Surprised Me Tonight!

Well, it all started by having to replace my 03 Grand Am which met with an
unpleasant fate. I went looking at Sonatas since we've had excellent
service out of my wife's 04 Sonata. Not a single problem in over 70,000
miles.

I wanted a six cylinder because I'm just that kind of guy. I'd read Matt
and Bryan talking about how their 4 bangers had all the power they needed
and secretly, I just scoffed. Certainly, they must be old before their
times.

So - tonight my wife and I went to the dealer and took a couple of 06
Sonatas out for drives. I never buy new cars and the 07's weren't
depreciated enough for my tastes, so I was specifically looking for 06's.
The first one we took out was a 4 cylinder. I was a bit peeved that the
salesman had lined this car up for us to drive because he knows us very well
and he knows how I feel about 4's. Needless to say, I was shocked. I've
driven a ton of Japanese and American 4 cylinders, enough European 4's and I
didn't need to drive a Korean 4 cylinder to know I would not like it.
But... that sucker is no Japanese or European or American 4 cylinder. One
might not even realize it was a 4. It was way more powerful than I expected
off the line, performed extremely well on the interstate (~2700 RPM @
75mph), and it just never did that typical 4 cylinder scream as I put it
through some paces. I mean, I was seriously impressed.

Then I took the 6 out. Clearly a better performer. 75mph on the interstate
was a mere ~2300 RPM. Certainly more power and quite snottier too. I
finally went with the 6, but that decision was in no small part due to the
timing belt in the 4 versus a chain in the 6. Of course there was that part
of me that really wanted a 6. But I'm just that kind of guy...

 

Mike, nice report. Car and Driver finally did a test of the 4 for a 0-60
time in the top-of-the-line model. They came up with 8.8 seconds for the 4
versus 6.6 seconds for the 6. Pretty huge difference. Both with AT's.

I recently did the same test drive and was also impressed with the
smoothness and quietness of the 4 compared to other 4's I have owned and
driven over the years.

I can't wait for the Genesis!! (ducks and runs for cover)

Eric

 

Another surprise!! The four has a chain also.

 

Are you certain? I was 100% certain that the 06 4 had a belt.

 

My sentiments also. I had no choice because at the time, the Limited was
available only in hte 6. I'm sure I could survive with the 4, but the 6 is
much more spirited to drive.

I differ on the rest of your theory though. I* like to buy new, get exactly
what I want, then keep it for many years. I get the top of the line and
loads of options. It may not be the best possible value or lowest cost per
mile, but I want some comfort using the car.

 

Absolutely certain. Oddly enough, I didn't catch it when I read your
original post.

In fact, the 2.4 in the '06 is part of a family of four cylinder engines
used in Chrysler, Hyundai, and Mitsubishi products.

 

I generally keep my cars to high mileage - usually over 200K. I just look
at them more as a commodity or in a utilitarian way I guess. I do look for
what I want and typically buy the higher end of a given model, but only
within the context of buying used because I hate the depreciation hit - even
it that's only in principle. Must be a reflection of something my father
did when I was a child or something. Or maybe a reflection of some bad
grade I once got in elementary school. In this case I did not buy top of
the line model. I'd have preferred the LX, but the GLS had enough of what I
really wanted to make me happy enough. Even at that, there are GLS options
that I didn't get in this car, but they must not have been show stoppers for
me.

 

Well then - I learned something new. See, I can do it!

Now I'm curious... the Chrysler tie in does not surprise me, but the
Mitsubishi one does. Do you know which Mitsubishi products use this same 4
cylinder?

 

Not sure. I know it's in the Dodge Caliber. Seen zero engine problems so
far.

 

As it turns out I had to return my rental car this afternoon and as I was
waiting for my wife to pick me up, I was wandering through the Mitsubishi
lot next door. A sales rep came out and we chatted for about 15 minutes.
Turns out the Mitsu Galant and the Sonata and (apparently) the Caliber use
the same powerplant. The Mitsu and the Sonata are supposed to be the same
platform - don't know about the Caliber. Mitsu and Hyundai apparently have
an alliance to jointly produce certain parts of the car in the name of
economies of scale. He was speaking specifically about the 4 cylinder, so I
don't know if the same applies to the 6. What a change - there was a time
not so long ago that you would not find any cooperative ventures between a
Korean company and a Japanese company.

 

Mitsubishi helped Hyundai with engineering in the early days. In fact the
early Hyundais had Mitsu engines in them. I had a 92 Elantra (if I remember
correctly) that had a mitsu engine. The first Sonatas were copied from the
Galant.

 

What!! Are you trying to destroy the world. You bought a 6 cyl. when a 4
cyl obviously was enough.

 

Very true. My sister had a 1986 Mitsubishi Precis that was an exact copy
of the Hyundai Excel back then, or vice versa I guess. Both used a 1.5L
Mitsu engine and shared the manual transmission that was made by a third
party whose name I can't remember. This car was probably the main reason
for Hyundai getting a poor start in the USA. It was a real POS!!

Eric

 

Surprising what they can do with variable valve timing.

 

To my knowledge, that transmission was also Mitsubishi. In fact, it was
actually an 8-speed transmission (four-speed with a dual-ratio input
shaft) that only used five speeds. The gears used were 1-low, 2-low,
3-low, 4-low, and 3-high.

 

I yield to the higher authority

And in fact, for the transmission, I may have been thinking about the Dodge
Colt of the same era. It also used the 1.5L Mitsu engine, but I believe
the ATX was made by some obscure third party.