Gadgetory

the Hyundai Sonata is overachiever enough just for earning a seat on the board alongside the Camry the Accord and the fusion now it joins the Green Committee let's drive the 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and check the tech the Sonata Hybrid is the sister ship of the Kia Optima Hybrid which you may have already seen our video of the two differ mostly in styling and a few features they share a hybrid powertrain and importantly with a newish technology like that also share about the best warranty in the business now most hybrids these days have some kind of an eco mode even greener than standard hybrid drive on this guy it's this button here they call it blue or with that weird accent mark is that blue a I don't know anyway you can see it happened here on the centre display that turns into blue Drive brings you to this display here which is almost identical to the same head unit we saw in the sister ship the Kia Optima Hybrid fuel economy this gives you a set of two and a half minute time slices of how greenly you drove in that window the more of those little Leafs the better obviously energy flow is one of those things you won't see in a few years it explains what a hybrid does car is the one that tells you what your eco level is in the driving session more bars is better they get green toward the right if you last one that I have no idea what it does is Earth this is telling me apparently that my engine and my electric motor are contributing to turning the earth I don't think that's the case now all that technology in the Optima that's also in the Sonata is wrapped in a different look and feel look around this car it's a little more I don't know what kind of competing with Camry where the Optima is competing more with out ease it's a different language this may strike you as more handsome or you might think it's kind of gaudy the Optima may strike you as handsome or you may think it's kind of faddish it's kind of a pick your media options on this car are really good they load it up nicely all the way from your aux USB ipod down here which they've been doing along time in these cars these guys were early on in that they do want you to use a special hybrid cable to get your iPod in there now one choice on the gearbox as is common on hybrids because the whole powertrain is carefully balanced with its different power sources and the all-important transmission logic here it's going to be a 6-speed automatic it's a true automatic by the way not a CVT so it's actually got six actual specific gears and you've got a basic PRN D gate on the left you've got the shiftable gate over here as well no paddles though now the hybrid powertrain in this car begins with this 2.4 litre inline-four gas engine of course it's an Atkins and cycle motor that's an engine that is laid out with its timing so that it really fully burns the whole fuel charge almost to a fault scrubbing off some of the torque you amplify that back in by having an electric motor here of course being a hybrid so all in we have 206 horsepower 195 foot-pounds of torque that's total for both power sources gets this guy 216 about nine point two seconds not bad for a 3600 pound car and your mileage is of course the point 3540 city and highway and this guy tends to deliver real world right smack in that range let's go find out as with the Optima Hybrid I was kind of disturbed by the cars powertrain communicating too much about all the different modes it switches between that switching is something a hybrid does yes but it's not something I want to be that aware of as in the Optima Hybrid this package delivers real-world mixed driving mpg in the low to even mid 30s and that includes highways traffic and Hills it's a good number okay let's place this Hyundai Sonata Hybrid the blue form of green twenty six five delivered and rather well equipped but to take it seen that style you got to spend five thousand more for the Premium Package it's actually quite a deal you're gonna get the GPS navigation good clean interface you've also got that incredibly responsive touch screen HD radio infinity sound leather seats rear camera that's lit panoramic sunroof 17-inch special alloy wheels it's a steal at five grand so load it up that way it's a great value and you get a nice car that does what it says it'll do