2006 Sonata AC

Well, had my first real chance to use the AC in my Sonata yesterday.
The temps were in the upper 80s with reasonably high humidity (I don't
know what it was, but it felt sticky yesterday in northern PA).

I'd say the AC performance is consistent with the heater performance in
the winter, which is marginal. I ran the AC for nearly 40 minutes
straight and never could take the temp control below the coolest
setting. And I hard to run the fan on speed 2 most of the time to keep
it moderately cool. Compared to my Chrysler minivan and Chevy truck,
this is weak performance. Both will cool the vehicles nicely within 15
minutes with the fans set on their low setting. And after about 15
minutes (I'm talking a similar upper 80s day, not 100 or something
extreme like that), I have to start moving the temperature lever up off
the stop to keep from getting too cold.

So, I still think that Hyundai needs to consider beefing up the HVAC
system in the G6 Sonata. I can't imagine driving across Nevada with
temps above 110 as I did last summer in a Chrylser T&C rental. The van
kept us nicely cool on low fan speed and the coolest temp setting. I
don't think the Hyundai would. Maybe with the fan speed on 4, but that
is pretty loud and would get tiresome on a long trip.

What have others experienced with their 2006 Sonata AC?


Matt

 

We were a few degrees warmer, and probably a bit more humid here in central
NJ, and I thought my '06 Sonata did an excellent job. Mind you, I don't
have a Chrysler Minivan to compare it to, and my '88 Chevy P/U hasn't had a
functioning A/C in it since about 2000. But comparing it to my Elantra's,
it did a much better job. I also have to say that on a day like yesterday,
without a baby around, I wouldn't have used the A/C at all in my car (home
is another sotry). But the baby can't regulate her temperature that well
yet and can get over-heated very easily.

So, long story short, I'm probably not as demanding of my car A/C as you
are.

Hopefully other will chime in as well.

Eric

 

Matt, I live in Nevada and have no problems what so ever with my XG350L's
air. The car starts cooling down as soon as I turn it on and most of the
time I have to turn the climate control down because after about 5 minutes
my nose is numb.... I had a 2003 Dodge Quad with a 360 and my wife has a
2003 Santa Fe, in her Santa Fe after about 5 - 6 minutes you had ice cycles
hanging off your nose and my Dodge, after 20 minutes you were still wipeing
the sweat off your face.. The problem I found was The Santa Fe was white and
the Dodge was dark Blue The Dodge dealer here said it was the color, the
dark color was absorbing the heat into the dash and into the cooling ducts
and it took that long to cool them down. My XG350, WHITE and cools down in
under 8 minutes even when its 113*

Tunez

 

..
I live in central Florida and as the temps are in the low 90's now. I can
say that we have not had any problems with our HVAC, fuel tank, noise from
the rear end or any other of the many problems you have experienced with
your Sonata. Maybe it's time to trade for a Chrysler mini-van.

Rob

 

I don't know about the Sonata, but the fan in the Elantra is really
wimpy. I find that I need to run it on setting 3 or 4 to get any
substantial airflow. However, the A/C pumps out plenty of cold air at
those settings, more than I need in fact. I'm used to cars with higher
output fans that only needed to be on setting 1 or 2 to do the job, but
since I've quit fighting the desire to use lower settings I've found
that both the heat and the A/C in the Elantra are more than adequate.
Perhaps it's the same with the Sonata?

 

Yes, color certainly makes a big difference on a sunny day. My Sonata
is medium blue so it absorbs a fair bit of heat when the sun is out. My
minivan is silver and my pickup is green, which also absorbs a fair bit
of heat.


Matt

 

I already have one. I had two before a drunk totaled one and I bought
the Sonata.


Matt

 

The Sonata seems to move a fair bit of air, at least on the higher fan
speeds. It is a little wimpy on the lowest speed, but then so is my
pickup, but it puts out colder air so it makes up for it. My 96 minivan
had a fairly anemic fan also, but, again, put out colder air than the
Sonata. My 03 minivan has a very powerful fan, almost too powerful.
Even the low setting is often more than you need. Chrysler apparently
really boosted the fan capacity when they did the redesign in 03.


Matt

 

I have to agree with you. Been all over the Northeast this weekend.
Temperature were in the lower 80s. The AC was barely adequate.

 

Maybe it's the humidity. I just saw the evening news that they said the
dewpoint was 70 with temp of 91. More of the same, maybe even worse,
tomorrow...


Matt

 

I read hyundaitech's post and he was mentioning something about stuffing a
thermometer in the vent grille and expecting to see about 45 degrees for a
proper cooling. The temperature coming out of the vents was definitely not
45, not even 50. After all the temperature comfort level is subjective. I
like it cooler than others. The Camry seems to cool more to my taste.
I will test the temperature of the air coming out of the vents at various
ambient temperature.

 

I don't have a decent thermometer that isn't affixed to my house, but
that is certainly the first thing to check. I was surprised that
hyundaitech gave an absolute temp value like that as other cars I've
owned typically gave a delta value from ambient, and this is more
reasonable from a thermodynamics perspective. Usually, you expect to
see something like a drop of 40 degrees from ambient. So, on a 90
degree day you'd expect to see 50, but on an 80 degree day you'd expect
to see 40. Likewise, anthing less than 60 on a 100 degree day would be
considered OK.


Matt

 

Are you saying the air temperature is not real cold, or are you saying that
the fan doesn't put out enough air volume?

I live in the deep South, and we have had plenty of 90+ heat and high
humidity. I run my AC fan on speed "2", and the compressor to the coldest
setting to cool off the hot car. It cools off within 10 minutes or so. I
then have to back off to speed "1" fan and medium compressor to prevent my
bare arms from getting too chilly.

Bottom line, the AC is plenty powerful for me, even in extreme heart and
humidity.

 

The air temp doesn't seem all that cold, but I haven't checked it with a
thermometer.

Wow, my Sonata is nothing like this. I ran it steady on the lowest temp
setting and fan speed of 1 for 40 minutes of driving with an OAT of 86
and humidity of probably 70% RH and never got even close to being cold.
I wasn't even cool enough to drink my coffee without sweating.

Your description sounds like my minivan and truck, but not my Sonata.
The minivan does have the rear HVAC unit, but then again it has probably
2-3 times the interior volume to cool as the Sonata.

I'll have to rustle up a thermometer and check the air temp at the outlet.


Matt

 

I just checked mine here at work with one of the calibrated thermometers
the HVAC guys use. The ambient is 86F and the output was running between
38F and 40F when the compressor was on.

That was driving about 30MPH with the temp. setting at the coldest and the
fan speed on "2". I didn't get enough time to try it on "1" (the slowest
setting), but I expect it would be a bit cooler since the air has more time
to cool.

Not extemely scientific, I admit, but I would guess that you should be in a
similar neighborhood.

Eric

 

I think that is about as scientific as one needs to get for a car AC
test. Now if I just had a decent thermometer...

Matt

 

Matt,

I have a GLS V6 and am in NC. This weekend was 90's with a humidity that
made it feel hotter. My AC was VERY cold to teh point I had to lower the
fan speed and dial down the cold. I would definitely get your coolant
checked out.

 

I did leave out one parameter that I just thought of: I had the switch
in "MAX A/C", meaning the recirc was "ON".

Eric

 

I use the max setting for the first few minutes after getting into a hot
car, but I like getting fresh air so I don't use it for extended
periods. I'm more concerned with how the AC performs in "normal" mode.

Matt

 

Matt,

I'm having no problems with heat & cool issues nor any of the other
*features* that folks have posted. Don't know if the HVAC system or ducting
is different on the LX versus other models. I have tried to duplicate the
tank slosh noise at varying fill levels, Headlights work fine, etc. The car
that I was in for the initial test drive at the dealer did exhibit the dash
squeak and also had the problem with the rear of the headliner coming loose
and dropping down ~2 inches.

Perhaps your specific car has build issues that should be taken care of
under warranty, or maybe mine was just built on a *good* day..... if so, I
consider myself lucky....who knows? . FWIW, our high temps have been
running above the mid 80's with pretty high humidity (North Georgia).
Usually we turn the air on full arctic blast for about the first couple of
miles and by then things get a little chilly so we set it on whatever temp
feels comfortable and forget it. We've never had an issue maintaining the
proper temp (heat or cooling) yet. BTW, mine is Black exterior with Light
Gray Leather interior and no window tint.

2006 Sonata LX V6 Auto. Purchased in Oct '05 and currently shows just over
11K on the odo. The last month fuel averages at fillup have been: 21.9,
22.4, 21.9, 22.2 with 98+% of the use being around town and almost no
freeway use.

Keith