Hyundai SONATA ; Dedicated Discussion, Owner/ Fan Club Thread

[6115]

Brother read the above comment and this one.

I don’t know how fast is v-tec kicked in yo, but my civic is still the same manufactured piece from Honda Atlas.

I don’t see check-engine light to be honest.

[aragon1]

Ill tell you my story and its kinda long, bare with me. I was the very first people to get Sonata 2.5 in Karachi, I booked it a day after its release and payed the the whole amount in advance to get a quick delivery. I still remember that day when I first saw this beauty in the showroom, I was like wow this thing oozes classes and the thing I was most excited about was the 2.5 engine because I was upgrading from an Oriel but before that I had a CL9 and I wanted to get that aggressiveness back.

After a month and half of curiously waiting and dreaming about this car the day arrived when it had to be picked and unfortunately I couldn't go receive it from the dealership because I was busy with my wedding which was scheduled for the very next day so my brother got it. I wasn't as excited about me being married than taking my new ride for a spin ( I hope my wife is not on PW forums ). On my wedding event too I was just happily dreaming of the time when I get to drive this machine, people must've thought man is all excited for the wedding night but little did they know it was for the next day..

Finally the day comes and I take this car out for a spin, I drive for like 30 minutes and then come back. You know that feeling when you drive your new car, then you come back home to park it and then you look at the car and say "Hey" with a smirk on your face and then the car also says "Hey", all of a sudden you feel that cosmic connection of stars aligning and both of you know you're in a for a galactic journey. Problem was I didn't say 'Hey' neither did the Sonata 2.5

I took it out for a drive couple more times and I was so confused with this car and its drive/power delivery considering its a 2.5 engine, hell I had to open the bonnet again to see if it really is a 2.5 engine. Problem with Sonata is its designed to be a comfort based sedan ( Over here in Pak at least ). Its not fun to drive, the transmission is boring and it lacks the excitement you would expect from a 2.5 engine. Its simple, if anyone's a chill driver who doesn't really care about the aggressiveness, get this car but honestly its a car for uncles who go to work, come back home and then maybe go out for ice cream with their kids up on insisting. If anything Nishat should've introduced the 1.6T variant instead of this crap. I sold my Sonata after 4 months and bought a Fortuner Sigma4 FL. It lacks the comfort of Sonata but boy oh boy Fortuner is a beast from hell, simply its fun to drive and I have peace of mind it can literally take me anywhere without any hiccups.

[6115]

Thanks brother for your output on this matter.

So we own Revo to be honest, and I usually drive this on unpaved roads and mostly gravels.

But anyway, that’s truck and fortuner is built on the same chassis except the empty truck, so you know where I m coming from.

But there is no comparison between both of those cars SUV vs D segment can’t comprehend.

Find me a car with premium material, d-chassis, pak made, infotainment is good, panoramic roof is cool, boot capacity is big
(brother civic corolla can’t give it in this league)
This is a step up in sedan category.

Now if you say mercedez sir; bmw sir; mark x sir;
They don’t find in pak ckd category with sufficient resale.

But, you are not wrong on your part and this must be a positive experience.

Only issue i have is myth - lag and driving pleasure is tasteless - which causes confusion on people’s end on buying any other car than sonata.

[6115]

If i wish to floor it, that’d be empty road and racing not with the Pakistani stock cars (never built for racing) but on fan boy part, yes we pakistani are always mahroom from premium things, be it mehran ( called boss though it lacks everything).

I don’t expect sonata to fly even with other transmissions, engines, outside of pak.

[6115]

Sorry guys for discussing on subjective things.

I don’t wish to extend this conversation on the basis of rant or vent.

If i need any help i would ask for any assistance and there are already experts present who could guide better.

[waqasahmed03]

ook it out for a drive couple more times and I was so confused with this car and its drive/power delivery considering its a 2.5 engine, hell I had to open the bonnet again to see if it really is a 2.5 engine. Problem with Sonata is its designed to be a comfort based sedan ( Over here in Pak at least ). Its not fun to drive, the transmission is boring and it lacks the excitement you would expect from a 2.5 engine. Its simple, if anyone's a chill driver who doesn't really care about the aggressiveness, get this car but honestly its a car for uncles who go to work, come back home and then maybe go out for ice cream with their kids up on insisting. If anything Nishat should've introduced the 1.6T variant instead of this crap. I sold my Sonata after 4 months and bought a Fortuner Sigma4 FL. It lacks the comfort of Sonata but boy oh

gosh! great post. true stories are always convincing. Hyundai in my opinion has very very mediocre leasership in Pakistan

[aragon1]

I totally understand and agree that you can't really compare a SUV and D segment but due to lack of options in the Pakistani market comparisons are inevitable which obviously is not right.

Sonata is premium that is for sure and its God damn beautiful, even now when I see it on the roads Im like wow. You get that premium feel in it and for sure the comfort is better than any other sedan. The drive is not great to be honest, I wouldn't say its underpowered but not aggressive either considering its a 2.5 engine. Driving experience is completely subjective as well, for a person who's a chill driver Sonata's drive is good but for some one who want a bit of fun with their car its not worth it all.

Try getting your car to 3500-4000 RPM, the engine will howl as if there's a Phoenix rising from the ashes and the road will be set on fire but then you look at speedo meter and think is that it?

[aragon1]

Sir outside Pak it does fly if we are to say. There are many variants offered in different markets. Like I said before, 1.6T would've been a better option, not just performance wise but price wise as well due to less taxes compared to a 2.5. Nishat would've literally disrupted the sedan market of Pakistan

[6115]

Exactly sir.

Now you have answered my part as well.

Sonata is good at its own pace without any doubt and those who drive car would find pleasure in driving but now if you want to be formula 1 driver and assuming our cars to become one once you sit on bucket seats, well you’re in for a treat.

Hence, it won’t fly even if it does outside of Pakistan, it won’t be any problem here.

Thanks a ton.

[Thinking]

Well here are my 2 cents and consider them authentic since i have extensive first hand experience with all c segment sedans including Elantra and D segement that is Sonata. Its a 2.5 Variant i am talking about.

Sonata is a different league altogether. civic is not supposed to be compared. its my money and i spent it to get sonata not civic coz new CIVIC RS (which is almost touching the price bracket) is actually not there as a car.

Civic is a competitor of Elantra and thats the right comparison. I have a civic too by the way and i am not a fan boy.

Sonata has a totally different feel to itself however it would have been better with shiftt holding mechanism like when you r driving elantra in manual mode. also better still a 2.5 with rear wheel drive would have been a treat but actually all manufacturers are shifting to cost savings.

mark x has a different feel just coz its rear wheel drive. but kind of features and comfort sonata offers, no other car on the market (0 meter New) offers at the moment.

civic fan boys saying its better to drive, it should be better to drive since its smaller. Sonata has mass so its different to drive. probably if its about drive than civic might be better than rolls royce even. but we need to understand the application of the car i.e. what its made for.

[6115]

Shukur. You have explained it better than anyone else.

Just my tip of tongue.

Please pakistani logic aside there are levels to segment D for a reason

Once you understand it, then i guarantee you will treat car as such

You made by day

[6115]

My upvote to you respected sir.

[Thinking]

No point in considering civic or sonata as sports cars. RS is for people who actually cannot get any sports car like we do in PK. if civic had to claim anything sporty than it should have been offered with a manual gear box atleast. not the worst in driving experience cvt transmission

Sonata has a different application. Not the right comparison.

sub standard amount of plastic in civic weighs more than Sonata leather seats probably. so lets just leave it there.

[fastian04]

The drives speak for itself.. btw PKDM civic is not as such detuned. We have done Dyno and all the graphs are now available. Ours and other Asians are almost sided by side on real figures per Dyno and all other dynamics. anyways that does not matter for many but the reason responded is that some so-called tech reviewers kept mentioning the word detune like a crammed story and many of the owners now have dyno tests conducted and remaps/ tunes done.
Intial engines were globally having issues in 2016 when launched and Honda fixed everything and currently, it's a trouble-free engine. Not to mention, Hyundai giving us mpi in 2022 for 9 million... what a pity

So far, I m seeing almost all early owners selling Sonata, due to just being exceptionally boring to drive. Hyundai forgot the word driving pleasure in this DN8 for sure. I k

[Thinking]

i dont think its boring. if boring is wat matters than why all pakistan always buy a corolla? isnt it supposed to be the most boring of all cars ever.

we need to understand. in sonata the ride the feel the impact is different. no c segment is suppose to match that specially not civic with its such a bad looking shape as compared to previous X gen.

looks however are subjective. but with all the bells and whistles i would re iterate sitting and arriving at a place in sonata is far more premium than any civic.

if u wanna compare drive, i can quote and let u experience atleast 3 cars which are more than 2 decades old and have much more road feedback and exciting to sit and drive feel.

sonata is suppose to make u feel that u are sitting in a 10M car and that too a brand new one with warranty which it does quite easily.

[darthvader]

Civic is fun to drive, if your drive is around 20-30 minutes long. When the rock hard seats and suspension begin to dig into your spine and your ass, all the fun just goes away. I have a Sorento 3.5 V6 and a 2016 Civic 1.5T. The Civic is for sure fun to drive from Pindi to Islamabad, but there's no way in hell would I ever want to prefer it over Sorento for a longer drive.

[6115]

Corolla people term as a reliable even though with all the perks, heck put parking sensor and some funny tu tu noises, is still a boring car.

Ever seen dashboard, it hits straight into our face, but only thing that counts it good is its reliability.

People need to differentiate the segments and drives to understand much better.

You have said it right enough and i couldn’t agree more - when someone steps out of sonata with all the perks included, feels different.

[6115]

After using hyundai, i mean same misconception that we had - japani gari to sab ka abu hai par unka bhe abu market main agaya hai - korea stuff feels just different.

Sorento even a full fledged mpv, feels much more reliable and well placed than any other oshan x7 or any cherry polish, now starting to hit market.

[6115]

Brother, dyno shyno stuff is good, but if you could mention the practicality of all of those things that you have enlisted.

RS as stated with bumper and black rims and nice LL Transmission won’t be a bugatti overnight, neither do sonata with cvt and whatever you wish to do on dyno shyno.

[6115]

When i see those posts, about arguing which car is the best, or have a look, this car is fit.

All comes within the sphere of pakistani market and logic.

Had anyone not argued on those things, we could have ruled out some prevailing sonata problems.

Tyre - Pirelli ( a outclass tyre with inherent humming noise built it due to being a all season tyres) feel a bit stiff and gives limited space on bumps and pots.

If someone could recommend, tyre pressure, any tyre upgrade or anything else.