Rented a Sonata 4cyl for test drive for weekend

Called local Hyundai dealership to ask if they rented cars, said no but
they had a rental car company at their Ford dealership nearby. It
didn't work out at that location but found other stores in their chain
that did have Hyandai's. This was Enterprise Rental Car, they don't
carry XG's at all, so decided to start with Elantra GT's. Apparently
they only carry the basic Elantra only, so passed on that since its the
GT I would be interested in and wanted the actual experience of that car
for a weekend. I ended up renting a Sonata, they didn't have one on
lot, had to get it from another place, go thru a few hoops, and then
when they picked me up at my home with it, I realized I'd screwed up and
forgot that the Sonata also comes in 4 cyl, which is what they brought
me. Was disappointed.  This car is a 2004 but ho-hum on the inside,
drives ok, like a a 4 cyl economy car. (You may recall that I've been
driving an Accord EXL V-6 for the last 6 yrs). Was surprised that I got
up the hill to my home just fine (not that its all that steep, just
didn't know what the capabilities of a 4cyl are).  I'll keep it for the
weekend just to remind myself about the 4 cyl car since I had one two
cars ago but was a stick shift.  So, it won't help me in making any
decisions about Sonata V6, will have to rely on dealer test drive.   I
would not purchase a Sonata 4cyl, I find the Elantra, even the GLS
(opposed to GT), much sharper looking and I believe a couple of
thousand less than the base Sonata. I plan to test drive a Sonata V6 at
a dealership on Monday when I turn the car in so the 4cyl drive is fresh
in my mind to compare with V6. Footnote: I will say that the controlls
on this basic Sonata are easy to find/operate, I'm really missing the
overhead map lights that I have on my Accord, keep reaching for them and
there's nothing there! LOL. Will keep you posted.

 

Just a note...The 4 cyl Sonata w/ manual transmission are an awesome car.
At 115 mph we still don't know what the top end was.

 

manual trans. on a sonata??
what year?

 

All the base-model (I4 and V6) EF2 Sonatas can be found with a 5-speed
Manual. According to Hyundai's Web Site, the higher models (GLS and
LX) can be ordered with a Manual as well but I don't know of any
dealer that will carry them. In fact, most dealers will report that
Hyundai doesn't even make them for the USA.

 

May be disapointed with gas mileage on Hyundais ..May look at pre-drivemn
ACURAS CL 3.0 or TL's cheap to operate/good MPG