Didn't check the JD Power site myself, but snagged this from that "brand X forum".

"In a report issued today, Porsche came in first with 91 problems per 100 cars, followed by Lexus with 93 problems per 100, 3rd place Hyundai had 102 per 100 and 4th place Toyota had 106 per 100. Honda came in 6th with 110 problems per 100 and seniorjose's pick of Kia came in 24th with 136 problems per 100."

Congratulations to Toyota and Honda for being so close behind the Sonata. That's quite an accomplishment!

EDIT:

Here's a snapshot of the entire survey:

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c394/bobad/MWSnap015.jpg




Begging bhmr59's pardon for the plagarized text.

on the way home from work my 7 week ond sonata got rear ended at a light. guy fled but not before i got the tag and seen his damage. i was suprised to see little to no damage to my car when his 2002 maxima folded up in the front. i seen that it was a maxima but not till the cops ran the tag did i know the year. goes to show you not even nissan conpaires to hyundai now.

Would u buy another sonata after owner experience be honest in regards to quality reliability over a camry or accord

Figured I would ask the knowledgeable Sonata folk about this ...

do you use Injector cleaner in your cars ? I've heard good and bad things regarding using it.

Also Shell apparently has "Top Tier" gasoline now that has special detergents that exceed certain standards regarding deposits in the engine. I wonder if fuel injector cleaner is now a waste of money ?? Or do you think it always was ?

Props go out to importshark for the beautiful V33 badge ! Promptly shipped, great communication, and installed like a champ. Looks Much better than the V6 emblem. Man, no I have the fever to debadge the entire car. If I could only find something nice to fill in that rear oval besides a studie badge ...

I was wondering if anyone had information on an install of a FM Modulator (not transmitter) connection for their ipod in their Sonata? I was looking for a total cost estimate, some pics, and some user feedback for those that have it. How does the sound compare to CD quality? to radio quality? to FM transmitters? Pictures of the final look of the install would be appreciated aswell. I don't want wires hanging all over the place, or brackets drilled into the dash. Anyways, thanks for whoever has any information.

Thanks

http://www.drivingtelevision.com/segmentvi...call=&segtitle=

also if you watch the Camry video they aren't really blown away by it - it's just kind of there and it's too expensive ..

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=1...Jy6k&refer=home

The quote that interests us of course is:

Sales for Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, rose 5.2 percent to 42,514 vehicles last month, spokeswoman Toni Honsowetz said. The increase was led by Sonata sedans, which more than doubled, and last month's addition of the Entourage minivan.

The increase raised Seoul-based Hyundai's market share to 2.9 percent from 2.7 percent a year ago.

Nissan's U.S. shares rose 49 cents to $24.74 at 5:20 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading and have gained 21 percent this year. Hyundai's shares don't trade on U.S. exchanges.

I showed this to my Service Director today in his demo V6 GLS which did the same thing. No need to downshift, just observe the display as you slow down. Remember there is currently a comprehensive recall (TSB posted above) about the Shiftronic. It has to do with downshifting at full throttle, and there IS a definite lag at certain speeds waiting for the "passing gear". Sort of like the old Turbo lag. Any thoughts. Is this the final reprogramming we will see on our 5 speed A/T?.

Hello everyone, just came upon this forum, and glad I did. Like most of you, I am very happy with my black 2006 Sonata GLS! I think I got a great deal for it, with taxes, title, and license included, I spent just over $20,700 (bought at the beginning of May), and I had some options that the next model up has. It is fully loaded, with the 17 inch rims and sunroof, only thing I believe that I do not really have that is on the next model up, are the leather seats, heated front seats, and a telescoping wheel, whatever that is, and I believe that is it. I do not need a disc changer, so the one CD radio suits me fine. I did buy the car from dealer inventory, and it had 295 miles (had salesman knocked off $1 a mile), and I have had two very minor problems with it thus far. #1, radio can fade out with FM, and AM does not work at all, but it is currently on order for a new one (knew this driving it off the lot), and #2, the sunglass holder does not flip down, so they are ordering a new panel for that too.

This was the first brand new car I have ever bought, I am 30 years old, and this is only the 2nd car I have ever owned, my last bucket was a '94 Sundance, and I kind of inherited an '89 Sundance before that. I do see conflicting reports on these forums about oil changes and some regular maintenance, and I have a few questions I would like to ask, because this is the first car I have ever owned with any warranty, and I am not one with much car smarts. Also, to let you know, I live 20 minutes north of Detroit.

1. My handbook says to do oil changes every 3,750 miles, is this the key to follow, or should I stick to my usual 3,000 miles?

2. Does the Shifttronic give you any better MPGs if you use it regularly?

3. Is it best to go to the dealer for an oil change, or go to one of the usual corner oil change shops, since I see that oil filters are "hard to find?"

4. If I ever opt to do my own oil changes, I think I see that I need just over 6 quarts of oil, is that correct?

5. I will be putting a new coat of wax on my car within the next few weeks, when time permits, but is it a good idea to have it buffed out regularly, say, before every winter?

6. Being under warranty (remember this is my first new car), is it imperative to keep receipts of maintenance done, if not done by the dealer itself?

I will await any responses, and I thank you in advance for your words. I love this car, fell in love with it when I took one for a test drive, and I think I got a pretty good deal. One thing that got me right off the bat, was the room, I am 6'4", and I do not fit into many cars well, and I do this one! Thanks!!!!!!

Not much got done, it's got to go back next week.

1. Ewe, they used Quaker State 5w30! I'm ****. I called, they said they used Castrol. The signs in the service department say Castrol.

2. They never got around to looking at the tint bubbles and lifting.

3. Cd assembly on order.

4. Couldn't duplicate any rattles, creaks, squeeks, vibrations, etc.

5. Didn't find leaks in any of my tires, even though they don't hold pressure for a week.

6. Alignment is within specs, even though it pulls to the right. I have to keep the steering wheel turned left to go straight.

7. Sunroof glass is on order.

8. They replaced the ambient sensor on the thermostat. I haven't checked this one yet.

9. Door kick plate is on order.

10. Paint shop to be scheduled for the spots.

Now, should I be concerned they are going to do more damage replacing this stuff?

Suzanna

I recently purchsed my brand new sonata, orignally wanted biege with wood trim, but i settled for grey leather with a free wood kit install from the dealership.
I waited 3 weeks to get it put in and when i did it seems the automatic ac control was shaped wrong and other pieces were missing. Not sure what to do
any advice would be great

Has anyone ever tested their sonata on a drag strip? I'm curious as to what this thing will do. I'm not talking car and driver stuff either....I want real data......

Just curious if anyone has any horsepower improvements that we can do on the 4 cyl....bolt on type stuff.....I'm not putting new cams, or lifters, or gears, or anything like that....

(I really should have gotten the 6...but oh well.....it happens.....)

I bought an LX with package 5 for a couple thousand less than others are reporting. As my Deal involved a Trade, I paid limited Taxes (about $700 @ 7%). T & L was less than $60. I'm talking a sub $18K LX plus $700 T&L, OTD How did I do it?. I have no idea, and couldn't duplicate this highly successful transaction again if I tried. Let me just say I paid for a GLS and was put in a top LX. They couldn't find my car I purchased which was supposedly at the beauty shop. We had recently been hit by a Hurricane, and this unit had some sort of limited damage. Perhaps a Coconut hit it?.


I'll post my sales contract if you post yours?. Not sure what I'll need to black out. The order does not list any options or package(s). I paid Cash & Trade only, NO payments!

I get the occasional "nice Accord" but for the most part people mistake my car for an Audi A4. I never saw that until I looked closely at an A4 once day .. from the side and the front does the Sonata ever look like the Audi !!

I personally think it looks most like an Acura 1.6RL though .. especially the rear light treatment

I bought a 5speed GLS Elantra for my wife at the beginning of April. She had to learn to drive the car as she had never driven a stick before, and as much as we like the car the rebates on the Sonata have me thinking that we can get a better more powerful car for around the same payments. I would be getting a V-6, the $2500 rebate is too much to pass up. That with the $500 owner loyalty and $3500 from my pocket would equal around $6,500 down on the car. The only thing I am worried about is trade in value, I don't want to get hosed too badly on the deal. Is it worth upgrading the car at this time? Opinions?

I picked up my pearl white v6 gls on Monday. I previously owned an 03 elantra gt and a 05 elantra gls hatchback. I'm looking for the oem spoiler and was told that they will be really hard to colormatch. Where would I look to find a prepainted spoiler since hyundai no longer sells them? Thanks everyone.

does anybody know if the wiring is there for the seat already. my buddy has one with power seat option and it seams to be more comfortable than mine with the leg room issue for me. my wifes 02 has more adjustment than mine and is comfortable. hyundai should have kept the adjusters and not have went to the pump handle they have now.

Well, just picked up my new 06 GLS V6 yesterday. I have a couple questions that hopefully someone can answer. First off, do I need to wait at all to wax it? Second, has anyone put the factory mudflaps on? Do they just bolt on? Third, is doing the oil yourself on this out of the question? I can't even find the oil filter in that crowded engine compartment. I run Mobile-1 in my Jeep and would like to switch this over after the first few oil changes.

So far I love this car, of course I haven't even had it for 24 hours, and I am comparing to my Jeep XJ

Thanks,

Eric

Heya folks, I just got back from my first service at the dealership. Sonata runs smooth and fast....like a dream. But anyways, when I was there an older lady there who was furious about her bill. Apparently, she needed to get her oxygen sensors replaced or something (she needed it to pass inspection)....but it wasn't covered under warranty and it was costing her like $800.

Another fellow there was also upset...though not making quite the scene she was, he had to pay over $200 for some 3rd party "caliper" or "camber" fittings for the wheels in order for them to get an alignment done on his Santa fe.

All of this sounds kinda fishy....why woundn't the oxygen sensors be covered under warranty...and why in the world would they make cars that'll require 3rd party parts just to do a simple wheel alignment? The salesperson made it sound like the 10 year/100,000miles warranty seems to cover quite a bit and we shouldnt have anything to worry about if we have it. But does anyone know where we can find some detail information about what exactly is covered under warranty?

Ok so I just started messing around with it and haven't read much , all I basically know is plus means up a gear and minus is down a gear. When I was testing it do you have to hold it forward or backwards like a joy stick ? or does it lock into up or down mode ? Is it a bad idea to be using it in the begginning ?

Has anyone else requested touch-up paint but had trouble getting it?

I've had my ebony black Sonata 4 months now and still no paint (I've asked about it many, many times). First I was told that Hyundai was changing the formula and supplier for the paint, and lately they tell me they still have no idea about the paint.

It wasn't too long ago that I bought a different car from the same dealership, and they got me my touch-up paint within a week for that one. I don't think they're trying to jerk me around, but I have several deep rock chips that need fixing and I'm frustrated that I still don't have the paint that was promised me, free of charge, when I bought the vehicle.

Has anyone else (especially those with ebony black paint) experienced similar difficulty obtaining touch-up paint? If so, have you heard any other reasons why it may be so?

on my hood there are these spots that seem like.. the paint just went dull
its not even really black anymore
more like a gray

it reminds me of the color of my bumper when i went in to get it repaired
and they had buffed everything off and it left this grey.flat..color

but theres random spots of it pretty noticeable on my hood
ill take a pic when its daytime

anyone have any ideas?

Note: Pictures are more readily viewable if you click to enlarge
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And now, how I did it...
Last tank, I got 33.9 mpg, which was my best so far. I wondered what I could get if I dropped my cruising speed to 50ish (sometimes less, sometimes a bit more furtive if the light turns yellow). Usually I had it pegged at 49-50.
High temperatures here the last couple days have been 90+ with humidity so high that you swim through the air more than walk. I didn't run the A/C even once during this tank (yes, I'm one sick puppy).
Wind was blowing west to east both yesterday and today (during which time I put the near-500 miles on the tank), and I drive north-south, so I had a crosswind the whole time the wind was blowing. Wind speeds ranged from 0-28 mph during this time; I averaged 37.2 mpg over the first 100 miles of this tank when there was no wind.
My drive is usually 70% hwy/30% city but I had an additional 20 city miles on this tank due to my forgetting something important at work and having to retrace my tracks through stoplight central. I lost 0.3 avg mpg due to my absentmindedness.
I will put another 23 miles on the tank tomorrow before I fill up at my favorite station, but the average shouldn't change between here and there (it usually doesn't, but if it does it only goes down a tenth of a mile). I didn't want to hassle with the digital camera during my morning commute to work, and the pictures probably wouldn't turn out quite as good if they were taken at 5 AM.
Will I do it again? Probably not...I boiled in my car, and I don't know if I could ever beat 35.5. Maybe I'll take another crack at it if/when K&N comes out with an air filter that would fit my car and I can get my hands on one.

Oh yeah, and I did it all using my Shiftronic and with the ESC turned off - and I'm still alive!!!

I was wondering where I could get some touch-up paint for my 2006 Steel Grey Sonata. I just found a 1-inch scratch that is in a non-visible area that I want to cover to prevent rust. Does the dealership or any auto-retail store sell this color-matched paint?

Thanks

Been searching for some of this =)
I know it will come in handy in a few months,
Is there a way I can get official
Hyundai matching paint through the internet ?

Hey Guys,

I saw a couple of 2007 Sonatas roll off of the assembly line last night with some nice new paint colors. One they call "khaki" which is kind of an unusual grey-green metallic, it's nice even though I dislike green. The other is called "rio red" a very eye catching shade of medium red metallic; gone is the "prestiege red" or "cinnamon" as it was called on the website. I'll post again when I see anything else new pop up.....

REB

Hyundai Sonata - Built for people with more brains than money.


(Think about it for a second.)

I just stopped by the local dealership the to speak with a buddy of mine working there yesterday and noticed something interesting. Apparently the dealership is installing Eclipse navigation system on request for the new Sonatas. It goes where the radio is at and replaces the whole unit. I havent actually seen it myself, but i've been told that several people have already had it installed so far and a few more have it on order. Also, the dealership is now displaying the 06 Sonatas with the external Garman navigation in it. As much as i'm not too big a fan of external gps system cause i've seen some in other folk's car and they just don't look right....but it actually looks decent on the Sonata. It sits at eye level and doesn't block any view.

I myself have been in numerous situation where a nav system would definately come in handy. What i'm wondering is why don't hyundai just offer the navigation system as an option already? Are they even considering it?

Well I just returned from the dealership with my new GLS V6 and I couldn't be happier. The total with all the fees, taxs, tags, etc was 19,550 several thousand less than the Accord I was looking at.

Now if I can only get my wife to let me drive.

I want to replace the factory speakers in all 4 doors on my 2006 Sonata... how do I remove the grills? Has anyone done this? Any advice on speakers to put there? I don't want to mod, just upgrade whats there. I have a GLS, so no sub-woofer.

Has anybody replaced the door speakers themselves. I need pictures or information about how to remove the speaker. Do you have to remove the door panel or can the speaker grill be removed by itself to access the rivets that hold the factory speakers?

I allready know what speakers I want to install( Kenwoods KFC-1690ie ).
Cruthfield does not have this information yet.

I am looking for somebody who has allready done this task. I would prefer not having to remove the door panels.

I'm going in for my first free oil change on Tuesday.
According to the woman setting up the reservations (this place is just too busy) they use Castrol 10w30 and a synthetic is available for an additional charge.
She didn't know what the charge was.

I think I'm going to skip the synthetic this time and see how the first oil change goes.

I recall reading about Castrol as a decent product, correct?

Suzanna

Hello, im just looking to find some reliable custom/add on websites ,more towards the exterior/interior items over performance.
I also picked up one of those hyundai acessory books from my local dealer it seemed to be outdated only showing the 05 models, many of the models have an option for engine block heaters ? was just curious if it was or is available on the 06 sonata.

LX V6 $2500 or 0.9% 1.9%
GLS V6 $2500 or 0.9% 1.9%
GL Trims Only $1000 or 5.25% 4.75%
GLS 2.4L 4cyl. $1000 or 4.25% 4.75%

$2500 is insane...they must really need to get rid of these Sonatas...

the stock michelins on U.S models have a max psi of 40
but the when i checked the inside the drivers door
hyundai recommends 30 psi all around

i also thought that my tires felt a little to taut
and bouncy on rough roads
so i went to my local gas station
checked the tires
they all ranged from 42-46

kinda dangerous no?


i heard about this problem alot on recent posts
it seems to be very common
so its definitely worth checking

i brought them down to 30 all around

I get the first of my three free oil changes on Tuesday.

Took a look at the service brochure I picked-up from the service department a few weeks ago.
Every scheduled service has three levels.

Don't we get the road side assistance and engine protection with the basic warranty?

What's an oil conditioner?
Brake fluid flush and alignment inspection is $100 extra.

Is this with all dealerships or just mine?
Should I checkout the other dealer?

Suzanna

hi
my cousin is giving me a 800 watt kenwood sub
idk anything more about it
to install one in the sonata 06 w/ factory sub what do i need to take to shop for them to install i t??

There are some new reviews coming out (at least here anyway) on the Kia Magentis. Given that it shares a common platform and has raided the corporate parts bin, it bears a strong resemblance to the Sonata. Obvious differences for the Magentis are:
-Smaller V6
-Different suspension setup (Macpherson struts?)
-Black interior and different gagues (a much nicer blue on all lit up bits)
-Slightly cheaper price

Like the Sonata, the reviews have been quite favourable. What's everyone else's take on the Magentis?