I’m not ashamed to say that the current Hyundai Sonata has caught my eye on the street a few times, mostly just because I’m not used to a Hyundai looking that normal yet and I need to process what I’m looking at. This new 2018 Hyundai Sonata is also not bad. There’s nothing wrong with it.
You probably can’t immediately tell there’s a difference as it is admittedly hard to recall what the current generation of the Sonata looks like exactly, but I do assure you that this is the face lift for 2018.
Also new for 2018 is a standard blind-spot warning system and rear cross-traffic alert, a tweaked interior—now with a birds-eye-view camera, new steering wheel, a USB port in the back—as well as some exterior upgrades like a stiffer torsion bar and suspension tweaks to make the steering feel sharper.
The 245-horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged four cylinder is now mated to a new eight-speed gearbox. It’s not yet clear if any other currently-available power options have been changed.
That’s what is great about a Hyundai Sonata, or Elantra, or Tucson, or whatever other current Hyundai; if you don’t spend too much money on one, there’s not going to really be anything inherently wrong with it. It’s a good little affordable car and now it doesn’t look like it was designed by aliens who once had a human described to them. To be fair, it hasn’t for awhile.