Hyundai Sonata Hits the Right Safety Notes
Hyundai is running a serious risk of giving South Korean automobiles a good name.
Or, better yet, earning a lifetime separation from the Korean American misfortunes of Kia, which went into receivership before it could activate emergency plans to retool for the production of pedal cars. Also from desperate Daewoo of the dribbling sales, which in three months in this country has tried every marketing ploy for its weak-kneed subcompacts except offering them as dormitory doorstops.
Not that Hyundai’s 1999 Sonata is the mid-size answer to the prayers of every family-sedan buyer. At a base of $14,800 it offers some, if not substantial, savings that might make a huge difference in the minds of those shopping among Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Chevy Malibu and Dodge Stratus.
The Sonata is still a whiner when it comes to wind noise. And even with a new base four-banger pumping out 149 horsepower instead of 137, that’s not quite enough grunt for remaining dry and comfortable in fast and crowded places.
Where the Sonata sings is in matters of safety, a maker and breaker of deals that these days is way ahead of classy sound systems and alloy wheels.
Front and side air bags are standard equipment. So is a detection system that deactivates front air bags if the passenger seat is empty--or occupied by anything in diapers. There also are seat belt pre-tensioners, a cabin that’s a steel safety shell rich in side-impact and rollover protection, plus lap and shoulder straps for a third party riding in the rear.
And for $17,799 there’s the Sonata GLS with a standard 2.5-liter, 170-horsepower V-6 that certainly doesn’t deliver the hefty punch of a Camry or an Accord V-6 but does offer performance that loiters somewhere between middling fun and general competence.
Unfortunately, you might also notice a significant puddle of non-response in mid-range acceleration, particularly when trying to exercise some California aplomb by waltzing around a Winnebago from Maryland. Suddenly, your passage becomes a struggle to maintain any semblance of a sprint. Best not to look at the other driver unless you are prepared to wave and smile and pretend you are offering a welcome to California.
Or you can stand on the loud pedal, wait for the passing downshift to stir awake and wince at a harsh screeching from engine and transmission that will sound like a domestic dispute to most everyone in Los Angeles and adjacent counties. Although those driving Kias probably won’t be able to hear much.
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Sonata’s shape (a product of Hyundai’s California Design Center in Fountain Valley) pretty much follows today’s cues and yesterday’s staples. That means thick-spoked alloy wheels within lightly flared wells. The butt is abbreviated with a crease running along the top edge of the trunk lid. Discreet character lines stretch front to back and break up the expanse of flanks.
And there are ovoid halogen front lamp clusters, plus a pair of large, well-rounded rear lenses that clearly will become a Sonata signature.
The car has been widened by 2 inches, which adds considerable room to the interior, especially to knee and shoulder room in back seats. It’s also an inch taller, for considerably more headroom back there.
There is zero mush to its cornering, and directional changes are as precise as you can make them. On GLS versions, anti-lock disc brakes feel as if they could be jammed all day.
A tight fit and quality finish, inside and out, go beyond what we cynics have come to presume from South Korean-built cars. There’s a similar sense of unexpected value received in the feel of optional wood accents and puckered leather paneling and seating in a car that will go out the showroom door at less than $20,000.
See Sonata as a comfortable, competent sedan that for a little less money offers a little more stuff than Accord, Camry and other big dogs in the mid-size class. Mechanically, it doesn’t have their spunk or smoothness. But it is still several nods of approval superior to anything born in the USA with its size and price.
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Times automotive writer Paul Dean can be reached via e-mail at paul.dean@latimes.com.
