Exclusive renderings of the 2018 Hyundai Sonata facelift

Anything is better than the current Sonata. It's a great car wrapped in boring styling.

Great car??? I rented one a few months back. I could not believe how loose and unresponsive the steering is. Ergonomics were beyond awful. And I still can't figure out why the dead pedal is so far to the left.

The Sonata is par for the course among mid-sized sedans and an abused rental is hardly an accurate representation.

It had fairly low miles, and the ergonomics of the car does not change based on the miles, especially that awful dead pedal. Having rented most of the midsize lineup, I would place the Fusion, Malibu, and even the Camry (which I hate because of its boring drive) all above it.

A Sonata may be sort of competitive - but it is NOT a great car - and the Discounts Hyundai needs to offer to get them off the dealer inventories is proof.
However - its resale value is nil - in this area - which makes it a poor choice. The Accord, Fusion, and Malibu are better cars - and the Accord leads on resale value.

Again Tom, you are wildly misinformed. The incentive at the dealer on the Sonata is no higher than any competing car--with the exception of the Chrysler 200 sell down. Most of the mid-sized sedans have $2-3K of slush either through rebate of post-sale kickback to the dealer.

MDarringer, that is just not accurate. Why do people lazily credit a chief designer/design director for everything under a brand/OEM?

The current Sonata internally known as "LF", had final design approval in 2011 and design freeze in the spring of 2012.


Do you not realize that Schreyer was solely design director for Kia back then? Thus any design work at Hyundai done prior to his early 2013 ascension has NOTHING to do with him.


Even by the time he arrived in 2013, he was unable to significantly "affect" a few models due for launch in the 2015-early 2016 period (Tucson, Elantra, etc) and only made a few changes at most.


In fact, he commented with a hint frustration towards this, stating his influence at Hyundai would NOT appear until 2016-17 and existing design freezes on models in the pipeline stifled his control.


Much of his early HYUNDAI efforts in 2013-14 concerned development of new design philosophy for late 2010s, evolution of the existing Hyundai design language, and foremost the premium models (now called Genesis).


Not even the pre-refresh DH G80 sedan had any connection to him, as that was mostly a Korea HQ design effort in the 2010-2011 period. The MY2015 Hyundai Genesis was already frozen by December 2011, which was more than a year before he came.

The G90 design was approved in 2013 when he was there, but was not even there for the whole design program.


The LF Sonata refresh would've been designed up until early 2016 and has been underway since 2014, which will be the first time he guides anything Sonata. Gives you an idea of how off your assertion was, as the incumbent Sonata has nothing to do with Schreyer.

Nor is he directly responsible for designing any car the past 15 years, as a design director does not do such tasks.

The formatting here can be so frustrating at times. (Wrong thread).

@Carmaker1 Someone is easily triggered. Maybe you need anger therapy management.

The current Sonata has the benefit of Schreyer's tweaks to the design that he got to too late to affect.

The easiest parts to change are the most offensively dull aspects.

jeffgall:

I've had 2 Sonatas before. Even my rentals came with an adjustable systems settings (Sport - Normal - Comfort) - which makes a huge difference in driving/steering feel. That's probably the biggest complaint for people who don't know about those settings. If you're in the city & the steering set to Sport, you'll be all over the place. If you're on the hwy & the steering set to comfort, the steering will feel lazy/unresponsive. Set the steering to Normal & it all feels much better - depending on trim level.

TomM:
What makes a car "great"?

I'm guessing you compare cars based on resale value then. I've owned a Sonata in the recent past. Except for a steering column issue - that was resolved in a day - I didn't have any issues in the 4 years it was driven daily. It had touch-screen & steering wheel controls, a really nice (loud) sound system, dual USB ports (in a time when hardly anybody offered them), always played my music via USB or Bluetooth, handfree calls, dual exhaust, fog lamps, sunroof, mirror-mtd signal lights, navigation.

I'm guessing I just described any Accord or Camry or Altima or Fusion. When I got my Sonata, the design was a little more "fluid-like" than the other midsizers.

when you steal Audi designers you get half ass Audi design cues on Korean cars

Schreyer did the amazing Optima and then gained control over Hyundai as well as Kia and turned the Sonata from stylish to dull and then he dulled down his own Optima.

MDarringer, that is just not accurate. Why do people lazily credit a chief designer/design director for everything under a brand/OEM?


The current Sonata internally known as "LF", had final design approval in 2011 and design freeze in the spring of 2012.


Do you not realize that Schreyer was solely design director for Kia back then? Thus any design work at Hyundai done prior to his early 2013 ascension has NOTHING to do with him.


Even by the time he arrived in 2013, he was unable to significantly "affect" a few models due for launch in the 2015-early 2016 period (Tucson, Elantra, etc) and only made a few changes at most in details.


In fact, he commented with a hint frustration towards this in 2013, stating his influence at Hyundai would NOT appear until the years 2016-17+ and that existing design freezes on models in the pipeline stifled his control.


Much of his early HYUNDAI efforts in 2013-14 concerned development of new design philosophy for the late 2010s, evolution of the existing Hyundai design language, and foremost the premium models (now called Genesis).


Not even the pre-refresh DH G80 sedan had any connection to him, as that was mostly a Korea HQ design effort in the 2010-2011 period. The MY2015 Hyundai Genesis body design was already frozen by December 2011, which was more than a year before he took office.

The G90 design was approved in 2013 while he was there, but was not even there for the whole design program and didn't direct influence of it from the start.


The LF Sonata refresh would've been designed up until early 2016 and has been underway since 2014, which will be the first time he guides anything Sonata. Gives you an idea of how off your assertion was, as the incumbent Sonata has nothing to do with Schreyer.


Nor is he directly responsible for designing any car the past 15 years, as a design director does not do such tasks.

Mmmm...idk about today's Optima - the exterior seems a bit lost in the sauce. It went from a good sporty motif to being a pseudo-entry sport-luxury thing. Its maybe too big for the kind of attitude they're trying to convey with this model. The Cadenza & K900 seems to carry the brand intentions now. I wouldn't even look at an Optima today - especially as Hyundai has updated the Sonata in better ways.

I like the aggressive look of both front and back. But, that's like putting a helmet to ride a tricycle. If there is no performance enhancements, then it's all a bluff, unless this is part of their "N" projects. Also, the roofline/greenhouse is fairly conservative, so not sure how the facelift and butt tuck will harmonize.

Seems that all the people who stupidly speculated 2-3 years ago that Hyundai would "RUSH" a facelift (over lacklustre MY2015 sales) to arrive late 2016 for the 2017 model year, were utterly clueless and jumping ahead of themselves.

As I said back then, that it arrive on a typical cadence in mid-cycle, which would be in mid-late 2017 for the 2018 MY. ALSO, the Sonata until now has bared no relation to design chief Peter Schreyer. The LF Sonata design was decided on in 2011 and barely locked in by late spring of 2012.

I cannot understand why most people cannot put two and two together and realize that the 4 years he's been there, mostly influenced the Genesis brand and 2016.5 to present Hyundais.

Nothing MY2015 or earlier has relation to Schreyer design-wise. Even the body design for the G80 (DH, née HYUNDAI Genesis) was designed by a Korean employee.