I have this car, with sticker tires and a good launch control, I ran my 0-60 in 5 seconds flat. At the end of the day this car is a sleeper and it turns heads. It is a ROCKET. But I wish it had a LSD but this car can keep up with V6 models as well.
I was interested to see how it compares to the Elantra N. This car also doesn't have the eLSD that is present in Elantra N. Elantra N is more focused for performance driving while this Sonata N-Line is more focused for comfort.
You give up some comforts with the Elantra N. Manual front seats with less adjustability and no adaptive cruise control. Yes, it is more performance oriented but based on Car and Driver as well as MotorTrends 0-60 and 1/4 miles times of both vechiles, they are extremely close. That said, in order to achieve those numbers in the Sonata Nline it is gonna take some expertise. You won't be able to get those figures by just hopping in it for the first time and letting it rip. You will be spinning the tires for the first 200 feet meanwhile the Elantra N will be passing the 1/4 mile mark. The LSD allows you to just hop in and take off. Now on the highway or on a roll, the Nline can move with the best of them.
Just a slight correction. The N-line pkg. on the Elantra is a great deal more than "an appearance pkg." The N-line has Elantra has 54 more h.p., bigger brake, independent rear suspension and stiffer springs, with tighter steering.
So do these cars have a good tuning system ? Like is it tunable In ways like the civic and accords have the ktuner and hondata , tuners able to calibrate the ecu and all that? Or is this all it can do as of now?
It seems that the Kia K5GT may be tuned to be a bit roadies than the Nline despite the same motor and transmission. The Nline seems to be smoother and the K5 more aggressive throttle response. It seems they may have monkied with the gearing ratios slightly.
No different countries, have different built on the same car, look at the Elantra, it's called avante in Korea it's the same car same build but just different specs on the car, rather then having a US model built in the US.
Yes but in US all cars will have the same spec no matter where they are actually assembled. I know cars look and have different specs in different parts of the world.
In Australia the Sonata N Line is the only model that is available here, we don’t get any of the other trim levels, I guess it is a smart move business wise to have the top of the line model only, one key difference I noticed is that you said the passenger seat is manually adjusted, in the model we have here they are both power adjusted for driver & passenger. Another difference is we have Continental PremiumContact 6 tyres instead of Pirelli P Zero’s, other than that everything looks the same. I bought this car as I absolutely loved the styling & the performance is phenomenal, it really blew me away at how quick & underated this car is, it is a bullet & plenty of fun, the front lights that blend into the chrome really stood out for me & I just loved the fastback design. Hyundai/Kia have really stepped up over the last few years & the quality & performance of there vehicles has really become that of a premium brand. I have driven the Stinger & use to own a 2016 WRX, at first I was planning to go Elantra N (know as the i30 Sedan N in Australia) but I wanted something that is sporty but a little more “mature” as I have grown up now. This is the full blown “N” model of the Sonata & there will be no proper N model as it was recently announced that this will be the only DN8 generation of this car (not sure about overseas countries) which is a shame because the market here is heavily SUV’s & Ute’s as Sedans are a very minor consumer market. The launch control is a little gimmicky, to use it properly you need to mash the brake & throttle all the way to the floor to get it to work properly, and you can also adjust the RPM at which to launch using the RES/SET button. It works a treat I’m surprised how much little wheel hop/spin & torque steer there is considering it is a FWD with stupid amounts of torque. Great review mate👍
@russell3436 Awesome Car, how's your experience with the car after having it for some time? I pick mine up in a few days, love the car, not many around, didn't really like it when it came out, was set on getting alter Mazda 6 GT with a turbo, but the car is so dated and needs a refresh, was thinking Skoda, but wanted to skip Euro cars for their complexity, the Sonata was a last minute thought, looked it up just by chance after selling the new model in a car yard after signing up for i30 Sedan (Elantra) N Line, then cancelled it as it felt too small....
I have yet to review the TRD Camry but I have done V6 one which should be close enough and i felt the power delivery was better on N line. To me at least. Both great vehicles
I looked at the Camry, I just didn't like it all all, felt like a boat, didn't like the styling or the the tech, likely a better car in terms of reliability, but I wanted a car that was not so common and has all the features I want in a car.. only thing I miss is a rotary dial to control the car controls like in a Mazda and a LSD would have been nice. But wanted a family car with enough power to have some fun occasionally.
As far as looks the wheel gap needs to be gone, wider tires, and a lower stance, which probably in its current state would make it look better and or sleeker looking. It sits to high for my taste and for 40k I'd expect the stance to be a bit more aggressive looking. The body does grow on you though I feel. Its all my pref tho
You can probably add some larger wheels to fill the gap. I know people drop the suspension to make it lower but to me its a disaster waiting to happen.
