[DoingResearch]

Hi,

I Purchased a 2016 sonata 2.0t. I did not know about the theta II engine issues, and nothing came up while I was researching the car, now I constantly regret buying the car and I don't have a piece of mind. Initially, I liked it as it had great features, and was very spacious with good amounts of power. I test drove it and everything seemed okay, granted I did not do a highway test, so perhaps that's why I missed the downshift jerk. It had 55,000 km when I purchased it, now it has 60,000, and honestly, it's in excellent condition well at least on the surface.

Anyway, Im wondering if there is anyone here who can maybe tell me if what I'm about to explain is normal. The dealer said it is, and nothing to worry about, but it's hard for me to believe that anyone would make a car that does this.
1. So essentially as I drive and approach a red light I lift off the throttle if the speed is above 50 km/h when the car is coasting (foot off the brake and the throttle) right when the car hits 50 km/h there is a noticeable jerk my passengers also notice this. The car appears to be downshifting or it feels as though its applying engine braking. This happens every single time and it's very very very annoying. it does this in eco and normal mode, however not in sport. Does anyone know why this is? is this normal or should I be worried? Is my transmission about to go..?

2. Another thing I noticed is that I'm getting killed on MPG. I'm getting some ridiculously poor gas mileage based on what everyone else seems to be getting. I live in Toronto and do a mix of highway and local driving. I'm getting barely 500kms out of a 70L fuel tank which is about 14L/100km IN ECO....which is worse than my Super Charged Jaguar XF. Most people on the internet are reporting around 10L/100km combined. What is a more realistic number that I should be getting? or is this normal...

3. The car has all the service done based on the mileage. It had its oil changed, all fluids except transmission fluid have been replaced. It has had the injectors cleaned, and literally everything Hyundai recommended, I did all the service at the dealer cost me about 1k. Did I waste my money on this car?

I've never posted on here or anywhere for that matter, I'm sorry if it's long or if all these questions have been answered elsewhere, I was unable to find any info on this so I decided to post here. Thank you for reading this.

 

[DIYr]

Is this a street buy or from dealer? Did you get any warranty?

This sounds better addressed at the dealer as they may have seen this before or there could be a TSB. If dealer says it's normal then ask to drive another 2016 off the lot to prove that statement.

 

[DoingResearch]

I got it from the dealer as CPO, it has warranty until next month. I didn't buy an extended warranty... The plan is to test drive another one. The only problem is they don't have any. So I'm looking at other dealers to see if I can find any to test drive.

 

[DIYr]

I got it from the dealer as CPO, it has warranty until next month. I didn't buy an extended warranty... The plan is to test drive another one. The only problem is they don't have any. So I'm looking at other dealers to see if I can find any to test drive.

Get it to the dealer you bought it from fast and first to get the complaint on paper. Make sure you get and keep the paperwork.

"CPO" ?

 

[xaran]

I believe there was a TSB for ECM update on the LF (before the knock sensor TSB). You may want to check with the dealer to be sure it was done.

Its not normal to feel a hard automatic down shift. My 2017 2.0T in auto is smooth and you dont feel and downshifts under normal driving. i use my paddles a lot and when manually downshifts it will downshift and you can feel engine braking.

Also Id change the transmission fluid and also reset the transmission (TCM) our cars can "learn" normal driving patterns (shift points ect ) like if you always accelerate hard from stops or downshift and it will make some adjustments to meet your driving style. Doing a reset may allow the TCM to relearn your driving habits. The dealer can do this with a scan tool or you can do the battery disconnect it all starts from factory settings.

 

[xaran]

Get it to the dealer you bought it from fast and first to get the complaint on paper. Make sure you get and keep the paperwork.

"CPO" ?

Certified Previously Owned, with most manufacturers if you pay for the CPO you will get the same original warranty as the first owner. So with Hyundai a CPO would get the 10/1000 warranty same as if bought new.

 

[DoingResearch]

I believe there was a TSB for ECM update on the LF (before the knock sensor TSB). You may want to check with the dealer to be sure it was done.

Its not normal to feel a hard automatic down shift. My 2017 2.0T in auto is smooth and you dont feel and downshifts under normal driving. i use my paddles a lot and when manually downshifts it will downshift and you can feel engine braking.

Also Id change the transmission fluid and also reset the transmission (TCM) our cars can "learn" normal driving patterns (shift points ect ) like if you always accelerate hard from stops or downshift and it will make some adjustments to meet your driving style. Doing a reset may allow the TCM to relearn your driving habits. The dealer can do this with a scan tool or you can do the battery disconnect it all starts from factory settings.

The Dealer is telling me that all TSB have been completed, there is nothing outstanding on the car. The complaint has been documented, and they said I can bring it in to get the transmission values rest. They also advised me not to changed the transmission fluid yet. They are saying wait until I hit 90,000km. Do you not feel any sort of jerk like I described while going from 60km/h to 50? Because they are telling me all models do it... and its normal apparently. Either way ill test drive another one to see if its true or not.

 

[2424Goldie]

I wouldn’t call it a jerk, but I can definitely feel the downshift around 56km/h going from 5th to 4th gear on my ‘15 2.0T. The engine braking is much more intense during the downshift. Seems like the engine doesn’t use fuel to get the revs up for the next gear, it just starts changing gear and the car’s momentum revs up the engine in the lower gear. Feels normal-ish to me, it never bothered me.

 

[2424Goldie]

For your fuel economy, don’t use eco, it lugs the engine too much so I’ve noticed the turbo spools up to compensate even on a gentle acceleration so it hurts fuel economy more than just leaving it on normal mode. I’ve never averaged that high on mine, do you idle around a lot, accelerate quickly? I average around 14-15 strictly city stop and go driving and as soon as I start highway driving I can average as low as 7 l/100km

 

[DoingResearch]

For your fuel economy, don’t use eco, it lugs the engine too much so I’ve noticed the turbo spools up to compensate even on a gentle acceleration so it hurts fuel economy more than just leaving it on normal mode. I’ve never averaged that high on mine, do you idle around a lot, accelerate quickly? I average around 14-15 strictly city stop and go driving and as soon as I start highway driving I can average as low as 7 l/100km

I do have a bit of a heavy foot, and the only time the car idles is when I remote start it, even then I let it run for about 5 minutes or less, just to get the engine temps up before I start driving. Because of my driving habits I assumed id be getting around 12L/100km. But even that hasn't been achieved. How much mileage do you get out of a full tank with city and highway driving? Does using normal or sport mode have any noticeable difference in MPG? because the hard down shifts go away in sport mode.

 

[xaran]

They also advised me not to changed the transmission fluid yet.
Do you not feel any sort of jerk like I described while going from 60km/h to 50? Because they are telling me all models do it... and its normal apparently.

I drive a lot, more than 30,000 miles a year. My Sonata in under 4 years has 124,000 miles on it now with no problems.

I changed the transmission fluid at 60,000 miles and again at about 100,000 miles. In normal deceleration from 80 mph to anything from 45 to 0 mph I dont feel any hard jerk if the transmission is in auto (D). I do use the sport mode 90% of the time and often up and down shift using the paddles so then I will fee engine braking.

My avg mpg is 26 but I drive pretty hard acceleration, freeway daily for 90 miles at 65-85 mph. On trips with cruise control at 75 mph Ive done 29-30 mpg, if I drop the speed to 65 mph Ill get over 30 mpg.

 

[2424Goldie]

I got mine at 42k km and it’s now at 93k km and the downshift at around 50km/h hasn’t improved or worsened. It’s not a shake or a clunk or anything as if something is wrong, it’s just the transmission downshifting a little too early in my opinion. I’m not worried about it so I’m not driving in sport mode to avoid that downshift to know if there’s a difference in fuel economy. I don’t use eco as the rpms are too low, and I don’t use sport mode as the rpms stay too high for nothing just cruising along so I’m in normal mode 99% of the time.

My commute is around 200km per day with something along the lines of 90% highway driving so I can get almost 900km in a tank during the summer and close to 700km during winter. (Around 100-110 km/h) However, I don’t have a heavy foot during my daily drive as I accelerate gently enough the transmission up shifts under 2k rpm. When I do just drive around for fun around town and then I do have a heavy foot, fuel consumption skyrockets and if I were to drive like that from full to empty I think I’d barely get 300km in a tank. Turbocharged cars are worse than supercharged cars I think and both are much worse than naturally aspirated cars in the sense that they can be efficient at low throttle inputs, but start having a heavy foot and make the turbo spool up creating boost and fuel economy goes way way way down

 

[DoingResearch]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to provide an update on my situation. The dealer reset the transmission values, and now the car is no longer jerking as it used to. This is great as I saved $300 on a transmission fluid flush. I wanted to drive it around thoroughly to see if the problem would come back, but it didn't. For anyone who gets it as a used car, the car would have adapted to the old owner, so I would suggest getting the transmission values rest, so the car can adapt to your driving style (as suggested earlier in this discussion).

In terms of fuel consumption, I'm finding out now that the car does about 11L/100km in the real world, if your driving habits are like mine, and you tend to accelerate faster than most, then this car would return closer to 14L/100km. In that sense, it's far from being a fuel-efficient car. I assumed I would be getting around 10L/100km which was advertised, but that doesn't seem achievable at least not in the city. I will try to get the fuel consumption lower and will provide an update if needed, but for now, I've come to terms with poor MPG. Im open to suggestions for how I get better MPG.

Thank you all for participating, and helping out. It's much appreciated