Finally, Price Is Right For Korean
The Age
Saturday September 16, 2006
The Hyundai Sonata could make a cheap second car, writes David Morley.
WERE it not for demand at home, car-makers such as Hyundai would be hesitant about committing to the investment necessary to produce a new large car - especially if Australia was typical of markets outside South Korea (and it is, for the most part), because we have just never hit it off with cars such as the Hyundai Sonata.The first Sonata arrived here in the late 1980s and was, without putting too fine a point on it, an absolute howler. The quality was awful, the engineering dated and the driving experience so far behind the Japanese establishment that it was almost laughable.But as Hyundai steadily divested itself of hand-me-down Mitsubishi technology (the company paid a licence fee to reproduce Mitsubishi designs from its own factories) and quality improved, the Sonata matured and improved out of sight.Unfortunately for Hyundai, Australians still had issues with the car, mainly because there was so much opposition with reasonable prices and better reputations.So should you dismiss a Hyundai Sonata? Is it just another lost cause and a gamble not worth taking? Not necessarily, because prices for second-hand Sonatas have fallen in line with the market's response to the car. It's no glamour machine but a well-maintained Sonata is a decent proposition for a learner driver or a family that needs a cheapish second set of wheels.The best value in Sonatas are the two models sold here between August 1996 and 2001. In August 1998, the car was facelifted rather dramatically with a new front and rear treatment. It added an element of Americana with those big, arched tail-lights and startled headlights, but under the skin, it's substantially the same car as before. In base-model GLE form the Sonata was a four-cylinder car with a conventional two-litre engine driving the front wheels. The engine had a bit more power than some of the competition, although the 102 kW hardly turned the car into a slingshot. But with 180 Nm of torque, it did the job without fuss, although it's a nicer car with the five-speed manual fitted rather than the optional four-speed automatic.Thanks to its appeal to those with a keen eye on a budget, quite a few Sonatas were sold with the manual gearbox, so you've half a chance to find one now.The upmarket version of the Sonata was the GLS, which arrived in 1996 with a 3.0-litre V6 engine. It had a single overhead camshaft on each bank of cylinders and three valves per cylinder for a total of 108 kW (not far ahead of the four-cylinder) and adequate smoothness and refinement.The 1998 facelift didn't change the base-model much but in the GLS it signified a new engine; this time a smaller 2.5-litre V6 but with double overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. So despite having less capacity, it did provide more power, a boost to 127 kW, and an extra dose of sophistication. Both versions of the V6 Sonata were available with four-speed automatics and the latter version could also be had with a five-speed manual, which is still the pick of the crop.Equipment levels weren't great even by 1996 standards; the GLE scored a driver's air-bag, central locking and power windows as its main selling points. So don't go looking at Sonatas from this era if safety gear is your goal. But if reliability is your thing, the model is probably worth a second look. They're also quite durable. We've heard of the odd car that has blotted its copybook but generally they seem OK. Make sure the timing belt has been changed at the appropriate interval and that the associated pulleys and idlers were replaced at the same time. An engine with noisy hydraulic lifters has probably missed out on oil changes and could be on the way out.What to payLook for a post-facelift version of the Sonata, particularly if you want a V6 version, because the later motor is definitely better. The earliest of those are fetching about $9500 in dealers' yards and at least a few hundred less privately. A four-cylinder 1998 GLE can be found for about $9000, but the price similarity of the four- and six-cylinder versions only makes the case for a V6 stronger.The competitionThe Toyota Camry and Mitsubishi Magna are more accomplished cars. The Kia Credos might get a guernsey too, but one drive of a late-'90s Credos will convince you to look elsewhere.
© 2006 The Age