2009 Hyundai Sonata

I have owned my 2009 Sonata Limited (4 cyl) for a little over a year. At the beginning of my car hunting, I knew I wanted a car with leather and a sunroof. At first, I looked and test drove Accords, Camrys, Altimas, and Maximas. I happened to drive by the Hyundai dealer and stopped in “just to see.” I test drove the Limited trim of the Sonata, which had everything I wanted in a sedan, and fell in love. The Limited trim had leather seats and the sunroof that I wanted, and on top of that, had the Infinity sound system and heated seats. The Sonata had everything I wanted for thousands of dollars less than Honda, Toyota, and Nissan. The warranty alone will outlast my car payments. Hyundai has a 10 year, 100,000 mile powertrain warranty, and I upgraded it to a 10 year, 100,000 bumper-to-bumper factory warranty for not very much money. The gas mileage on the window is pretty accurate for my driving habits. For normal driving, I get about 26 mpg. Recently, I went on a long road trip and reached 35 mpg. Needless to say, I was pretty happy with my mileage. In fact, I have to pump gas so little that I always seem to forget which side of the car my gas tank lid is on. Luckily, there is a little arrow on the dash by the gas gauge that points to the side of the car with the gas lid. The sound system is wonderful. I get great sound from the XM radio, as well as regular radio and CDs. I love being able to hook up my mp3 player directly and play music from it. Inside the center console, there is a USB port that I use to charge my mp3 player. I don’t have an iPod (instead I have a Zune), and it still works great. The interior detailing of the car is what sold me first when I sat in it. I was thinking of buying a 2008 model to save a little more money, but since Hyundai has refined the interior of the 2009 model, I had to choose it instead. It feels very luxurious and comfortable. All the consoles and buttons and gauges are very pleasant to the eye. It does not feel “cheap” in the least. The layout is such a way that I know I will still love it years later. With all the pros, there are a few cons with the car. I chose the 4 cyl for gas efficiency. For the most part, I’m truly happy with engine performance, but sometimes I wish it was a little faster at accelerating. For that, I should have chosen the 6 cyl, but I’m still content with my 4 cyl. I also wish the back seats had their own cup holders in the doors, instead of the pull-down center console. I also dislike the car automatically unlocking all doors when the gear is put into park. The trunk should have a keyhole for manual opening, instead of relying solely on the remote or the trunk release button inside the car. Other options that would have been nice would be buttons for seat and steering wheel memory for different drivers. Also, a key-free ignition like they have in the Maxima would be really nice as well. I’d recommend this car for anyone looking at mid-sized sedans. I’m so happy with my car, and I plan on keeping it for a very long time.