The 2006 model year marks Hyundai’s 20th anniversary of selling cars in the United States, and brings in another important milestone as well. Perhaps it is coincidence, or perhaps the value-oriented manufacturer simply prefers to celebrate both simultaneously, but 2006 also marks the American rollout of what is by far the best Hyundai ever produced: the redesigned Sonata sedan.
 

In 1986, Hyundai did not make a splash as it entered the market. At the time, it sold only the Excel hatchback, which continued solo for three years until the introduction of the first Sonata model. Suffice it to say that neither vehicle presented a convincing case that Hyundai would survive in the US market. The automotive world was watching the Japanese imports continue to improve over their domestic competition and begin to take on the European luxury makes, and had little time for Hyundai’s dreadfully unsatisfactory products, even as it pulled down impressive sales (over 250,000 Excels alone per year). Hyundai continued to be largely ignored by all but low-standards bargain hunters as it put out additional products: the 1991 Scoupe, the 1992 Elantra, and the 1995 Accent. The cars were of course improvements over the Excel, but greatly lacking in terms of performance, comfort, and reliability.

That first changed in 1996, when the 1997-model Hyundai Elantra redesign was rolled out. The car was no class-leader, but Consumer Reports called it “rough around the edges,” a definite advantage over its predecessor, which could be described no more kindly than “rough from edge to edge” (a description far kinder than CR’s “woeful”). Hyundai raised its own bar further with the 1999 redesign of its midsize Sonata, which was capable enough overall and came with a convincing price advantage. And Car and Driver placed the 2001 Elantra second place out of ten cars, above such worthy competitors as the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic.

But the Elantra only won such a high spot there for not falling short in any major way, and doing it for a low price. That combination is certainly not a bad one, and it is one that many competitors, even now, have yet to master. But it is still one that attracts primarily bargain hunters, who do not tend to flock to new cars at the same rate as those who pay extra for the Corolla and Civic. Attempts to introduce premium cars were not hugely successful, bringing out the good-but-not-great Hyundai XG in 2001 and the higher-end but questionably styled Amanti through the Kia brand that it had acquired for reasons that have yet to pan out; though different brand identities are possible, its products have not reflected any such decision.

But, I digress. This series of introductions has brought us to the 2006 Sonata, which, as Hyundai has astutely noted in its advertising, is “a Hyundai like we’ve never seen before”. A Hyundai, for example, that beat out a comparably-priced Honda Accord and Toyota Camry from Edmunds.com (which had placed the previous Sonata in eighth place of ten cars and the Accord and Camry in first and third respectively). A Hyundai that Car and Driver praised as having no tradeoff against its competitors for its lower price.

This Sonata is a breakthrough vehicle for Hyundai, a car that could honestly be a viable best-in-class contender even with no price advantage at all. No corners were cut in creating the platform, powertrain, or interior. The car doesn’t just match the Accord and Camry benchmarks, but exceeds them in many ways. The Sonata is roomier than the Accord, and has a better ride/handling compromise, and a better acceleration/fuel economy compromise than the Camry. And in the most recent Consumer Reports reliability survey, all but one Hyundai model (the Tiburon coupe) were at least as reliable as the average car, and the 2004 Sonata was the best in the survey.

Then you can throw in Hyundai’s extremely generous warranty coverage. And only then need you toss on the price advantage. And by time, it should be clear how far Hyundai has come, and how much the Sonata deserves the designation of the best family sedan on the market, an honor that I award it without a second thought.

Hopefully, the Sonata was not a one-time push for good press, and is only the first of a line of class-leading Hyundai/Kia products that will arrive in the coming years. Until then, I intend to give Hyundai the benefit of the doubt that it has transformed itself, at least in terms of its product, from astonishingly inferior to entirely impressive, without completely sacrificing its tradition of offering plenty of features for the money. And it did this over only seventeen years of selling automobiles in this country (twenty if you count the Excel).

Other manufacturers, brands, and models have since been introduced to sell the way the first Hyundais sold: based only on their price advantage. Hyundai has inarguably distanced itself from such feeble efforts with the new Sonata, and will hopefully continue with similarly praiseworthy entrants into other market classes in which it competes and could compete.

That still, however, leaves only its bargain-basement image to contend with. But as long as the Sonata is “a Hyundai that we’ve never seen before” thanks to an effort that will be replicated for future models, even the most Honda and Toyota-loyal consumers should start to wonder what they’re paying extra for.