New York: Hyundai Sonata Hybrid

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Hyundai’s just-unveiled Sonata Hybrid is the latest step in the Korean brand’s assault on the American automotive landscape, and it looks to have been a good one. No licensed bits from Toyota here, in fact Hyundai’s new powertrain does away with Toyota’s powersplit-CVT concept, simply replacing the torque converter on its automatic transmission with a starter-generator motor and a high-efficiency oil pump. Ok, maybe not simply.



Hyundai claims the design is lighter and more robust than the competition (the Sonata Hybrid is 236 lbs lighter than Fusion Hybrid), allows it to operate in EV mode up to 62 MPH, and offers more “balanced” efficiency gains in city and highway mileage. With efficiency gains from aero work [“because only Hybrids deserve improved aerodynamics,” glowers Sajeev in his notes], Hyundai projects the Sonata Hybrid will do 37 mpg in the city and 39 mpg on the highway. Whether those numbers hold up in the real world is one of the many questions we’d like answered by some time in the driver’s seat. All we know for now is that the styling seems to be the best compromise so far between the Prius, Volt and Insight’s “just-crawled-out-of-a-wind-tunnel” look and the “let’s just slap some badges on it” school of hybrid design.



Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Philadlj Philadlj on Apr 01, 2010
    "Whether those numbers hold up in the real world is one of the many questions we’d like answered by some time in the driver’s seat" Let's hope it does better than the Equinox! I actually prefer this to the standard Sonata, whose chrome grille is a bit too slasher-pic.
  • Ian Anderson Ian Anderson on Apr 01, 2010

    There's already a few people in my neighborhood with the new Sonata. I'd imagine the hybrid version might replace a few of the Camry hybrids floating around. I've yet to see a single Fusion hybrid aside from the dealer. Front end looks like a compacted Elantra Touring. I'm liking their styling, while it maybe a mish-mash of other cars' looks, at least they make it look GOOD.

  • Scott Read through and everyone seems to have missed the main question:Is Tim Healy an old geezer now?"Or is it just a crossover world and I'm now an old guy* tilting at windmills and yelling at clouds?"
  • ToolGuy My latest vehicle acquisition is slightly older than this one, same parent company, but has a full frame, rear-wheel drive and a longitudinally-mounted pushrod V8 gasoline engine. Almost like it was engineered and manufactured by a completely different group of people. Hmmm...
  • EBFlex Smart people
  • Wjtinfwb "Rovelo" tires? Good to see TTAC is not above the shameless commercial endorsement of unknown product like it's bigger print competitors.
  • Wjtinfwb Looks in decent nick for a Junkyard car. Other than the interior being partially gutted for some trim pieces, you could probably drive it out of the junkyard. Maybe a transmission issue and the cars value precluded a $2k or more fix? J cars were pathetic when introduced in '82 and never really got any better. But GM did sort out most of the reliability issues and with a modicum of maintenance these would run a long time if you could stand the boredom. Guess this owner couldn't.
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