Hyundai Sonata NF 2004 test drive - 2008 sedan

Devaluation

Hyundai NF began to be sold in Russia, as in the whole world, last year. But with engines of 2.4 and 3.3 liters, the car was unreasonably road, which caused low demand. A simple modification with a 2.0 liter engine is now available. Will she be able to attract customers?

 
Once in our country, Sonata of the second and third generations was very popular in our country. The car was quite unpretentious, but the body made of thin metal of non -self -high quality hardly digested our salty winters. Therefore, not many of them have survived to this day in normal condition. NF Sonata-Averse. Despite the common platform, he added in size both external and internal, became much more solid and acquired a worthy design. It already has much more Europe than the East. Everything is in place, the front and rear lights are quite normal, Korean things are a thing of the past. A very laid car, albeit without delights. But still there are own highlights.
 
Look at least at the S-shaped bend at the site of the joint of the rear wing and headlights. Simple, but original. As promised, the Koreans promised, as promised, the quality has grown significantly. Well, we will still check this, but for now it’s clear one thing: all these metamorphoses made Hyundai inflate the price. And to inflate outright. So 2.4 liter NF stands on a par with the new 2 liter Ford Mondeo in average configuration. Thus, the Koreans sawed the bitches on which they sat, inherent in the merits of their only trump cards, lower than European and Japanese analogues.
 
In my opinion, this is associated with the access to the modification market with a smaller engine of 2.0 liters. The price of 24 thousand dollars per car of the D-segment from Korea is already somehow reasonable. In addition, we are talking about the simplest configuration with a manual checkpoint and a rag salon. But, if you look at this on the other side, the same Toyota Corolla with a 1.6 -liter engine is a Japanese car below. And the fact that you will not find any other classmate from Europe or Japan for this money is also clear.
 
The test car was painted in a deep brown metallic. Beautiful colour. Perhaps the best of the modest gamut offered for NF. A successful addition to strict forms. What will be pleased with Hyundai inside? And inside there is nothing to rejoice. The salon resembles Japanese cars of the 90s of the last century. In the layout and quality of materials, everything is very similar. None of the serious automakers now allow themselves this, even on elementary classes. Around plastic of various textures and different shades of gray color, in some places the so-called Soft-Look, i.e. Soft only in the opinion, but not to the touch.
 
Although, in general, everything is collected very decently, and the general boring harmony is not broken. It was possible to find a convenient position behind the wheel easily, the adjustments of the seat and the steering wheel are sufficient. But the seats themselves with textile upholstery did not like. Very soft, straight -like. You won’t even find these on the Americans today. There are many places in the cabin, I sat down behind myself without problems with a height of 183 cm. And there is still a reserve. It is quite at the level of more eminent analogues. That's just noisy inside. And the knock of sand on the wheeled arches, and other road noises penetrate from the street more than we would like.
 
You have to constantly manipulate the sound of the radio (by the way, in addition to CD, it is also able to lose exotic cassettes) and increase the voice at high speeds. And the speed of 170 180 km/h NF reaches very easily. I liked this modest 2 liter motor. It already pulls from 2000 rpm is decent, and is spinning with pleasure, without annoying with excess screams. Good, elastic power unit. I was pleased with the 5 -step handle. Clear switching, excellent selectivity of the mechanism. Sometimes even a hint of sound accompaniment of the type of clan-clad. But do not think that these units endow Hyundai sports or gambling. A non -informative steering wheel of 3.5 turns, a comfortable suspension and cheap Kumho Solius tires reduce their efforts to nothing. The suspension works well and does not allow the car to sway very much, but it is too gloomyly pronounced insufficient rotation, sluggish reactions to the steering wheel. So does it make sense to buy such Hyundai NF? Probably, for those who are not so much important, interior decoration and interesting handling, but the large sizes of the salon and trunk, as well as for those who like the external design and confuse the large logo in the form of an inclined letter H on a radiator grill. Again, because of the price, lower than that of competitors. But many will nevertheless prefer the car class below, but brighter in all respects.
 
Prices and configuration

Hyundai NF is currently sold with two 4 zillin gasoline engines of 2.0 (145 hp) and 2.4 liters (161 hp). GPP or 5-step mechania, or 4-step H-Matic machine gun. There are also two configurations: GL and GLS. The price of a car is 2.0 GL with a mechanics 618 900 rubles. The most expensive NF 2.4 GLS on the machine costs 839 011 rubles.
 
Dmitry Krotov
 
 
 
 
 
 

Source: Motor magazine [October 2007]