FastMotoring Motor News In Speed

Awhile ago, the Hyundai Sonata has just launch a brand new facelift in Malaysia market. Positioned as the Hyundai Sonata for the year 2013. Hyundai made a few improvements in the interior as well as exterior.

The exterior upgrades include a brand new front grille, a new pair of tail lamps with LED illumination, incorporated LED to redesigned fog lamps and LED side mirrors. There’s new 18″ rim design as well as the cat-eye shaped HID headlamps exclusive for the 2.4L Hyundai Sonata that helps increase visibility on road especially at night.

The new facelifted Hyundai Sonata 2.0L gets a new 2.0L Nu engine that is 30% ligther and promises to deliver better fuel efficiency. With a lighter engine that shave off 33.6 kg, Hyundai claims that it has improve the vehicle handling as well.

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About 36 hours ago, one of our editors posted in Facebook Page about the terrible flooding tragedy in Queensland. No much feedback though. But things got worse as flood waters in the state of Queensland have ripped through numerous cities. Over 30 lives have been lost and many others are still missing. Massive damages including building structure, bridges, transportation and public infrastructure.

The raising water level flow the cars away like Proton Savvy (our national car), Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Holden Astra, Holden Commodore, Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla, Mazda 323, Ford Territory, Toyota Aurion, Toyota Echo, Toyota Rav4, Mazda 3, Hyundai Sonata, Hyundai i30, Hyundai Getz, Hyundai Excel, Mitsubishi Magna and many more.

Check out the amazing footage of East Creek near Chalk Drive / Chalk Lane rising and washing away lots of cars during Flash Flood in Toowoomba on Monday 10 January 2011. You can donate to the Queensland Government Appeal at www.qld.gov.au/floods

New Year with New Target, I think this applies to many of us.

Chung Mong Koo, chairman and co-chief executive officer of Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp announced to aim to increase their global sales by 10% in 2011 with a focus on boosting quality and developing new models.

The carmakers are targeting combined sales of 6.33 million vehicles, Chung Mong Koo, chairman of the two companies, said in a speech to employees in Seoul. The companies sold an estimated 5.75 million units combined in 2010.

The global sales boosted mainly on the new models like Hyundai Sonata and Kia Sorento. According to our source, Hyundai will introduce 10 new models in 2011 while Kia will reveal its new Picanto and Rio.

The Korean automaker managed to leapfrog again due to many factors. E.g. attractive car price, hampered of strong yen and a badly damaged reputation of Toyota Cars.

The sales charts of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata just keep moving up which bring the car officially taking its place near the top of the midsize car category. BUT unfortunately now, the 2011 Hyundai Sonata being recalled for steering issues in the United States of America.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report at safercar.gov identifies the issue says “the steering column intermediate shaft universal joint connections may have been either improperly assembled or insufficiently tightened.” The consequence could be “a complete separation or compromised attachment of the connections, such that the driver could experience a loss of, or reduction in, steering capability increasing the risk of a crash.”

The recall affects MY 2011 Hyundai Sonata sedans built between December 11, 2009 and September 10, 2010. Recall notices will be sending out to owners by dealers. The service centre will inspect and re-torque the assembly of the steering.

As usual, there is no official announcement from Hyundai whether it affects cars in other part of the world like Malaysia. At this moment, we presumed it happened to the Sonatas in US only.

Photo Gallery: 2010 Hyundai Sonata

Hyundai as a car brand name isn’t that strong as the Japanese’s Toyota & Honda. This applies strongly to Malaysians, but not the rest of the World. Many will be reluctant to buy Korean cars brand such as Hyundai and Kia but once you view those car personally and have a look and feel to it, your impression will changed  - especially in these recent years. Hyundai Malaysia ( Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors ) , is set to launch the 6th Generation All-New Fully Imported from Korea – Hyundai Sonata on July 2nd and they did a preview of the Sonata from last Friday until Tuesday (June 29) in their Glenmarie Showroom. We went to review the new Hyundai Sonata and did a test drive on a 2.0 liter model as well as a 2.4 liter model.

Normally with the same car name we should be able to see some inheritance from the car’s previous version. However, the new Hyundai Sonata is completely redesigned when compare to it’s predecessor.  Designed in California , the all-new Hyundai Sonata is to take on it’s competitor such as Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. With inspiration by an Orchid , we agree that the Hyundai designer team did put quite a few more daring design cue on the car’s front. As i was referring the Hyundai Sonata as the Korean CLS , aside from it’s similar bodyline and low back roof, the headlights too looks inspired by the Mercedes Benz CLS too. With projector headlight for all 3 variants available in Malaysia, which is the 2.0 low spec, the 2.0 high spec and the 2.4 high spec. Only the 2.4L model Hyundai Sonata comes with HID with auto-leveling.

From the side view, the Hyundai Sonata is sculpted with 2 body lines, one chromed, from the head lights to the rear door windows. The other body line, drews from the rear lights back to the front across the door handles. Focus on the Sonata’s rear, the sleek rear curves give the sedan a coupe-ish like the VW Passat CC and of course the Mercedes Benz CLS. With the black top by the panaroma roof, it improves the sportiness look of the new Hyundai Sonata. As the rear lights turned on, immediately the uniquely designed rear lights of this new Sonata shines. We are a big fan of the Audi A4 or R8, and a big part of it is due to it’s front headlights. Looking at the Hyundai Sonata rear lights, i can’t help to relate it as a reversed version of the Audi A4 /R8 head lights but in red.  The volcanic lava colour line surrounding main rear lights portraying the “rear eyes of the Sonata” stares at you with anger when you’re tailgating one.v

The interior of the Hyundai Sonata continues the sweepy lines of exterior of the vehicle. The centre console builds together with simplicity and futuristic looking. The humanoid icon act as a guide line to see your air condition directions, an idea which ripped from Volvo. Only the 2.4 Liter Sonata gets the auto climate air conditioning system. As the interior lights turn on, the blue illuminance is everywhere giving you a futuristic ambiance. The controls are easy to use and understand, unlike the huge buttons with wordings on the latest Honda Accord. Although with great designs, the Hyundai Sonata central dash feel lacking of built quality. The air-con dials and controls does not feels that solid as compare to it’s competitors.  Audio systems are standard with cd player and mp3 capabilities. There’s a also ipod integration with USB and AUX-in too.  There’s holes on both sides of the audio inputs, one for cigarette lighter, and amother bluish one mainly for in car changers. The steering is integrate with standard audio controls too.

More Details On Hyundai Sonata Malaysia Test Drive with Detail Review Here !