Review: Hyundai’s sensible 2015 Sonata fails to excite

Hyundai’s all-new Sonata checks all the boxes for the practical family sedan buyer.

It’s good-looking, efficient, safe and quiet. The interior has more than enough room for five adults to stretch out and enjoy the ride. It comes with a warranty that will outlast a handful of Kardashian marriages.

But there is precious little personality beneath the handsome exterior.

The Sonata starts at $21,960 and plays in the all-important mid-size sedan segment. This realm is ruled by the Toyota Camry, which has made high art out of vanilla. Despite this — perhaps because of it — buyers have always flocked to the Camry. Its 408,000 sales in 2013 made the Toyota the most popular car in the U.S. for the 12th year in a row.

Buyers of family sedans don’t need flash or speed. They just need to get to work or take their family to dinner. They want to stay out of the repair shop, hold the gas bill down and stow a reasonable amount of stuff in the trunk. So it makes sense that Hyundai would play it safe with its new Sonata.

But some of Hyundai’s competitors prove that you can have practicality without completely giving up on style or even performance. Mazda’s 6, Chrysler’s new 200 and Ford’s Fusion all have some life to them. Even the most well-rounded car in the class, the Honda Accord, won’t lull you to sleep like this Sonata.

Even Toyota is looking to spice up the Camry and will soon offer a thoroughly refreshed model that adds excitement to the car’s handling and design.

The Sonata’s tedium starts with how the car drives. Though its power and weight are par for this class, the car moves around town with a lack of enthusiasm. The steering is so numb it’s like you’ve been sitting on your hands for 20 minutes. The car as a whole doesn’t feel particularly eager to do much of anything.

There are some pluses. The suspension is on the firm side, some would say sporty, but it’s never uncomfortable. The six-speed automatic transmission and the base engine on the Sonata Sport we tested were surprisingly smooth and quiet, and stayed completely out of the driver’s way.

The 2.4-liter four-cylinder makes 185 horsepower and 178 pound-feet of torque, figures on par with the rest of the segment. The combination is rated at 24 mpg in the city and 35 mpg on the highway. We averaged 23.5 mpg during a week of mostly city driving.

In addition to the engine we tested, two other drivetrains are offered. The power play is the 245-horsepower Sonata Turbo that Hyundai offers as an alternative to competitors’ V-6 engines. The efficiency play is the Sonata Eco, which uses a smaller 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine and a dual-clutch transmission for better fuel economy. Expect some kind of hybrid or plug-in next year.

Though the Sonata will compete against other mid-size sedans, technically it’s big enough inside to qualify as a large car in the eyes of the EPA. Its interior space trumps all of its competitors’, and this is most obvious in the cavernous back seat and trunk.

But size doesn’t equal comfort in the Sonata. The stiff seats lack comfort or character. There are odd and admittedly minor ergonomic oversights too: The blue screen of the climate control on the dashboard is impossible to see in direct sunlight (which is always the case in L.A.), and the hard plastics of the armrest on the driver’s door dig into your flesh.

The dashboard layout puts function over form, with no style but plenty of practicality. Our Sport test model started at $23,985 and then added two hearty option groups for a reasonable $27,560.

It included Hyundai’s excellent touch-screen navigation system and other bonuses like blind-spot monitoring, partial leather seats that are heated up front, a high-end stereo system with Bluetooth and satellite radio, and dual-zone climate control.

It’s also safe, with seven air bags; a backup camera; a 10-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty; and a Top Safety Pick Plus rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, all at no extra charge.

Outside, the Sport version comes with 17-inch alloy wheels, dual chrome-tipped exhaust and other pieces of chrome throughout, and a slightly more aggressive front bumper. The bits add a modicum of sportiness to the Sonata but don’t do much to help it stand out.

It’s certainly a mature, polished design with a nicely proportioned sloping roofline. But because this generation of Sonata doesn’t need to prove itself like the previous model, it takes far fewer risks and is easy to overlook in the parking lot.

If a decent-looking, smooth-driving, safe and roomy sedan is on your shopping list, the 2015 Hyundai Sonata should be too. There’s no practical argument against this car. But other automakers have learned to live a little. Hyundai should too.

david.undercoffler@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimes_driven