They made a decent looking car ugly. Nice work.

cats ass grille, just nasttttyyyyyy

Hyundai is trying something new – I can’t figure out who they stole their designs from this time!

the wood ribbons should flow through the dash. I don’t like how they are cut off before they hit the center. Otherwise, the interior isn’t so bad at all.

With or without reading glasses I cant discern the difference between this and what I see on the road. The plastic in wooded trim looks stupid just like plastic in any car. The difference would be more cogs in the tranny, more ponies under the hood, better performance and better mileage to accompany better performance. I think I missed those components in the article.

injunraiv: Could pass for a bad knockoff of a kinetic Ford up front.
autonut: Does this thing actually have a 6-speed? The 4-speed in the 06 is a world of hurt. I had to endure it for a week.

i want specs on the new engine it better have 240hp at least for the class it competes in

@snoboardguy21, I agree! It looks… odd somehow…..

It has 5 speed with 6 cyl. engine. The pain was administered by I4 with 4 speed awfully build tranny. I felt your pain. I don’t a stool (hard or loose) what plastic they shove into this thing, but running gear are not up to GM standards. Forget about japs. And I think it is cheaper for a good reason.

Interior = just fine.

Nose job = a step back to 1988. Disgusting.

blandtastic. I’m sure it’ll do fine with it’s current clientele though.

Exterior: Hello late 90s Camry!

Interior: A Ford steering wheel tacked on to a very pathetic attempt at ripping off the center stack of the Infiniti M and Cadillac CTS. The rest of it is just ancient-looking, characterless blah.

Nice job on the interior, but hopefully you can have a choice between the ugly wood trim and some tastefull aluminum or fake carbon fibre trim. The wheels are ugly, give it some sporty 5 spoke wheels and the car will look alot better. I drove the current sonata V6 while in Spain and its a fast car and feels solid at very high speeds. If they bump up the power to 250hp and put in the 6spd auto it will be a car that will surprise alot of sports cars on the street.

planet_drive do you print Euros? The price of gas in Spain is about $7.50-$8/gallon. I haven’t seen a single V6 on streets of Madrid (except Benz and Lexus). Even BMW were diesel propelled. How much that drive offset you? I was cursing my gasoline powered Peugeot 206 with 1.4 L and demanding diesel replacement.

This does seem like a big step backward for a company that appeared to be on a styling roll (Genesis coupe).

A lot of people will overlook the blandness for a 10 year warranty especially with the upgraded interior. I don’t like the wood grain placement and the way it looks like it is descending but the material quality looks like it is a big leap over the current model.

The first Hyundai to come to North America was the “Pony” when it arrived in Canada circa 1985. It was as ugly as it was slow. The 1.3 Mitsu engine was completely overwhelmed by the weight of the car. I could be wrong, but I believe it was even body on frame constuction. The automatic versions defined the term ‘moving chicayne’.
All I really want to point out is how far these guys have come in 2 decades and whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em you have to admire their resolve.
Hell, even my neighbor bought a new Sonata to replace one of those Boxy Civic wagon things they made in the late ’80’s.
Their philosophy seems to be very Toyota/Honda like in that this is what- already the 4th generation of this model. As much as I hate to bash the domestics… but if Korea can figure this out- why can’t they?

The interior looks pretty good other than it has a bit of an old man look to it. The exterior looks good from the rear only, the rest of the car is rather homely! Does anyone else see Ford 500 in the side profile? I sure do.

Is Hyundai offering that stick with the V6? Seems so rare for anyone to do that these days, sadly.

Johnny, I totally admire Hyundai’s resolve. I don’t admire the front of this car, though. Maybe it’ll look better in real life.

It’s like the new Murano — I think the so called “update” made it worse. I would take the old car anyday over this one (and also over some of its competitors)

Does Theta refer to the inline-4 or the V6?

Oh my Goodness ! Th manual stick looks like a ****ing toy. The Sat-Nav is staright from a Lexus, as for that CD stack, who the hell buys cd’s anymore?? Hyundai have obiously been asleep during the past five years and have no idea what an iPod is. The Exterior is just bland

Ricardo, you gonna hate the truth: Except Honda nobody will offer V6 with manu-tranny (we are not talking exotics and BMW here).

Wait, I think Nissan does also.

Honda (I think) only offers the stick on the Accord Coupe (in this segment). I don’t think they offer it in the sedan – at least not with the 3.5 V6.

When I saw that steering wheel (last picture), I got scared for a moment; arachnophobia. For a quick second I thought that was a depiction of the actual steering wheel (in still motion, I suppose).

It doesn’t look much different from the current one; I don’t like the changes though. The Sonata was a pretty clean looking car, but with these updates, it makes it look less simple, and ugly(-y ier).

I hope this isn’t the US-spec car.. they have never offered the same front-end on the US and Asian/Euro market vehicles, hopefully they won’t start now! This very same face already looked dated on the Azera when it debuted three years ago!

Not bad
Cookie: Blandness is best in this class

Good! This is as it should be: Ugly gets uglier.

autonut…. i actually agree with everything you’ve said on this so far…… yeah, i’m as shocked as you are…… maybe I should tell the neighbours to cancel that jihad surpirse i ordered for ya

I’m trying to figure out if that is really a shifter or a missing piece from a chess board?

It’s not bad looking, but it’s not an improvement over the current Sonata’s front end. The interior is better looking though.

Damn, someone at Hyundai’s upper management is going after Toyota by styling this into the oblivion of boredom.

They’re probably looking to develop the Sonata into a worthy Camry-fighter and leave the crazier designs for the other segments. Might not be a bad strategy.

I don’t like the rims or the front end. It’s not that they’re bad, but I really liked the 5-spoke wheels and the old grill. The interior, however is a big step forward. It’s beautiful and resembles cars that are 10-20k more than this Sonata. (G37, CTS) Despite what many of you are saying, Hyundai is not taking any steps backward.

If it’s 5 grand less than the Camry it’ll probably work….

Had a 2007 V-6 modle as a rental. Pretty impressive car for the price. Far better to look at then the pig nosed Camry or the 1999 Saturn looking new Accord.

Saturn doesnt have the style build qual or resale or anything to be compared to the class leading Honda Accord
Why would an Accord look like a Saturn If it did the Accord woudnt sell or be as reliable.
This Sonata will be a force in the family car segment and so will the Mazda 6 The Accord will beat out the Camry for the top spot while the Malibooo and the Error will just fade away
The Sonata will be right under the Accord and Camry