2004 Hyundai Sonata GLS 2.7

Summary:

Good ride with some issues

Faults:

Front axle was truly rusty and needed to be changed.

Clutch was changed at 130000.

Front brake disks changed when I acquired the vehicle.

General Comments:

The car is really comfortable for a long ride. The V6 engine has enough power to make a nice ride, without expecting great acceleration performance. The external sounds are not so well isolated. The suspension is nice and the interior is acceptable, except for the wood plastic imitation put on the GLS models. Some internally used materials are perhaps cheaper than I would like them to be - the leather colour starts to fall apart, and the same happens on the steering wheel.

In general the car is good, but some engineering decisions were not as good as we would like them to be:

1. The V6 engine is too heavy for the front axle and puts it under serious pressure. Combined with the nasty weather in central Europe, it has so much rust, that it needed to be replaced 9 years after the car was made.

2. The V6 engine is really powerful for the clutch installed, so if you like to drive the car in a more dynamic way, it needs to be replaced more often than for the 2.0 litre Sonata.

3. The fuel consumption is reasonable, but far away from the figures mentioned in the car's manual. According to the documentation of the car, a long trip takes 7.9 litres for 100 kilometers. I never reached this, regardless of my driving style. I reached 10-11 litres. Nevertheless, you don't buy a 2.7 petrol engine when you need fuel economy, right :-) ?

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 14th August, 2014

13th Mar 2016, 16:14

The genius that conceived the engine for your Sonata also made a very curious suggestion to the extremely intelligent buyers required that they should replace the timing belt every 12 years or 8 years (for severe usage or temperature) or 75000 miles. Yours had 13 years and almost 90000 miles. Why have you not replaced the timing belt following purchase?

Hamor Metoomtam.

13th Mar 2016, 22:16

Hey Hamor, the writer doesn't mention anything about the timing belt; that doesn't mean it wasn't changed. Maybe as this is a MAINTENANCE item, he/she didn't see the need to mention it as it's NOT A FAULT OF THE CAR.