2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Gets Lifetime Battery Warranty

To further convince customers that Hyundai knows how to build a proper hybrid, the carmaker has announced that its 2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid sedan will now come with a lifetime battery warranty.

That means Hyundai will ensure that the lithium-polymer battery works for the life of the vehicle. If the battery fails, the company will replace it and take care of any recycling costs. The new warranty replaces the previous 10-year/100,000-mile warranty for the battery.

Hyundai says the battery has lasted up to 275,000 miles in company tests, which should be more than enough time for normal motorists. The automaker recently announced a base price of $25,850 for the 2012 Sonata Hybrid.

Editor's Note: Today, Hyundai released additional details on the lifetime battery warranty. The lifetime guarantee applies to all 2012 Sonata Hybrids. The coverage is not transferrable and does not apply to lease or commercial vehicles, or vehicles sold outside of the U.S.

2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Priced at $25,850

For the 2012 model year, the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid edges up only $55 from 2011 pricing and now comes standard with Hyundai's Blue Link telematics system, for a starting price of $25,850. That price excludes a $760 destination fee, which is $10 more than last year's fee.

The only new addition to the Sonata Hybrid is Blue Link, which is Hyundai's OnStar competitor. Blue Link is now standard across the entire 2012 Sonata lineup. The Sonata Hybrid gets a complementary six months of service of the Assurance Package and three months of the Essentials & Guidance Package — the same as the regular Sonata.

A new Leather Package is available for $1,500. Previously, leather upholstery was available only in the all-encompassing Ultimate Package. The $5,000 package included a panoramic sunroof, navigation system and an upgraded stereo. The Ultimate Package is still available, but it now costs $5,500 for 2012.

Hyundai hasn't yet announced an on-sale date for the 2012 Sonata Hybrid.

Naughty or Nice: Shifters

A proper shifter inspires confidence in the overall driving experience by adding precision to the transmission’s operation. Manual transmission shifters may automatically come to mind as potential culprits when done wrong, but automatic transmissions can drop the ball in similar ways even without a manual clutch to get in the way.
 
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Reader Review of the Week: 2012 Hyundai Sonata

“Happy with Hyundai,” from Cincinnati describes himself as a hard-working, middle-class cop who doesn’t like to waste money. After extensive car shopping, this reader decided to go with a brand-new 2012 Hyundai Sonata to replace his 12-year-old Infiniti I30. So far, Happy with Hyundai has, as his nickname suggests, had a favorable experience with his Sonata. Continue reading the full review to find out more. Once you’re done, write a review about your own car here.

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars: October 2011

Falling consumer confidence hasn't deterred car shoppers, as pent-up demand raised October sales versus a year ago for all but one major carmaker. Chrysler, Hyundai/Kia and Nissan posted big gains, with GM, Ford and Honda growing modestly. Toyota was the sole loser, dropping 7.9 percent in sales. Pickup trucks, typically strong in the fall, saw continued gains, but family sedans made a comeback, taking three of October's top five slots — something not seen since May.

Detroit pickups took the top two spots, with GM's Chevrolet Silverado and Ford’s F-Series posting some sales gains. The F-Series stayed atop the sales pile this month, comfortably outselling the No. 2 Chevrolet Silverado. Six-cylinder engines account for more than half of all F-150s sold, Ford sales chief Ken Czubay said in a conference call. It gives shoppers of the soon-to-be-discontinued Ranger a truck with similar gas mileage, he said.

Despite the 2012 redesign hitting dealerships last month, Toyota's popular Camry fell 11.9 percent — dethroned for the moment by the Honda Accord, down 1.1 percent. Accord inventory is only about half of what it was in October 2010, according to Automotive News.

What's the Most Affordable Midsize Sedan?

The midsize sedan is by far the most popular car segment in the U.S., with more than 2 million sold so far this year. So it’s no surprise that some of the best-selling vehicles in the country are midsize family sedans, such as the Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima and Ford Fusion. It’s also one of the most competitive markets, with over 20 moderately priced models on sale today.

Over the past few months, the market has heated up even more. Toyota is launching the all-new 2012 Camry this month, and it will boast more features, improved gas mileage and more-affordable pricing for midlevel trims. The redesigned 2012 Volkswagen Passat is now a legitimate player in the moderately priced family sedan category, moving away from the premium category. Its starting price of $19,995 offers novel features, such as dual-zone automatic climate control, standard.

So which sedan is the best-equipped — and also the most affordable — car for the money? For this latest affordability study, we decided to pit the redesigned 2012 Camry and 2012 Passat against the 2012 Hyundai Sonata and the 2012 Fusion. All four have attractive pricing with lots of features.

Reader Review of the Week: 2012 Hyundai Sonata

NewHyundaiFan, who didn’t give their location, is the happy owner of a brand-new 2012 Hyundai Sonata. The reader hasn’t had the car for too long, but gives us a detailed synopsis on why they chose the Hyundai over the competition. We also get a brief glimpse into their car-buying experience. Continue reading below to find out. If you want to share thoughts about your own car, you can write your own review here.

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars: August 2011

August was another solid month of sales growth for many popular carmakers, but Toyota and Honda once again remained the exception.

General Motors (up 18%), Ford (up 11.2%), Nissan (up 19.2%) and Hyundai (up 9.1%) all recorded strong growth. Chrysler grew by 31%, which the automaker says is “well above the industry average.” Stable truck sales buoyed GM, Ford and Chrysler: The Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado are firmly the top-selling vehicles of the year thus far, and Ram sales have grown nearly 25% compared with 2010. 

The Chevrolet Cruze was the third-best-selling car of the month, and it was the best-selling compact car. It’s also GM’s best-selling car, beating the Chevy Malibu and Impala year-to-date.

Toyota and Honda were a different, yet familiar, story. Both companies saw double-digit declines compared with a year ago. Toyota was down 12.7% while Honda fell a whopping 24.6%.

Despite the slump, the Toyota Camry remained the top-selling car in August, with more than 30,000 of the family sedans reaching customers. The Honda Accord returned to the top 10 best-selling list, finishing in ninth place. The once-venerable nameplate was absent from the list in July.

Hyundai to Fix Sonata Steering Issue

The fifth-generation Hyundai Sonata has won wide praise among the public and critics, but that doesn’t mean the model has been without any problems.

There have been a few recalls (here and here), but persistent complaints that certain Sonatas tend to drift to the left at highway speeds have not been addressed. 

Hyundai now says it has a steering fix for beleaguered owners, according to USA Today. Hyundai said it will inspect the suspension system on the models in question and make adjustments when needed. If the problem lingers after the adjustments, the automaker will replace the struts and reprogram the power-steering system, though the company stresses that it doesn’t believe it will need to make that drastic intervention on many models.

Owners of affected models will be notified over the next few weeks, Hyundai said. The service campaign covers Sonatas with 18-inch wheels built from September 2010 through May 2011, USA Today says. It’s important to note that this isn’t considered to be a recall; the drifting can be addressed with an easy one-handed steering correction while driving, according to Consumer Reports.

Owner complaints about the Sonata’s steering problems have been bubbling up since late last year. Consumer Reports has documented the problem well — the publication experienced the problem with its own Sonata Turbo tester and had to send its vehicle to a dealership multiple times to fix the issue.

Hyundai Announces Campaign to Fix Sonata Steering (USA Today)

Movers and Losers: July 2011

Despite some pessimistic reporting earlier last month, July turned out to be a good recovery month for the auto industry. More than 1 million new vehicles were sold, and sales were up 4.7% from a year ago. Despite the rosy sales figures, the average time it took a model to sell increased slightly in July to 58.8 days from June's 58 days.

This month’s Movers and Losers list shows that many of the fastest-selling vehicles once again come from Hyundai. The 2012 Hyundai Elantra remained one of the fastest-selling volume vehicles in July, taking just six days to sell. You could say everything at Hyundai is a fast-seller: The 2012 Sonata and Tucson also took six days to sell. The new 2012 Hyundai Accent sedan (10 days) and hatchback (seven days) also sold like hotcakes. Overall, the Tucson, Accent, Sonata and Elantra represent roughly 80% of Hyundai’s sales for the month.

This month’s Losers list includes the addition of two hybrids — the 2011 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid (159 days) and 2011 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid (150 days). The Toyota Yaris sedan (165 days) also merged on to the slow lane, though that model is due to be replaced.