[ackyash]

Our 2001 Accord Auto needs to be replaced.
Looking to get a diesel car for no more than 15 lacs.

Has to be auto, good power, roomy and diesel.
Pretty much narrowed it down to the Sonata Transform.
Anyone has experience with the Sonata Transform Auto?

[GTO]

Excellent choice! The Sonata is the under-dog of the D segment, yet one that has a fantastic diesel engine, superb space and great ride quality. The freshened up interiors are way better than on the pre-facelift model too. I'd personally prefer the 6 speed manual, this is what Vid had to say on the Sonata AT in the Transform thread:

I drove the 4 speed AT box and as expected it pretty much sucked. Because of the 4 speed AT the gearing is long. As a result if you kick down, the engine revs till 4500rpm then upshifts, but the higher gear results in the car being out of the rev band below 2000rpm and it takes a few seconds picking up. As KP pointed out turbo lag is non existent. The gearbox tries it's best to make sure the engine is above 2000rpm and even when it's below 2000rpm the car does not bog down as much as the Optra magnum or the VW Passat. Other than D mode you have the tip tronic mode. This is absolutely hopeless. It can barely be used. It refuses upshifts even at 2000rpm, refuses downshifts most of the times as well. It shifts up before the red line and also does a down shift most of the time on it's own. It shifted only a couple of times when I wanted it to else it would continue do it's own thing. This box is best left at D.

You should also test the Jetta, though the interiors of the VW will be smaller than in your Accord.

[ackyash]

I realise that the Transform Diesel Manual would be offering better driveability, but Auto is must. No one in my family (including myself) likes to drive manuals anymore. The sad part is that no dealer in Chandigarh has the Sonata Auto to TD, only the manual.

Im confused whether to book the car without actually test driving it. TD'ing the manual would be absolutely pointless as manual and auto of the same cars can be quite different beasts. LOL

Any ideas s to when the new Sonata is going to be out. I can stretch my Accord another 4-6 months max.

[Gurpartap Singh]

Jetta is a very fine car, except for it's size in comparison to Accord or Sonata. I'm waiting to hear if you're interested in cars of this segment by size.

What's the current price of Sonata around?

[ackyash]

Yes, the Jetta is a nice car.
BUT, I also happen to own a Skoda Laura L&K 1.9 Auto which I had purchased in Feb 2006 and it has been a nightmare to say the least.

Car has less than 50,000 kms on odo and

2 turbocharge failures
1 AC compressor failure
1 turbo pipe failure
1 driver electric seat going haywire (while driving that too)
1 flywheel needs to be replaced (making noises since last 6 months or so)
1 front axle
and tons of more stuff which I cant recall

Most of the above stuff happened in the 1st 2 years of ownership and was taken care of under warranty. But car has been out of warranty since Feb 2008 and has been draining my wallet/bank balance since then like no tomorrow.

The car is currently parked for the last 2 weeks as I'm currently hagling with Skoda / Dealer regarding flywheel which can go bust any minute.

All Skoda parts have Audi / VW logo on them and I think Audi, VW and Skoda have lots of common parts. Parts cost a bomb. I'm sure that if I assemble a Laura from parts it would probably cost 50 lacs LOL
Hence after this Laura, I have sworn never to buy VW / Audi or Skoda again.

Sonata is 4 years / 80,000 warranty and parts are reasonably priced.

The only prob as I mentioned earlier is that no dealer in Chandigarh has Auto to test-drive. Maybe will do TD in Delhi when I'm there next.

Current price of Transform Auto is about 15.9 lacs (ex-showroom) in Chandigarh. Dealer is offering 50,000 off but once I'm ready to book I will try to get at least 75,000 off that price. Lets see.

[GTO]

Ouch, with that shoddy Euro car experience, I can understand why you don't want to venture near a VW / Skoda.

Hyundai's reliability is nearly at Japanese levels. You should still test the manual version to get a feel of the car (engine, ride, ergonomics, interiors etc.). If satisfied, book the automatic.

[tsk1979]

I too think its a great choice, esp with the lovely back seat. Too bad Hyundai does not market this wonderful machine aggressively.
As GTO suggested, TD a manual anyways to get a feel of the car.

[Ramsagar]

Sonata transform is a wonder full vehicle. It really low on maintainance better than the other counter parts like Laura & Jetta.
Jetta is more also reliable and than laura and their service is hay way than Skoda.
Look at Passat & superb as well. Passat seems to have some problems when AT is concerned, should be the same with superb as well.Since both shares the same 6 speed AT.
Better test drive them.

[ackyash]

Originally Posted by Ramsagar

Sonata transform is a wonder full vehicle. It really low on maintainance better than the other counter parts like Laura & Jetta.
Jetta is more also reliable and than laura and their service is hay way than Skoda.
Look at Passat & superb as well. Passat seems to have some problems when AT is concerned, should be the same with superb as well.Since both shares the same 6 speed AT.
Better test drive them.

Ramsagar, the max I wish to spend is about 15 lacs, can stretch it to 16 max. In my opinion, Superb / Passat are in different league as compared to the Transform in tems of initial purchase cost, running costs and spares/maintenance. Also, as I mentioned earlier with reasons, I'm pretty much done with VW group cars which includes Audi, VW and Skoda unless they start providing some great extended warranty packages.

I'm pretty much looking for a workhorse/highway car which will primarily be chauffer driven and will be used by mom and wife for Chandigarh-Delhi-Chandigarh runs. So back seat comfort is a must with tons of legroom and soft cushy seating. Also safety features.

[.anshuman]

Avoid Sonata AT just for the poor automatic transmission. The Manual version of the car is very good. Maintenance costs are very reasonable for a car of this segment.

The best part about this car is the highway cruising ability with relaxed gearing,peppy engine and good composure at speeds.

All the dealerships in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad share a single Sonata AT for testdrive purpose, i was made quite an effort some time back to testdrive the car but the Hyundai dealers are unwilling to sell the car.