Russ DeVault, ContributorHyundai's
2006 Sonata: A step up in both quality, value
ATLANTA:
I'M UNABLE to drive right now, but fortunately it's a temporary situation. But it is one that brings reason to consider cars from a perspective that many of us reviewers give short shrift: the rear seat.
What's out there for folks who need a car with a truly useful back seat for themselves or other adult family members? Maybe you're a baby boomer who wants Mom and Pop to ride comfortably when you're taking them to the grocery, the senior centre, the doctor or to visit
relatives. Or maybe you'd just like to be driven for a change.
Like many reviewers, I've tended to view back seats as useful, vestigial or suitable
only for grocery bags or small children. Though the front
passenger seat is certainly
comfortable, I choose now to be in the back, and currently it's the rear seat of a 2006 Hyundai Sonata GLS. It's a front-drive four-door with four-speed
automatic transmission, 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine (162 hp, 164 pounds-feet of torque), and a base price of US$19,395.
A previously tested Sonata LX with the 3.3-litre V-6 (235 hp) showed that the Korean manufacturer's big sedan it's grown from the midsize to large car class can be a relatively potent performer with room, theoretically, for five.
GOOD VALUE
Like Automobile magazine and Consumer Review, we liked the US$24,295 LX version because of the content, the price and the styling (the gang at Automobile even called it 'handsome').
But a primary concern with this Sonata GLS, which is
generously equipped, is the
back seat how will it serve
us nondrivers who are there
by necessity or choice (not everyone who has a chauffeur buys a big-bucks sedan, you know). Will I be comfortable there day in and day out?
Would Mom and Pop prefer a taxi to the family car?
For starters, it's easy in,
easy out of the Sonata GLS. Step-up to the rear bench seat
is 16 inches through a door opening with a maximum width of about 3 feet, making it easy to bring along a briefcase or overnight bag.
The slightly angled
seatback is comfortable, but
not particularly soft. The seat
bottom feels better, and thigh support is satisfactory for
average-size folks like me.
Straight-ahead visibility is limited by the large front headrests have to peer between them but rear occupants do have good side visibility.
The driver, meanwhile, has good all-around visibility, plain and simple controls and instrumentation, and the comfort of a 100,000-mile warranty.
As for me and others who will be riding in the rear, the Sonata's beige interior is a bit bland no way around that but the overall bottom line is positive and that's a very good thing. It's good because back seats and front seats are going to become even more important in the future.
"Seniors in the future will be even more dependent on the car than today's elderly," states Dr. Sandra Rosenbloom in the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy report, "The Mobility Needs of Older Americans."
Most, Rosenbloom is quoted as saying in a Richmond Times-Dispatch story, will be older women who help infirm husbands before living alone in widowhood.
The cars that will serve them best, it seems, will be those offering good fits in terms of price and equipment and truly functional rear seats such as those in the 2006 Hyundai Sonata.
Cox News Service
