The 2015 Hyundai Sonata has made its world premiere in Korea, ahead of its show debut in New York next month. The automaker says that the seventh-generation LF Sonata represents the practical application of the design and tech first applied on the Hyundai Genesis which debuted last November.
The new D-segmenter is slightly larger than the outgoing YF Sonata, being 35 mm longer and 30 mm wider, with improved cabin space as a result of the gains. Wheelbase is up by 10 mm, from 2,795 mm in the outgoing model to 2,805 mm on this one.
It also displays less showy exterior lines, in line with the ‘Fluidic Sculpture 2.0’ design philosophy path currently taken. Hyundai even has a tagline for the Sonata’s design concept – it’s called Inner Force, a theme that points to the car’s ‘evolved aesthetic and confident design’.
Tech-wise, the increased use of high-tensile steel (51%, as opposed to 21% previously) and new underpinnings translates to the new Sonata having 41% greater torsional strength and 35% greater bending strength than the outgoing model.
Inside, the new car will offer a more premium outlook, with soft-touch surfaces and improved material choices for trim to be found. Kit will include rear parking sensors, heated leather seats and LED lighting, and new advanced multimedia systems and next-generation infotainment equipment are set to feature.
There’s also a hands-free smart trunk, which you can open without using your hands. Hyundai’s approach is very different from competitors, which require the user to ‘kick’ an area below the rear bumper. Hyundai’s implementation employs a fender-mounted antenna to detect if the smart key is near the rear bumper for longer than three seconds, with an illuminated and audible warning prior to opening of the boot.
Hyundai says this is safer as it allows the user to have both feet firmly on the ground, something which is probably important if your hands are full, not allowing you to use them in the first place. As for safety equipment, the list includes rear-side curtain airbags (up to a total of seven airbags), Blind Spot Detection, Lane Departure Warning System and Advanced Smart Cruise Control.
Engine options for the Korean market are a 165hp and 201 Nm 2.0 litre and a 190 hp and 247 Nm 2.4 litre Theta GDI, with a six-speed automatic transmission on the list. The automaker is targeting global sales of 228,000 units for the car this year, with sales outside of Korea due to begin in the second half of 2014.
2012-2014 Hyundai Sonata YF facelift
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeZytQgfhF0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOIo1dCItYY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os2hKh1OJUY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngdhqq9oSPg
Good job Hyundai!
This is nice! Really like the front grill! Would be nicer if the butt is slightly sexier.
New Honda Accord and upcoming Nissan Teana better than this unreliable junk.
Nowadays, every other car on our Malaysian roads are Koreans. The Koreans took just 15 years what Toyota and Honda took 50 years to capture the market.
No wonder why Toyota and Honda in Malaysia is takut.
There are more Proton than Kimchi on the road. Proton took 22 years to capture entire Malaysia market.
So… Proton a better car??
There are more BMW than Mercedes on the road, so BMW better than Mercedes?
Kimchi can only play on the outlook, it is in fact the easiest thing to do (Proton can’t even do good in outlook, thus it is the J class).
Wait 5 years from now then you see the difference between kimchi and sushi cars. Build quality, spare part price, resale value… everything.
Sushi still better car, else the salesman won’t be so busy.
Toyota and Honda takut apa?Kiajunk and Hyundiejunk is a failure in Malaysia!!New Accord and just-launched City will totally wipe out all the sales of these koria junk car.
You see Elantra and sonata sales so poor yet they want to launch the i30 and i40..totally retard.
People buy Korean cars because that’s all they can afford for the specs they thrown in. In another word, it mean CHEAP. Period.
Aiyoo, this Toyota King of RV is so sad. So obvious he is a Toyota salesman scared out of his wits because Toyota sales are so bad. I have Japanese, German and Hyundai cars at home. the Hyundai cars give no problem. I got 2 Hyundais, one 12 years old, and another 6 years old. So far, the 12 year old car works perfect. So much for the Toyota salesman theory that after 5 years got problem.
Your Toyota sales are bad because Malaysians are fed up with Toyota giving them only 2 airbags and no VSC. All over the world, Vios, Altis and Camry got VSC and far more airbags.
Ok, we Toyota salesman admit defeat. We tried to discredit the Koreans online but it has failed. Just to inform everybody, we are mere salesman. We have tried telling UMW to increase the spec of the Camry, Altis and Vios but they don’t listen to us. So, what can we, mere salesman do?
We apologize to Hyundai Malaysia. Lets all start afresh with the same level playing field from now on!
Shit (Camry) vs Diamond(New Sonata)
The smarties still can understand why the SHIT sell more than Diamond.
Sorry guys, I simply hate this SHIT. What a dinosour design. Ahh.. I called it SHIT.
Accord is a piece of trash. RUbbish car! Kimchi much more better this Honda trash now
I have to admit this is a real beauty. I swallow my previous negative comments about Hyundai in shame. No wonder why Hyundai is the 4th largest volume in sales in the whole world.
Our Toyota and Honda is bound to lose a bigger market share now. Malaysians are fed up with T and H for taking their lives for granted and giving low safety spec equipment.
what happened to the so called fluidic design language that hyundai was adopting? throwing away everything and copying mazda 6 now?
the design is blatant copy of mazda 6. it’s surprising so few people noticed that.
Please don’t insult Mazda. This car is no where near.
The thing this car and the Mazda 6 have in common is 4 wheels.
Since when you became designer? It does not look like Mazda at all. It looks like the old Sonata. So, Hyundai was the original designers cause the Sonata is so much older. Cannot think is it?
I have no worry about T, H and all other Japanese cars.
Always got people talked about T/H/N/M/S sales drop everyday every month every year. But does it ever happened?
I don’t see it from my records. Bonus still gao here…
Sushi cars will forever better than these shit kimchi unreliable junk.You see the new City so popular and so many orders until even the test drive unit also not available.Haha Cerato and Elantra can bungkus liao….
Sam Lor and Toyota King of RV are the same person. So scared of dropping sales. Camry nobody is touching cause it is really King of RV (depreciation). Everybody knows, 2013 Toyota Camry 2.5 is now sold for RM130k, down from RM180k. No other Japanese car can jatuh RM50 in less than one year!
Altis nobody buying cause the one with VSC is RM139k. People rather buy an Elanta for 90K which is the largest C segment car around, super economical engine and comes with VSC. Don’t believe, have you ever seen the new Altis on the road despite launching 6 months ago??
Vios is dead. Vios is beaten by the City. Nobody is going to touch the Vios. That is clear cut. No need analysis or argument.
So that is why the Toyota salesman running scared. Even Sam Loo join Hyundai Sime Darby knowing that the Toyota ship is slowly sinking!
Don’t you feel silly pretend to be someone else?
Hyundai just needed 15 years to capture Malaysian buyers. Toyota took 50 years to do the same. In 10 years time, Hyundai might even overtake Toyota.
Toyota globally No 1. Hyundai globally No 4. But Hyundai is such a young company compared to Toyota. And yet, they can rise so fast to No 4 with nearly 10 million sales last year alone.
This clearly shows, in 10 years time, Toyota will fade off.
In Malaysia, Malaysians are aware. Safety is No 1. When Hyundai is giving so many more airbags and Camry is giving 2 airbags, which is better.
It is better to come out with a few scratches in an accident with many airbags protecting you than come out cacat in a Camry
2014 Ford Mondeo ripped off … copy cat will alway be copy cat.
Does not look like Mondeo at all. Looks like the old Sonata. And the old Sonata came out with the design 7 years ago.
Excellent exterior!
Ligh color interior with wood trim – How Uncle..lol
Ford front Design + Toyota Interior + Nissan NGL Tail lamp.. Rojak Copy King..
subaru called, they want their grille back
It’s a good car with much improvement. However Sime Darby will screw this up and offer lesser spec with irrational high price.
Yeah, SD will give top-of-range 2 air-bags like Santa Fe. Who wanna bet?
Inokom Sonata???? NO PLEASE!!!!
I really hope Inokom doesn’t CKD the LF
uncle car interior
optima rear
They must have really studied the interiors of BMWs and the old Kia K5 rear lights.
The s koreans are truly brilliant. Very nice new development. I know this has got nothing to do with Proton, but i cant help but compare: The S Koreans build cars, we build cars, why are we nowhere as excellent even though we have the experience and money.
Koreans were forced by their government to buy big expensive cars from Korean companies… in Malaysia if you spend a bit more you can go for a non Malaysian car, in Korea that wasn’t possible until a couple of years ago, IINM. They were much more protective than the Malaysian government, which only wants to earn more and puts high taxes on Proton and Perodua too.
So the Koreans had a guaranteed market for D segment and above cars, that didn’t exist for Proton so they never gained experience there. Also Proton has to be made cheap to produce. They have to undercut same size competitors by a large margin, while for the Koreans that is not necessary. Being a bit cheaper than the competition is enough. When there is more money to develop and build a car obviously the quality can be better too.
But David, we don’t have the talent, we chased them all away, remember?
A good car company stresses on having top-class designers and engineers. Those are the necessary qualities for any car manufacturer to be able to excel. Does proton have those qualities, other than the top-class hardware like Tanjung Malim plant? Do they not know that softwares are equally as important as hardwares? Who are the top designers and engineers in Proton?
And what is left is a dummy like you.
we bash our made car oni..korean bash n buy korean made car
@David, you just mentioned the clues to your question. Experience, Proton have, sadly they are not willing to learn from it. Money, this is what I think Proton’s main Archilles Heel.
I have been staying in Korea for 7 years.. Koreans themselves have been complaining the quality and expensive price of Hyundai and Kia. The only reason they buy Korean made car is because it is easy for them to get AS (after service).
My colleagues prefer samsung renault sm7 and malibu (diesel) and they are happy with their choices because my boss 2013 Grandeur broke down after one month out from the factory.
I totally agree with you as a Korean.
At least for domestic version of hyundais are simply the lowest quality junks with highest price tags compared to any other market.
Handsome!
am i the only one who thinks that current sonata still looks better than this new one?
the same goes to honda’s civic FD – still better looking than the replacement model.
I totally agree. The old one looks much better. This new one just dull n boring. The old one just looks sleek, smooth and just has charisma.
Outside, yes, inside this one is a big improvement.
It looks better than camry
errgghh…don’t even bother to compare with that overprice junk please…
This is my personal opinion…
1. Exterior : The current YF Model in Malaysia is better.
2. Interior : This new model looks better provided Sime Darby don’t short change the Malaysians.
As a side note, it looks like they did a rush job on the design. Rear does looks a little similar to sister K5.
just my thoughts….
What a huge improvement on the interior. If the chosen materials are not too cheap it should be a nice place to be in.
yeah, cant believe im saying this, but the interior feels very premium. as good as a conti
dayyum
Want to see more on the interior and also exterior of the new 2015 sonata car :-
http://www.hyundai.com/kr/showroom.do?carCd1=RD020#a
But its all in Korean language :)
There are so many retarded baboon in facebook commented that this new Sonata copy Mazda 6 or whatsoever copy cat stuff, please grow up or u will be slapped by buaya…
Ur eye blind by coconut or what ? Cleary copy cat of 2014 Ford Mondeo/Focus/Fiesta front.
Beidge colour interior + Wood .. lol where r those Camry basher – uncle car lah, old fashion lah..now your beloved Sonata is follwing Uncle Camry footstep…muahahaha
CopyCat, it’s simple. When people copy, we said they copy. U expect us to tell a lie and praise plagiarism is it? brains in between your bollocks.
Sometimes you step back to leap forward, this car reverse straight into the twilight zone/oblivion
Most people who say it is a copy are retarded. They think they are now designers. So clever to talk. Keyboard warriors. Hyundai has never copied any other car time immemorial. You think they are as dumb as you? Of course they know they will be sued if they copy. And Koreans ar elike the Japanese, oriental blood, very clever.
Now Hyundai also come out with Uncle designed car..
When, when will Proton be at par with Hyundai??? Another 30 freaking years???
30 years? you must be kidding me. with the “tak apa” attitude, at least another 120 years.
very sad that Hyundai and Ford is with sime darby. Bad service, few service centres and overpriced cars!!!
I don’t know…but this new design looks and feel kinda boring and too matured. I like the new mazda 6 better.
Nice looking, but boring, like the Honda Accord. If I’m going for this design, I might go for the new Subaru Liberty. Looks the same but Subaru should drive better.
Lousy junk sonata cannot compare to the mighty Accord.
That is why the Accord RV plunged after the Proton Accord came about. All Accord customers crying. Camry RV also so bad. One can get a 1 year aold 2013 Camry 2.0G for RM110k and a 2013 Camry 2.5 for 130k.
2.0 can lose 40k and 2.5 can lose 50k in just one year!
Good in picture only… Suffer forever ma! Poor RV, poor aftersales service, i call it EXPENSIVE COFFIN (guancai)
Went to korea for a course, everybody there is bragging about ae86, brz- then hop onto tokyo, they brag about porsche, m3,m5 — went to malaysia – satria neo gti circa 1996 – WHAT
so what are you trying to say?
Only knew how to condemn. No wonder we are left behind
Let’s see how many dumb people are they in this forum. Copying Mazda 6? You got crazy?
http://s2.paultan.org/image/2014/03/2015-hyundai-sonata-02.jpg
http://image.motortrend.com/f/roadtests/sedans/1208_2014_mazda6_first_look/39266081/2014-Mazda6-front-view.jpg
Ok, some lines were similar, I admit, but the feel that both cars portray is totally different. Mazda is more sporty and fluidic while the Hyundai is more elegent with sharper edges. Not to mention how it managed to keep some lines from the YF.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/10/2011hyundaisonata2.0t—06.jpg
So many dumb people in this forum. This looks like the Sonata and Sonata came out many years ago. So how to copy Mazda?
Front is really good, i like the cabin too and the side too. The rear…..not so much, too similar to the facelifted Optima K5 and new Mondeo / Fusion.
“Out you go , you stupid nonsense FLUIDIC design”, say Peter Schreyer
Finally K5 have a cousin that resemble it.
Looks nice and grand…bt so much diff in torsional regidity means either curent gen is very flexy or its jus marketing talk….usually its like 10 or 15% between generations not 50% improvement
I am never like even amongst my peers on my stand on Hyundai’s fluidic design. Beside its European offering(the I-series, i30 and i40) as well as the Grandeur and Santa Fe, that’s not a car in Hyundais line up that I do not find….weird.
This car along with the new genesis has tone things down…..a little too much. There’s nothing particularly striking like the old to stand out. It’s gone more Toyota Camry than Mazda 6 in terms of styling direction. The interior seems to suffer the brunt of this. But do I like it? I do prefer it over the old car that’s for sure but I wonder hyundai has played it too safe? Personally(and now I am going to get witch-hunt for this) I felt its way to dull over the predecessor and opted the route used by T/H/N. Maybe beige is a key to success, not many people I asked love the overly dramatic fluidic design.
YER.
Disgusting.
You all Malaysian people are just as useless as Koreans, only know how to sing Korean song.
Even Proton Accord better than this, although i still prefer Toyota Crown Premium.
Outlook Still can’t beat unbeatable,undefeatable Kia K5!
i also think existing model looks better, especially front, smooth curve. but new model have very impressive body/structure strength.
Forgive me, I can’t stop thinking abt Subaru when saw this lol
It looks like copy of the current KIA Optima
What!! still stick with your old 6 speed gearbox…come one and give us your Equus 8 speeders !
this is really nice looking… finaly a Hyundai that caught my eyes… even thou it have some Mazda shadown but good job Hyundai! I like the interior as well as the front grill….
WELL DONE!!
Those who say korean car no people buy~ pls go check the 2013 top best selling car ~~ and the total sales of Korean car
I Admitted Hyundai cars are Gorgeous trough outlook.
But really Feel Passionless when sitting inside the cars which still very Korean.
Cousin KIA have Angmo Designer who’s can creates more Premium & luxury feel in & Out although they lose Hyundai about the Performance due the GDI turbo.
This look like a fine tuned car. After introduce euro touch, this can should be able to make its name out loud.
I wonder what is the different between LF Sonata and YF Sonata?