Auto Climate Control, Stability Control and Traction Control are Worth the Extra Coin
Our long-term Sonata put on a decent number of miles during the past two (ahem) weeks - OK, were a few days late with the update, give us a break - totaling 359 miles, from 3,565 miles when we dropped it off at the dealership for servicing and to get the scratch removed from its rear passenger-side door, to 3,923 miles, just as Jennifer was driving out of the parking lot to do a bunch of errands this afternoon (or yesterday afternoon as you read this). I suppose I was expecting the odometer to read lower, | | I was expecting the odometer of our long-term Sonata to read lower after this last two weeks, being that over the Christmas holidays we enjoyed a full-load Sonata GLS V6 while ours was in getting a scratch repaired. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, American Auto Press) |
being that over the Christmas holidays we enjoyed a full-load Sonata GLS V6 (yes, despite having leather seats and other goodies our regular GLS V6 doesnt feature every last bell and whistle) | | The care we replaced our long-term tester with for a week, included electronic stability control and power actuated foot pedals, among other things, the buttons for defeating and modulating each respectively on the left and second to left. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press) |
in place of our regular car. While the servicing hardly took a week, we left the long-term car with our Hyundai rep while we tested out the one with all the options.
This new car included automatic climate control, adjustable foot pedals, an auto dimming | | The day that we tested it might have been the soggiest of the year, but unfortunately there was no snow on the roadway up to the ski hill near the office. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press) |
rear view mirror, traction and stability control system, trip computer, garage door opener and compass to our already well-equipped GLS V6.
Rather than include comments on this replacement car in the regular log entries, as we werent keeping track of the mileage of a vehicle that we only had in our hands for a single week, well discuss it right now in a collective editorial.
Overall, | | The automatic climate control is much nicer to use than the manual setup, although it looks much the same, minus the centre fan speed dial, replaced with a digital readout. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press) |
we all feel that the extras that came with this specific car, two of which we believe are essential for safety reasons, the first being electronic stability control, and the second, traction control, make the price to upgrade worth it. We mention stability control first because of its ability to pull an errant driver out of a tricky situation no matter on his or her ability behind the wheel. While the electronic driving aid wont help to claw back a cars velocity any quicker than | | The automatic dimming rearview mirror is one of those frivolous extras, or at least we thought so until having to live without it. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press) |
the ABS-enhanced four-wheel disc brakes can, the latter already standard with our long-term car and all V6-powered Sonatas, it will help keep a skidding car, particularly one that has lost grip at its rear end and is starting to torque sideways, from losing complete control.
The day that we tested it might have been the soggiest of the year, but unfortunately there was no snow on the roadway up to the ski hill near the office. No worries, the water was running down the pavement in streamlets, deep enough to pull the front wheels off their trajectory and unsettle the chassis, | | While we like the dark blue hue of our long-term tester compared to the tealish blue of our loaner car, some of us will miss the auto climate control more than others. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press) |
a bit, but thats where the Sonatas stability control came in. First of all, in order to test it properly, we were driving at speeds that, well, lets just say our men in blue might have been a bit miffed. But still the Sonata performed flawlessly, even when braking heavily mid-turn while going through a rather deep and fast flowing rivulet - dont do this at home... unless youre driving a Sonata GLS V6 with all the trimmings, mind you, in which case, unless you were just plain being stupid and taxing the car way beyond its limit, it would slow in a controlled, efficient manner, setting up the suspension to take the next right sweeping | | Im impressed with how well the light gray carpeting looks cleaner than the dirt on it should allow, as do the seats, leather being ideal for wiping up on after kids. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, American Auto Press) |
corner that lay ahead, in this particular case.
Take-off from standstill is similarly benefited from traction control, which sapped away a little bit of the cars throttle response, but nevertheless helped to keep the front wheels gripping the pavement even under full throttle. Most of us in the office, at least those who drive fast for a living, would rather modulate the throttle ourselves, in most cases, but when its really slippery, such as the snowy conditions we had here on the West Coast recently, traction control certainly removes the guess work when getting out of the driveway is top priority, almost acting like all-wheel drive.
As far as the other features go, the automatic climate control | | The Sonata has become the vehicle of choice for family travel, merely because it fits so many of us inside. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press) |
is much nicer to use than the manual setup, although it looks much the same, minus the centre fan speed dial, replaced with a digital readout. Being able to set the temperature and have the system do the rest is nicer than constantly modulating the dial.
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