[cars_crazy]

Dear all..

Data on the new addition to my family!

Date of birth - 17th May 2012
City of birth - Bangalore
Color - White
Model / Variant - Hyundai Sonata Transform Diesel M/T
Kms covered till date - 10400

Finally!!!!! After much deliberation and changes to my car buying plans, what started with a Fluidic Verna ended in me buying a Sonata Transform CRDi M/T, thanks to a fantastic deal I got from Trident Hyundai in Bangalore. I got a loyalty discount of 1.5 lakhs from the dealer, which was too much to resist. On the road price - 18.65 lacs.

Took delivery of the car on 17/5/2012. Been a bit over 4 months and managed to clock 10400k kms on the odo.

First 10000 km report:
Drive and Comfort - I used to drive a Verna diesel before this. You can read about my relationship with that beauty in the 'Bidding adieu to my verna diesel' report. After getting used to the Verna, this is clearly 2 segments above, not just in price tag / size, but the drive and comfort departments too. Extremely well planted and great road manners. The individual suspensions on all 4 corners are doing their job pretty well so far.

Performance - Very adequate! Hardly feel any turbo lag in this car, bags of torque right from 2k rpm that take you all the way to 4k in the tachometer. Never had to rev beyond that so far; feel its fantastically quick to race to 100kmph. Completed my highway drive last weekend to Chennai, from Bangalore. It was a breeze. Averaged about 83kmph and did the whole trip in 4 hours 35 minutes (to reach end of quadrilateral toll road, at the outskirts of Chennai). Again, fantastic on-road manners!

Equipment - Completely fully loaded. Dual zone climate control kept my passengers and me absolutely pampered. Scorching 38 degrees in Chennai was felt only after getting off the car. ICE was also reasonably good, I still havent changed the speakers or the h/u. One growse though, I thought the car came with a sub-woofer and amp, sadly I am told they stopped that for the diesel variant, only provisions are there for us to add. Hopefully will get it in.

Economy - Given its only 10k kms old and still new, I am hoping it will improve marginally in this FE figures. As of now, I the best I managed to get 10.2 in city and 14.9 in highway.

Tyres - very disappointed with the OE fitted tyres. Hankook. Soft compound tyres I guess. Too much road noise and I am told their life is not more than 25k kms, which is pretty bad - I used to change my verna tyres once every 45k kms. Any existing Sonata Diesel Transform owners, please share your views on the tyres. Once these wear out, I am planning to change to my favourite Bridgestone Potenza G3.

Faults - Rattling noise from the speedo / odo console. Unable to figure out the reason, guessing it must be a loose clip. Driver seat making clicking noise every time my body moves back and forth as a result of, say, climbing over a speed hump. Got to get that checked out, probably the electric adjust seats are not aligned on its railings properly.

Accidents - Sadly 2 instances, but thankfully, nothing alarming. One with an autorickshaw trying to squeeze between my car and the median, nudged the rear tail light, left a permanant mark; second, another rickshaw driver scratched my front bumper around the driver side fog lamp, when the car was parked in the Oasis mall. The latter was fixed in no time but fantastic professional courtesy extended by Trident Hyundai at no cost though !!!!

What do I love about this car:
To quote GTO, I do not care about the brand value. I am buying the car for myself and to my knowledge and after a lil over a decade of association with Trident Hyundai in Bangalore, this baby has checked all the right boxes for me.
- Superb driving comfort and position
- absolutely pampers me with the internal comforts
- ample space in front and rear, convenient storage compartments all around
- 5 passengers and the car feels absolutely airy and spacious
- massive boot. I have never managed to load it to the brim yet !
- good list of safety equipment which makes me feel protected all the time.
- Trident Hyundai service! what can I say... am floored.

What I miss in this car:
- For this price, I would have expected a Bluetooth enabled audio system. Sadly thats not there
- Rear AC vents. although there is one under the front seats and changing the mode helps rear passengers, having no vents is bad
- The keyless entry system and the key as such lack class. It looks very tacky and basic - more like an A Segment car's equipment
- No automatic dimming internal rear view mirror.
- Although I see a provision for a subwoofer at the rear, my car does not have it. I am told its been discontinued in Manual CRDI variant. SAD!
- Some assembly errors! I notice that the dashboard alignment is skewed on the passenger side. I am getting it fixed soon.
- Some minor rattling from the speedo console and the side AC vents in the front.
- Very bad soft compount Hankook tyres. Too much road noise.

Existing Sonata diesel transform owners, please share your experiences / tips / issues / problems with me.

Dear Moderators:- Please review and publish this post. I am eager to hear about other Sonata Transform Owners feedback to mine.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[Utopian]

Let me be the first one to congratulate you.
You got a sweet deal for you at that price. Sonata is a very VFM product which somehow couldn't sell as well as the outgoing model.
Wishing you lots of happy miles with the car.

[ByDesign]

Thanks for sharing!

First of all nice discount on the ride. I'm sure it's a very majestic vehicle, and the road presence itself speaks about this.

I myself own a car that went out of production, and hence got a MASSIVE discount on it. In fact I got the same discount as you, on a 5.4 Lacs vehicle!

I noticed you said a skewed dashboard alignment. Is it possible to find out the reason for this?

Many safe miles ahead for you my friend! Happy driving!

[cars_crazy]

Originally Posted by ByDesign

Thanks for sharing!

First of all nice discount on the ride. I'm sure it's a very majestic vehicle, and the road presence itself speaks about this.

I myself own a car that went out of production, and hence got a MASSIVE discount on it. In fact I got the same discount as you, on a 5.4 Lacs vehicle!

I noticed you said a skewed dashboard alignment. Is it possible to find out the reason for this?

Many safe miles ahead for you my friend! Happy driving!

Hi.
Thanks for the wishes. Will keep posting my experiences With my lovely lady on this page.

The dashboard alignment issue has been put down to an assembly line defect by the service personnel. They have fixed it to a large extent But not fixed fully as I wanted a least invasive procedure. For a full fix they may have had to open the dashboard completely and I was not willing to risk more problems as a result of that. Some minor squeaking or glass screeching noise is evident still and am putting it down to this. Not an irritant yet though.

[cars_crazy]

In relation to the audio unit in this car, I managed to figure out that there are no extra pre-outs on the OE unit. Incase I have to connect a woofer, I may have to install an active sub, with high pass filter and speaker-out feature, hook it up to the existing pre-out where the rear speakers are connected. Then connect the rear speakers to the speaker-out port off the sub. Any suggestions on which subwoofer I can look for? Alternatively, any opinions about changing OE speakers to get a better audio effect, which will help me avoid installing a sub?

[bigron]

Finally , I have someone who has the same car i drive. I have a 2009 transform crdi AT. Bought it after selling the old superb. I am in love with this car. The car has done around 70,000 kms and is performing well.
Things i like
1. Space , space and more space.
2. Very comfortable on long journeys. Its got a more comfortable front / rear bench than the old superb and comparable to the camry which my father drives.
3. Chiller AC and good HU. I got it with 4 speakers , 2 tweeters and a 8 inch sub.
4. Enough grunt from the engine. Have touched an indicated 190 on the express way.
5. Good insulation all around helps keep the noise out.
6. Hyundai a.s.s has kept me happy till now.

Dislikes
1. Niggling rattle from the dash that crops up now and then.
2. Highway average- does not give me over 10 no matter how i drive.
3. old school 4 speed auto tranny with gear ratios that rob engine of power.
4. could do with some more features like rear vents , bluetooth , rear air bags , cruise control , sunroof etc.

[cars_crazy]

Originally Posted by bigron

Finally , I have someone who has the same car i drive. I have a 2009 transform crdi AT. Bought it after selling the old superb. I am in love with this car. The car has done around 70,000 kms and is performing well.
Things i like
1. Space , space and more space.
2. Very comfortable on long journeys. Its got a more comfortable front / rear bench than the old superb and comparable to the camry which my father drives.
3. Chiller AC and good HU. I got it with 4 speakers , 2 tweeters and a 8 inch sub.
4. Enough grunt from the engine. Have touched an indicated 190 on the express way.
5. Good insulation all around helps keep the noise out.
6. Hyundai a.s.s has kept me happy till now.

Dislikes
1. Niggling rattle from the dash that crops up now and then.
2. Highway average- does not give me over 10 no matter how i drive.
3. old school 4 speed auto tranny with gear ratios that rob engine of power.
4. could do with some more features like rear vents , bluetooth , rear air bags , cruise control , sunroof etc.

Wow bigron! Wonderful to know you clocked 70k and still going strong and love your car and all this in 3 years. Very encouraging to know car has done well.

Yes I have this niggles with dashboard squeaking too. Am guessing your troubles with mileage is probably due to the automatic transmission.

I didn't get the sub unfortunately. Been told that Hyundai has stopped supplying the sub. And yes am missing the rear vents and Bluetooth for this price band. But after driving the new Jetta, cruze and fluence I felt this car has tons more to offer as goodies and that space inside was just too good to look beyond so ended up buying it.

[bigron]

@ cars crazy - A choice well made my friend. I do hear people telling me about its korean lineage but frankly after that POS skoda i had this if nothing else gives me piece of mind. The car has a very comfortable ride but the handling is alot to be desired. For a laid back driving style i think it fits the bill. What really works for me is that since the car did not sell well , their is still some sort of a novelty value attached to it.
Just get it regularly serviced and i dont see it giving you any trouble. I had the old sonata gold and we clocked over 3,00,000 kms in it. So i am sure this one will hold up too.

[cars_crazy]

Originally Posted by bigron

@ cars crazy - A choice well made my friend. I do hear people telling me about its korean lineage but frankly after that POS skoda i had this if nothing else gives me piece of mind. The car has a very comfortable ride but the handling is alot to be desired. For a laid back driving style i think it fits the bill. What really works for me is that since the car did not sell well , their is still some sort of a novelty value attached to it.
Just get it regularly serviced and i dont see it giving you any trouble. I had the old sonata gold and we clocked over 3,00,000 kms in it. So i am sure this one will hold up too.

mate! Thanks very much for all the encouragement in making this Choice. Am a Hyundai fan and all my cars have been from their stables. Couldn't agree with you more on the brand image that Korea's products have over European ones But in reality the latter just prove that in India they are difficult to own and maintain. Handling is a Tad off But nothing alarming and for my driving style it just ticked all my boxes. Road presence is awesome and I feel safe and comfortable in the car. It's so far not been expensive to maintain so it's a dream run so far.

[krish3]

Nice choice of car. Its absolute VFM at its price, which is more comparable to a Laura/Jetta than a Superb.

I fall under the rare set of people who find the car good looking and there were certainly thoughts going through my mind to get a second hand Sonata.

How about some interior pics?

[cars_crazy]

Originally Posted by krish3

Nice choice of car. Its absolute VFM at its price, which is more comparable to a Laura/Jetta than a Superb.

I fall under the rare set of people who find the car good looking and there were certainly thoughts going through my mind to get a second hand Sonata.

How about some interior pics?

@ Krish3: yes you are right about the price bracket. The new fluidic sonata however is more in the superb price league. About looks, Don't worry mate, you are not alone - I find the car very macho looking too. Will be updating the post with more details and more interior pics for sure. Keep watching this thread please.
Any existing transform owners please share your ownership experience or do's and donts.

[krish3]

How much does a regular service come upto? My Getz CRDi comes to something like 5k-7k.

[bigron]

The regular service will be between 8 to 10 . however anything that has to be done out of ordinary can get expensive. I had to change the power window switch for the rear door located on the driver side and the whole button pod had to be changed for 5000 + tax + labour. On another occasion i went over a speed breaker at over 130 and bent the front right axle link rod or the ball joint at the lower control arm or something like that. The part costed me 23k + taxes + labour to change. So yea . like any other car belonging to this category repair can get expensive.

[cars_crazy]

@Krish: so far I Am on free service mode so consumables and filters alone in the second service cost me about 5 k. But yes it can get expensive if we don't respect the car.
@bigron: That's some good information you gave me there. Should be careful when I drive fast. My biggest worry of them all is those 6 airbags. Guess insurance do not cover these unless we do a bumper to bumper but that too is valid only for first three years.