad, a complement of stones, a set of brooms, and sufficient cold ones to hold the game heated.
So will it blend? Hyundai is betting that consumers in the segment will like the smoothie it has served up. We like it just fine, regardless of the Sport model’s distinct absence of sportiness. Despite the fact that we have a feeling its mixed bag of strengths and demerits would location it midpack in a class-wide comparison test, its finer qualities are in the end these that win the day.
