The Hyundai Sonata wins another award over in America - They seem to love it there

Recently, the Hyundai Sonata garnered another award over in America. AutoPacific is a future-oriented automotive marketing and product-consulting firm. Every year AutoPacific publishes a wide variety of syndicated studies on the automotive industry and this year, the Sonata wins the AutoPacific Vehicle Satisfaction Award for mid-sized sedans (yup, a D segment car is a 'mid' sized car over in the United States of America).

Now I sometimes do hope that such an award would translate to more Sonatas on Malaysian roads. They're certainly better than some Japanese D segment cars out there today. Of course, I also note that the interior of the USDM Sonata pictured below looks a little bit more luxurious than what we get here. I suppose it's that little bit of wood here and there which we don't get. It does lift the interior ambiance a tad bit in my opinion. Of course, there are those who do not like wood as it makes the car look uncle-like. Does it really?  

Now over the the U.S. of A.....the 2015 Hyundai Sonata wins another award

The current, 2015 Hyundai Sonata has garnered another award over in America. Edmunds.com and Parents magazine have come together and voted the Sonata as one of the 10 Best Family Cars to buy in America. The Hyundai Sonata earned the award for its safety and family oriented features, interior space as well as technology offered.

30 years of the Hyundai Sonata

The Hyundai Sonata has come a long way. It all started in 1985 when Hyundai needed a mid sized executive car to compete with something called the Daewoo Royal over in South Korea. It was based on the Hyundai Stellar and basically took over from the Stellar from 1988 onwards. And slowly the Sonata reputation has grown into what it is today.

Tested: 2015 Hyundai Sonata 2.0 Executive - Hyundai has caught up and overtaken a few of its challengers too

Hyundai recently launched the latest and greatest Sonata recently and I managed to have a go in it. The 2015 Hyundai Sonata is all new both above the skin and underneath it. It was launched sometime last year and I was quite surprised that Hyundai has decided to bring it in even though it already has the very good Hyundai i40 on sale here.

In the global scale, the i40 is the more European tinged car and the Sonata is the more Korean and more North Americanised (as it is meant for that market) version of the full sized family sedan or also known as the D segment vehicle. We somehow manage to get both the i40 and the Sonata with the i40 being placed as the more premium of the two here in Malaysia. The main difference is that whilst both are 2.0liter 4 cylinder petrol engined cars, the i40 gets GDI (direct injection) for its engine and the Sonata does not. In other words, slightly less tech at a more affordable price. Covering the lower end of the D segment category.

Austere Luxury. Something We Don't Get To Have Anymore

I recently came from a test drive of the all-new Hyundai Sonata sometime ago and I was quite impressed with what the car had and what it had to offer its driver and passengers. It had all the bells and whistles. It had Navigation from a Papago based system as well as Waze installed into its ANDROID based infotainment unit. Being an ANDROID based system with cellular data hooked onto it meant that it had normal radio as well as internet based entertainment and software like Spotify for your to listen to your favourite songs. Aside from music, navigation and a whole lot more entertainment, the Sonata came equipped with lots of creature comforts like power windows, electrically adjustable seats, rain sensing wipers, auto lights and a whole lot more. The only thing left for us to do is drive them to where we want to go and when you did that, you would be entertained. And all of this in a mid-priced full sized sedan. Not top of the line luxury brand mind you, just something mid-sized family 

Redesigned Hyundai Sonata Wins CARS.COM, USA TODAY

Recently the redesigned Hyundai Sonata won an award over in the United States. The new Sonata, which is not available in Malaysia at the moment won the Motorweek Midsize Sedan Challenge. The new Sonata held up against 9 other brands and came up tops after some expert and car shopper testing.

All-new Hyundai Sonata launched for the 2015 model year over at the 2014 New York Motor Show

 Hyundai has released the all-new Sonata for the 2015 model year. This is a whole new model folks. Note that its 'fluidic sculpture' design is in place but isn't so fluidic for this model. It looks slightly more conservative than the previous model and it also looks more conservative if you compare it with the European specced and inspired Hyundai I40. For your information, the Sonata is sold over in America but the i40 is sold in Europe. Maybe this is why there is a difference in styling. A more conservative looking, Ford Mondeo-ish looking car for America less curves compared to the i40.