2006 Sonata GLS v6 Initial Quality Feedback

Dave T, whats up? The car is beautiful, quiet, fast, nice riding, good fit
and finish, excellent stereo, excellent heater/ac,safe, and did I mention
fast? If its gas milage alone you want, look for a 1987 chevy
sprint(suzuki) 3 cylinder. My little bugger got over 50 mpg at 55mph. Of
course it weighed 1500 lbs and had a wheelbase around 80 ".

 

Excellent heater/AC? Where do you live? I've not yet used the AC as it
has been winter since I bought my Sonata, but the heater/defroster
leaves a lot to be desired compared to the other vehicles I have owned
in the last 20 years. The floor vents don't get full air on the floor
position as some is always bled to the defrost vents (I thought that is
what the bi-level setting was for!). And what does go to the floor,
hits me closer to the knee than the feet and extremities are what get
cold first.

The defrost has a hard time keeping the fog off the top 1/3 of the
windshield if I have more than just me in the car. With 4-5 in the car,
it takes fan speed 3 to even think of keeping the windshield clear in
cold, damp weather. And yesterday (8 F), the rear window defroster
could only get about half of the glass clear after 25 minutes of
driving! The lines that were clear were about equal width to those that
still had frost on them.

I'm hoping the AC works better than the heat/defog/defrost.


Matt

 

This portion was for 234 miles. An additional 104 miles was commuting
over a 2 day period. Stop and go driving with numerous stop lights
and signs and average speed of about 25 MPH (26 miles each way and it
takes me about 55 minutes on a good day. Mileage was at 27.1
combined. I consider this a pretty good mix.

Marc

 

Darby, Darby, Darby (sigh),

If you really read my post, it didn't sink in at all. If you'll
review the comments being made for the past few months, you will see
several recurrent themes: noise from the rear suspension, throttle
response dead spots or however you want to look at that one,
misdirected heater vents on the driver's side, and sloshing noise from
the gas tank. All of these are apparently design problems that could
probably be fixed, even during a production run.

Also, I never said anything about gas mileage. However, the fact that
you owned a three-cylinder Chevy indicates your basis for comparison
and favoritism for any vehicle that doesn't require assitive
pedalling.

Enjoy yours, I'll wait for the finer tuned model.

 

Dave, Dave,Dave....If you read my post, would would understand that after
OWNING and DRIVING the car for 8000 miles (not rumor or net chatter) that
my experience has been trouble free regarding defects and impressive in
terms of performance. As far as heater/ac that Matt finds lacking in his
car, I find mine works great-excellent controls and functionality. (Yes, its
winter here in New England too.) Bilevel has always been part dash vent,
part floor vent to my knowledge, and I, for one don't mind a bit of air on
the WS in that config.....As far as suspension noise, I don't have that
problem, nor the sloshing problem. ..As far as the curt comment on the
Sprint....I don't understand where you are going with that. The Sprint was
damn good at it's intended purpose-maximizing MPG.(I drove mine 150k miles)
....The intended purpose of the sonata is somewhat different, don't you
think?

I think the Bob Adkins comment is right on, BTW.....lot of 10 percenters out
here.

I'm not saying the Sonata is without peer, just that it is a sound car with
a sweet engine and worth what I paid for it IMO. Just my .02$, not trying to
dis' anyone. When you are really ready to buy a car, I would suggest test
driving the Sonata and see if you hear sloshing and suspension noise.

PS I gave the car an 8 overall on the JDP survey-hey, it isn't a Bentley or
Aston-Martin.

 

Yes, in bi-level the flow should be directed to both the dash and floor
vents. My beef is that in the Hyundai, the FLOOR setting directs air to
all three vents (floor, dash and defrost)!!! I'd rather the controls do
what they say and have the floor send air to the floor, bi-level to both
floor and dash, and defrost to defrost only.

If you haven't heard the sloshing in the tank, then you must have poor
hearing as EVERY Sonata does this as NONE have baffles in the tank.

I'm not saying the Sonata wasn't worth the money either. I think it
was. I'm just glad I didn't pay more than $16K for mine! It
definitely isn't worth the 22K I'd have paid for a Camry.

I gave it an 8 overall as well, but I dinged it on several items that
need attention. The sad part is that with VERY little work, Hyundai
could make it a 10 for me.


Matt

 

I must be hard of hearing also. I have never heard the slosh or the thump
and my a/c works great. Nno complaints at all. My LX waas well worth the
20,000 I paid.
Rob

 

Your loss Dave!

Do your self a favor. Go drive the car, then go drive the other similarly
equipped Mom Cars. Not 1 of them are totally free from such problems. And
for the price, the Sonata can't be touched.

Am I happy about the niggling little flaws? Of course not! However, even if
I traded it for another car, there would most likely be just as many little
flaws to live with.

Note: I only experienced 1 of the flaws from the laundry list. I think some
may have possibly been fixed in production, because mine has an assembly
date of 2006-01-29.

 

Marc,

I'm getting 26.1 on 80% highway 20% city. (39mph average speed), and I'm
delighted. I'm also delighted that my trip computer is balls on accurate,
and also reports exactly 26.1mpg.

I feel like I'm stealing gasoline. 26mpg on a car that size and weight, only
800 miles on the clock, and with an engine that strong is almost too good to
be true. And,,, it may even improve 1-2mpg!

 

I'm commuting about 40 miles a day, from West Los Angeles to downtown LA. I
now have 3000 miles on my V6, and I have not yet been able to reach 20 mpg,
but that's ok compared to other V6 cars.

My only complaint is the front seat. I have the manually adjusted seat and
even in it's lowest position, it feels as if it's tilted forwards. On the
other hand it's very easy to get in and out due to the short seat. I have
not yet done any long distance traveling, but I have a feeling that the seat
would get very uncomfortable after a couple of hours.

Other vise it's a very sweet ride, and it's always good to know that you
have the 5/10 year warranties.

 

I'd guess as with no baffles the fuel will slosh, it is simply physics.
Whether one hears it or not will depend on one's hearing and how loud
an area you drive in. In a noisy city, you might not hear it. I live
in a very rural and very quiet area and it is easy to hear, especially
when the tank is 1/2 full or better.

Matt

 

Yes, you should always drive before buying. I set out to buy a Toyota
Corolla, but after driving 3 different samples, I just couldn't tolerate
the relative position of the pedals, seat and steering wheel. The wheel
was too close to the plane of the pedals. If I set the seat where my
legs were comfortable, my arms were stretched like a banjo string.
Conversely, with the seat in a comfortable position for my arms, my
knees were crunched against the bolster. Toyota really got the wheel
too close to the dash on the current Corolla and a scan of the newsgroup
shows that I'm far from alone in this assessment. So, I took the
$16,000 that a Corolla would have cost and bought a Sonata instead. I'm
fairly happy with the decision overall, but some of the little
annoyances really are pretty annoying. I guess I was too used to the
comfort of my Grand Voyager minivan which had fewer of these issues.
Then again, a new minivan would have cost $10,000 more so you don't get
something for nothing.

For another car in the same price range, I agree.

Which have you and have you not experienced? I'm curious as to which
ones may have been corrected.


Matt

 

You are easy to please! I rented a 2005 Chrysler Town & Country minivan
for vacation this past June and it returned 25 MPG in similar driving
and it weighs much more than the Sonata and was carrying 5 people and
loads of baggage. I expect at least 30 from a car this size in the
driving regime you mention above. The full-size Buicks get 28-30 in
such driving so there is no reason for the Sonata to get less than that.

My 4 cylinder is returning only 27.5 or so in similar driving (I'd say
maybe 70% highway rather than 80%) and I consider this abysmal mileage
given the 24/34 EPA rating. I expected at least 30 MPG in 70-80%
highway driving. Maybe in warmer weather and with more miles (I have
3600 now). I'm hoping at least!


Matt

 

I like our '04 Sonata and it's pretty much every bit of what we expected,
plus maybe a little. I did want to address your comment above though. V6
engines should be well able to achieve 24-26mpg around town. I've had GM
V6's for a long time. I've had supercharged 3.8L, non-supercharged 3.8L,
3.1L. 3.4L and they all achieved this kind of mileage. All of them got 30
or over on the highway with cruise set at 72mph. I've got a pretty heavy
foot and I like to feel a car accelerate, so my driving style does not eeke
out the last possible mpg. The supercharged 3.8L might have been a little
under 24 - maybe hovering around 21-22 around town. Rock steady 31mpg on
the highway though. As predictable as taxes.

New engine break in time does have an effect on most motors and it's common
for them not to develop their proper power or their proper fuel mileage when
new. I'd sure hope to see 24 around town out of the new Hyundai motor after
break in.

 

My in-laws have owned two Centuries and I've driven a couple of larger
Buick rental cars, and this has been my experience as well. However,
Chryslers, Fords and other makes seldom seem to match GM in this regard.
The Camry and Accord will yield similar mileage, but only with both a
smaller car and small engine. The Buicks are really impressive in
highway mileage. I'm not sure how GM does it, but I've seen in many
times in Buicks. My experience, however, with Chevy's isn't quite as good.

Me also! I'd even more like to see 30 in my daily ~18 mile commute to
work that is mainly on level two and four lane highways. So far, 27.5
is my average, but I check every tank so I'll report back as the mileage
increases (3,600 miles so far) and the weather warms as spring approaches.


Matt

 

Matt,

The only problem I have experienced is the thunking sound from the trunk
area. The sound reminds me of a loose exhaust pipe rebounding against the
undercarriage. The noise does not happen when the rear wheels suddenly go
up, but when they go back down. (Should that tell us something about the
cause?)

I have never heard the fuel sloshing, but I suspect it is there. Why do I
suspect that? I was vigorously waxing the trunk lid last weekend, and the
car was bouncing up and down. I could easily hear the fuel sloshing.
Maybe it's my hearing. Its generally good, but admittedly not perfect.

There is no perceptible "flat spot" or hesitation in the throttle response
at any speed.

Gas mileage is great at 26.1, and trip computer MPG accuracy is spot on.

There is no tire or driveline noise or vibration at any speed. It's
absolutely jet-smooth from 0-80mph.

What did I miss?

 

Man, all these wonderful MPG figures make me wonder. I've never been so
lucky (or is it so optimistic?) My 4cyl Toyota Pickup gets ~18, my former
4cyl Mazda 626 got 24 on a good day.

All figures are with A/C running. It's always so warm down here that I never
finish burning a tank of gas without a good bit of A/C operation.

 

Most of my experiences were with Buicks as well. I'm a Buick guy. We've
had Park Aves, and a Regal. All of them I've loved, especially the Regal.
The 3.1L I mentioned was in a Malibu. You're right though - Buick does find
mileage in those motors and not at the cost of power.

 

I'm assuming you aren't driving 70-80% in highway mode. I get 16-17
with my K1500 extended cab pickup and 22-23 with my Chrysler minivan.

Mine are year-round averages that include slightly lower in the winter
when it is below freezing (often below zero) and summer when it is 90+
with the AC on and everything in between.


Matt

 

I don't have the suspension sound all that often, but have heard it on
occasion.

Well, hearing tends to go bad in certain frequency ranges so maybe yours
is just weaker in the range that the tank sloshing sound makes. My wife
doesn't hear the noise much either, but I hear it very distinctly.

I haven't noticed that either. Mine is just ultrasensitive compared to
my other vehicles and the throttle effort is too low. Going across
bumps in the road will jiggle my foot enough to get a PIO going at
times. PIO = pilot induced oscillation for those not familiar with
aviation terminology.

With the V-6, I wouldn't feel too bad about that as that is in the upper
half of the EPA 20-30 range. However, I only get slightly better with
the 4-banger and am in the lower half of the 24-34 range for it,
actually in the lower third.

Pretty much the same for me as well. The only noise is wind noise and a
whistle from the hood deflector that I installed to protect the sharp
nose of the hood from stone damage in our winters.

The main things for me are the poor HVAC heat distribution to the foot
well area and poor defogging with a car load of people. The seat belts
are also too close to the side of the car making it hard for me to get
my fat fingers in between to grab the belt. And the passenger side
buckle will bang against the side of the car if I go across rolling
bumps that rock the car side to side. The lack of good storage cubbies
that seem to be just a little too small for everything I want to store.
The dash cubby is too narrow for a standard-size 4x6 spiral notebook
that I use to log my gas purchases and maintenance and the console bin
is also too small for this notebook and also too small for the standard
size square tissue boxes that I carry in my vehicles. And the cup
holder rubber insert isn't robust enough to hold a small drink such as a
water bottle.

My single biggest complaint though is the electronic throttle. It makes
driving the stick shift almost more work than fun and I'm a person who
really likes to drive stick shift and have avoided automatics for 30
years. This is the only vehicle I've owned where i regretted getting a
standard shift tranny. And I've driven everything from VW Beetles (the
original Beetle with almost no power) up to tractor trailers. This
throttle is too light, too touchy, and has a slight lag that makes
starting out and shifting smoothly a real high concentration activity.


Matt