Hyundai Sonata 2001 test drive - 2004 sedan

Who performed "Sonata"

More and more potential buyers are looking at the business class sedans, but not everyone is capable of overpaying for eminent European brands. Those who need a solid, but relatively inexpensive car, the Taganrog Automobile Plant offered a very attractive option.
In Rostov for intelligence
When this material was being prepared, the sonatas have not yet appeared at the dealers, so we took advantage of the invitation of factory workers to get to know the novelty in Rostov-on-Don. It was doubly interesting to travel by car of the Russian assembly in the simplest configuration, since we met with a purebred Korean, equipped with a maximum almost three years ago (ZR, 2001, No. 11).
So what is offered for 16 990. e. (in this case, 1 of. E. \u003d 30 rubles)? A two-liter engine, a mechanical five-speed gearbox, a steering wheel, air conditioning, an electric packet, two airbags and belts with pretensors, ABS, a standard radio receiver with a CD player, a cloth of the seats and fifteen-inch stamped wheels. Perhaps it is acceptable both for the middle of the middle hand and for his driver. There are enough spaces in the back of the cabin, here even a passenger can stretch his legs tall above the average. Well, if you decide to use the car for household purposes, then for transporting long -breasters you can be thrown back, entirely or in parts, the back of the rear seat.
The car does not require either its dimensions or controls. To conveniently get a job at the workplace, enough two to three minutes to adjust. On the course of the desire to trample the gas pedal does not arise: a comfortable suspension in combination with a solid appearance and a spacious solid salon is recommended to behave properly. I want to go smoothly so that the newspaper in the hands of the boss does not tremble. Quite a painful, including on the bottom, the engine allows the engine not very often switching the gears, and this is done without effort, almost by itself.
Sonata keeps the way well and does not sin in the quick turns. If you really want to fuck, then raise the tachometer arrow in four thousand. Then you will hear the voice of a 139-horsepower engine and lulling sonata will turn into a brave march.
Given the Russian reality, the characteristics of the suspension were changed and the road clearance was increased. If at the first acquaintance we scolded the sonata for excessive softness, now it can be praised: light Americanity is practically overcome. True, some acoustic discomfort remained that the business class is undesirable.

Such different sonatas
And now we will figure out the proposed trim levels, since there are only four main ones. We have already talked about the simplest. For a leather salon with heating seats, climate control, decorative wood inserts, fashionable 16-inch alloy wheels and an anti-wings system will have to add a couple of thousand conditional units. Do not suit a manual gearbox. Cook another five hundred per machine gun. And for those who are nodded with a two -liter engine, please 2.7 liters with a sequental automaton, rear disc brakes, and driver's seats. In addition, xenon headlights. Such a set will cost the buyer forty percent with a small road more than the budget version.
Sonata performers deserve applause. We did not find any flaws in the fit or coloring of body parts even in the pilot party. So in the cabin: everything is done carefully and corresponds to the declared level. You probably can even shout: bravo! If you recall the prices of tickets. And in whose performance the sonata sounded, the consumer does not matter. If only I liked the car and the price suits.
Andrey Kochetov. Photo: Alexander Batyr and the author

A source: The magazine "Driving"