Name: G
Location: California
What He’s Got: 2011 Pacific Blue Hyundai Sonata SE 2.0T
The Story:
The decision came down to the 2011 Honda CrossTour or the 2011 Hyundai Sonata Turbo. I was a bit torn because it was a battle between cost (the payments on the CrossTour were about $20 bucks more a month, $364 vs $384) versus practicality. I tried to get Pilot LX 4wd, but they were all sold out. And since the “boss” is a big fan of the Sonata, she pretty much made the final call.
The Deal:
$0 due at signing, $364 per month (with 9.75% tax). The final sale price was $25,893 plus $250 cash (which you have to pay taxes on, so technically only $200). MSRP $28175. Money factor 0.0056 and residual 58%. The fees breakdown: $425 for dmv, $45 doc fee, $595 bank fee, $25 tax on cash plus other minor local/state fees. No other Hyundai dealer nearby would give me $2k+ below sticker (they wanted MSRP, LOL silly dealers). My preliminary calculations came out to be about $362 per month after taxes, with $0 due at signing. I estimated my drive-off fees to be about $1400. So I was within $2 dollars the dealer’s quote. Not bad considering that fact that I had him add all-weather floor mats which only bumped the payments a couple of bucks. Overall, a decent deal, but not as good as Joe02‘s lease of $311 for the same exact car. Part of the reason mine wasn’t as good was due to three factors: 1) higher sale price. 2) higher money factor. 3) lower residual value. My quoted price was about $50 bucks under the best TrueCar price at the time, but still higher than a few months ago.
Quick Review, One Month Later…
After one month of driving the Sonata, I am pleasantly surprised as to how good the car is. The city MPG not as good as advertised (getting 19 vs 22), but I am still within my “break-in” period so things should improve down the road.
There are a few annoyances though…
Light steering – This isn’t even noticeable since 90% of my drive is city. Unfortunately, it is very noticeable when you drive through uneven pavement at high speeds, or when it’s windy. Never had that problem with the G-Coupe. Then again, the Coupe was about 400 pounds heavier.
Gas Pump – The gas pump nozzle clicks-off after a few seconds when pumping gas. Very annoying. Gas pumping needs to be done manually and tilted upwards in order to keep the flow continuous. Looks like some warranty work is in order.
Highway MPG as good as advertised. GPS works like a charm. Voice recognition could be better. Plastic paddle-shifters a bit cheap, but does the trick. Seats very comfortable. Solid mid-range power. Spacious trunk.
Final Verdict? It’s no sports car, but it will hold me over for the next three years.
Want your ride featured on RIDE with G? Send your pics over to thewall(at)ridewithg.com
Congrats G… looks like a solid deal…
Thanks Kevin! I think it was not bad. I wish I had leased in March though.
Very nice G!
Congrats G, sweet ride and nice deal. I have just 2 payments left so my timing with this inventory shortage is going to hurt my deal but not sure if there is any way around it. Wait? do a deal early? I think I’m in trouble either way ugh.
Thanks guys! Wife is getting some drive time this week. GPS should come in handy as she makes her way to downtown.
Brent, since you only have about 3 months left on your lease, I would try to pull the trigger sooner than later. Japanese manufacturers probably won’t get back up to 100% production speed until June-July (as of April, places like Toyota were running at 40% from what I read). So assuming that schedule, you probably wouldn’t see cars coming state side until September at the earliest. Availability would probably get worse as until production gets back up to normal, so I do worry that you might not get what you want if you wait too long.
hey G, enjoying your post every month.
enjoy your car 😉 I am enjoying mine very much.
I too got a Sonata 2.0T but in limited in same color.
I ended up purchasing the car oppose to leasing it.
Just got a incredible deal on it so I couldn’t pass it.
Your site helped me a lot so I thought I’d say thank you.
– just on a side note, my gas pump doesn’t click as you mentioned.
You might want to check into it with the dealer if it keeps on doing that.
Just went to Florida last weekend from Atlanta, averaged about 36MPG.
I still had 3 little bars left when I got to Orlando. I was pleasantly surprised.
No problem! I do like the car a lot so far. The fact that it’s easy on the wallet doesn’t hurt either. I have service scheduled on the 18th, so I should be able to address the gas pump problem then. I do love the hwy MPG, which should be nice since I got a couple of road trips planned. I will check on the reprogramming as well. Thanks for the heads up!
oh by the way,
there is a TCM reprogramming recall on Sonata.
You may want to check into it as well.
G, what kind of gas mileage were you getting on your G37?
G37 18/20/25
Sonata 20/24/35 (I’m technically averaging 19.8 on city driving)
If the Genesis Coupe had this 2.0T engine, I think it would give the G37 a run for it’s money. 35 MPG hwy on a sport coupe sporting 275 hp is pretty crazy.
Congrats! Just wondering how come u did not use services of Number1 leasing or Best Buy leasing?
How well do u know these cos by the way? I am interested in using their services to lease either X5 or X6. Number1leasing does not even have office address or their Twitter or FB pages are not updated for ages…Called Best Buy y’day . Spoke to someone called Inga.They are yet to come back to me with a quote which was promised for this morning…
Thanks Mumuxu! My reasons for not using Best Buy Leasing is because they only service the Northeast and I live in Southern California. Geographically, it didn’t really work. The reason I didn’t use Number1Leasing is due to two factors: 1) Time 2) Trade-in. I had some delays trading in my G37. In addition, nothing is certain until IFS confirms the payoff price for Carmax. So in the event I couldn’t trade in my car for my payoff should be, I would have had to continue leasing my G37 until my lease matured. With that level of uncertainty, I couldn’t really commit to getting another car in advance. The TIME aspect was also an issue because I had to get into something as soon as my trade-in went through. So I couldn’t wait for the broker to find me the car and arrange delivery. I needed the car within hours because I needed it for work and to move stuff into my new home. In this case, I couldn’t really make it work. But I is very possible that I would consider using a broker on my wife’s next lease in early ’13.
I have communicated with #1 leasing on and off since the fall of last year. I do know some folks have worked with #1 before with mixed results. I know of one person who has complained, for the most part I know some folks on my site has leased through them with no incidents. With BB, I have had a couple of complaints (mostly relating to call backs), but I have also had heard good feedback from folks who have used them. They seem to be very competitive with pricing. I did communicate with one of the managers early this month and he has said that they are somewhat shorthanded at the moment, which is why I haven’t gotten June’s numbers yet (I was promised June 7th) and it’s probably the reason why you haven’t gotten your call back. I’m not trying to give you an excuse, just letting you know what I am being told. I know the lack of comms can be frustrating, so I suggest that you give yourself a couple of days (if you can) and call a few more places. That way, you can do a price comparison to see who can give you the best deal.