Richard Hammond takes to the road in a Hyundai Sonata and looks at its performance, practicality, style, and interior design. The 2 litre V6 version produces 136 BHP, does 0-60 in 10.3 secs, and has a top speed of 124 mph.
Most of those Jaguar and Mercedes in which this Sonata was inspired are, by now, leaking oil and in the 2nd headgasket while I'm sure the Hyundai still goes strong.
I've got an 09. I beat the absolute crap out of it and it friggin' loves it. Those bad boys are around 260-270 hp. Can't turn ESC off unless you want to chirp the tires at every stop light. GREAT engines. I will say Richard is wrong about not using the shiftronic stuff though. My only complaints with the car are the automatic transmission and it not being RWD. shiftronic is like having an automated sequential gearbox. takes an otherwise kinda boring driving experience and gives it a little life. Would have rather had a 6 speed manual gearbox though.
We have one that got totaled in a t bone accident that we used as an enduro car. That car is bulletproof and has been great on the circuit. Still had its original exhaust system but that got damaged when the car got broadsided and jolted the exhaust loose during a race. Very well put together car and easy to work on. I replaced the steering knuckle on it a couple weeks ago and it was under 2 hours to complete. It’s a 2004 Hyundai Sonata with the 2.7 V6 GLS. Has all the options including my favorite, the gold badging.
I had a 2004 Sonata GLS V6, the US version, drove it for 13 years and then gave it my brother who drove for a few more years until it hit 170,000 miles on the clock. Great suspension, awesome sound system and smooth engine. The only reason I got rid of it was because the engine balancer screw broke in half and we couldn't remove portion stuck inside without having to drop the engine. For a car that was 13 years old and paid in full I didn't want to get into debt for it so I scrapped it. Damn shame how it ended, great car.
The car in the description is not the car he is driving, he is driving the 2.7 V6, but i bet the info is just if you wanted to know about a model with a smaller engine :)
i have one from 2003, its worst enemy in Canada is the rust. Other than that i learnt to appreciate Korean reliability. Engine, electronics, everything is working fine.
I owned exactly the same one, buyed it new and made over 200.000km in 14 years, switched than to the XG350 with which I drove others 150t km. Only incidence was the transmisión gear sensor which needed to be replaced on both cars (it was a common issue at that time), but besides this, no other incidences. These cars were far from perfect but very comfortable, safe and reliable.❤
Hey I just bought an '05 EF-B V6 and wanted to know more about this. What are the symptoms you faced, which was the sensor part number you bought, and how hard was it to do the replacement?
I inherited mine from my father and it was in immaculate condition. It hurts my heart that it no longer is but then it makes feels warm again because of the memories w this thing! Great first car!
Back in the days when Hyundai was finally able to get reliability and quality control right for the first time. Nothing to say abt its car designs back then bcz they didn't spend money to get more talented car designers to do the job, apart from the Pininfarina-designed Matrix and Getz. Money was spent on engine, chassis and transmission R&D as well as marketing & quality controls.
My 2003 V6 Hyundai Sonata has 160k kms and still runs well like it is only a few years old. Great handling. The engine is smooth and silent. Not a single major problem except the CD player broke and can no longer get it fixed since they are no longer made. There are no electronics except for power windows so nothing can really go wrong with it. I still have it as a 2nd car.
i plan to buy a 2003 Hyundai sonata. does this hyundai sonata version 2.0 gls have the same engine as the Mitsubishi 4g63 twincam model? please explanation of the right info from the master to help me in the selection of this car.
I actually found myself one of those cars I just actually want to talk about it too the people who own it and then see if they ever want to sell it because they haven't driven it in years now and it just sits there on the side of their driveway collecting deposits and rust and it makes me feel very angry that a perfectly good sleeper car is going to waste well not if I can definitely help it I wanna buy and fix it up and then turn it into the best sleeper car ever on the road of Edmonton Alberta Canada people
My neighbor who will unfortunately pass soon just signed her car over to me. It has 195000. So I'm trying to find out as much about the car as possible. And and so far, I am enjoying it.
I bought my first 04 with 80,000 starting miles on it and it ran beautifully to 225,000. I just bought ANOTHER one even same color with 68,000 miles on it… Only thing that scares me is that it sat for so long so I had a lot of things I had to fix and there’s sludge in the motor . Idk if that’ll affect how long the engine itself will last but I fixed an oil leak , timing belt , crankshaft / camshaft sensor , and a couple hoses that needed replaced. I’m hoping that’s all it needs and it can run a long time like my other one did. Cheers 04 Sonata gang 👌🏼
The 2.7 delta V6 engine ia unbeatable though. I have a 2002 that starts in under a second of cranking. Meanwhile my 2008 ford takes 15 or 20 seconds on a bad day.
@@OffGridInvestor I have an 04 sonata v6, poor car was abused as a farm vehicle and I bought it with 170k miles, the suspension is trashed but the engine and trans is still going strong. It starts up fast, has enough torque to not be totally boring. Its got 201k miles now and still going strong. Its a deathtrap with todays trucks and SUVs on the road but it'll always hold a place in my heart.
I have the same one, except from 2002. Shift gear (Which I like prefer), full in leather, everything works fine, with good maintenance, my mechanic told me it can last for another 5-6 years with no issues. There is no rust on the bottom, even though the car spent it's entire life in a country with 2-3 month snowfall and salt on roads.
My 2003 Sonata had 315,000 miles on it, but then it was in a bad fender bender that would cost too much to repair. Never had a single problem with the engine or transmission. Bought a 2017 Sonata to replace it.
I have a trajet van with that engine. Runs like a dream. 2 or 3 cranks and it fires up. Makes a mockery on the fords I have driven for 20 years. The van is 2002 and starts easily while the ford is 2008 and cranks slow and took 2 goes to get it running the other day. And the battery in it is only 3 or 4 months old..... many people see them on youtube and assume its a mitsubishi FTO engine. It may well be a similar copy of it as in the early days and even right up to 2005 at least, hyundai and kia were using other engines or making other engines under licence.