Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
My daily driver is a 2015 Sonata SE with the regular 2.4L. After being rear-ended last Friday I dropped off my car at the body shop and got a 2017 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid SE with 6k miles as a rental car. For the most part I liked it and it drove pretty nice. Dropped it off after 6 days and 411 miles. I drove it pretty hard and got 35.5 mpg commuting, where my 2015 gets around 29 mpg.
It's easier to come up with Cons than Pros for a car in my experience. But I did enjoy the car a bit, was a million times better than the Yaris they put me in at first (I swapped at another location for the Sonata Hybrid). That Yaris was god-awful. Overall I do recommend those in the market check it out if you're looking for a hybrid, but I do like my 2.4L MUCH more having a real engine.
Pros:
-Extremely comfortable seats, slightly softer than my 2015, very comfortable for tall people.
-Very quiet.
-Comes standard with Apple CarPlay
-For the most part it had plenty of power, nice torque from that electric motor
-On the 25 miles of highway home last night, I reset the average mpg and set the cruise control to 55 mph and after 25 miles it displayed 63.5 mpg. It was probably over estimating a little bit but at that low speed, it drove a lot in Electric Vehicle mode so 60 mpg is probably more accurate.
-Stereo sound is pretty decent. Not high end but for a base model it sounds pretty good, sounds like my 2015's stereo.
Cons:
-A/C would occasionally warm up a bit, then get ice cold, then a few minutes get a little warm. My 2015 doesn't do this.
-A/C blower motor comes up to speed in slow motion when starting the car. I always was manually cranking it up as soon as I got in to make it go faster, it's 100 degrees outside! Hurry up! I think it's slow to come on to be more gentle and seem more "luxurious". My 2015 doesn't have this issue as it has a manual knob instead of a digital display. It goes to full power immediately.
-Has a delay when stomping on the gas. This is so the gas engine can kick on to assist with harder acceleration. I've never driven a hybrid before so this might just be a hybrid thing
-Apple CarPlay needs some work. Not sure if this is an Apple issue or Hyundai issue. When clicking on a text message to read aloud it sometimes doesn't, and it takes a couple tries.
-The built in media player for Bluetooth music absolutely sucks. You can't choose the artist, album, or song from the radio. You have to do it from your phone. You can however skip to the next song. My 2015 allows the selection of artist, album, and song through Bluetooth. It has the non-touchscreen base model stereo. I like it more.
-The headlights are ok, not the greatest. My 2015 blows it out of the water because I replaced the bulbs with 9011's (not what it calls for).
It's easier to come up with Cons than Pros for a car in my experience. But I did enjoy the car a bit, was a million times better than the Yaris they put me in at first (I swapped at another location for the Sonata Hybrid). That Yaris was god-awful. Overall I do recommend those in the market check it out if you're looking for a hybrid, but I do like my 2.4L MUCH more having a real engine.
Pros:
-Extremely comfortable seats, slightly softer than my 2015, very comfortable for tall people.
-Very quiet.
-Comes standard with Apple CarPlay
-For the most part it had plenty of power, nice torque from that electric motor
-On the 25 miles of highway home last night, I reset the average mpg and set the cruise control to 55 mph and after 25 miles it displayed 63.5 mpg. It was probably over estimating a little bit but at that low speed, it drove a lot in Electric Vehicle mode so 60 mpg is probably more accurate.
-Stereo sound is pretty decent. Not high end but for a base model it sounds pretty good, sounds like my 2015's stereo.
Cons:
-A/C would occasionally warm up a bit, then get ice cold, then a few minutes get a little warm. My 2015 doesn't do this.
-A/C blower motor comes up to speed in slow motion when starting the car. I always was manually cranking it up as soon as I got in to make it go faster, it's 100 degrees outside! Hurry up! I think it's slow to come on to be more gentle and seem more "luxurious". My 2015 doesn't have this issue as it has a manual knob instead of a digital display. It goes to full power immediately.
-Has a delay when stomping on the gas. This is so the gas engine can kick on to assist with harder acceleration. I've never driven a hybrid before so this might just be a hybrid thing
-Apple CarPlay needs some work. Not sure if this is an Apple issue or Hyundai issue. When clicking on a text message to read aloud it sometimes doesn't, and it takes a couple tries.
-The built in media player for Bluetooth music absolutely sucks. You can't choose the artist, album, or song from the radio. You have to do it from your phone. You can however skip to the next song. My 2015 allows the selection of artist, album, and song through Bluetooth. It has the non-touchscreen base model stereo. I like it more.
-The headlights are ok, not the greatest. My 2015 blows it out of the water because I replaced the bulbs with 9011's (not what it calls for).
