Sport(y) Sedan Value - 2024 Hyundai Sonata N Line Drive Review (POV)

Hey crew, I've got the key to this 24 Hyundai Sonata N-Line. We are going to take it for a drive, but first, let's check out how it looks on the inside and outside. For the 24 model year, the Sonata lineup gets a refresh and the N-Line keeps it sporty. Up front, there is a daytime running light bar that goes across the hood. Underneath are projector LED headlights on this N-Line. There are functional air curtains off to the side, get some LED fog lights there, dark gray accents around the grille, functional front air dams, some gloss black trim, and this one is painted in carbon blue. It's a very dark hue, but then when the sunlight hits it, some of that metallic flake really shines. At the side, the N-Line gets a set of two-tone 19-inch alloy wheels wrapped in Pirelli PZero all-season tires, 245 section front and rear. The N-Line adds this extended lower valance and the badging is subtle, both here and in the grille. The profile with all of its creases and the silhouette looks very Audi A5 to me, and I mean that in a complimentary way, and I love how it sits on those wheels. At the back are some upgraded LED taillights and turn signals, there's an integrated black lip spoiler, and down low, the N-Line gets a quad exhaust system with a more pronounced diffuser. I'm a big fan of this refresh for the Sonata in general, and the N-Line really enhances the intrigue without overblowing it into boy racer. My question for you is, do you think they went far enough with the sportiest Sonata? Let me know in the comments, and let's check out the interior. Opening up and looking inside, at this dark gray leatherette interior with red-stitched accents and fake suede inserts, the seats look pretty cool. There's also a panoramic sunroof on the N-Line. On the doors, there's injection molding up high, leatherette here with more red stitching, nice padding for your arm. Hard plastic's down low, power windows, but not one touch up down, stepping in, easy for me to do, I don't have to duck very much, behind my own seat at six feet tall, got great knee room, this is hard plastic and there's no map pocket, but the foot pockets are nice and large to slide my feet under, thigh support is solid, headroom, not so much, head is up against the roof, I can't make it back to that headrest without craning my neck, so I'd have to slouch forward, and this could work, but you lose out on lumbar, I wish there was an extra inch of headroom for taller passengers. In the back, you know what we're not seeing, either here or on the sides? Air vents. $36,000, no air vents, that's a problem obviously for adults back here, but even for kids in car seats. There are two USB-C ports down there though, there is a driveshaft hump, you gotta overcome to get into the middle, and here I definitely don't fit. If you don't have a middle passenger, there is an armrest that comes down, with two cup holders and leatherette padding. Let's check out the front next, door close noise, wow, that's pretty solid, good thud. Smart keyless entry is for the front two doors, the front seats for $24 get an upgrade, these sport buckets have N-line badges on them, red accents, and more aggressive side bolstering, they're power adjusting, you get lumbar, and carpeted floor mats are here as an option, aluminum accented foot pedals, this is the release for the trunk, hitting that does raise it all the way up, and inside we find a solid 16 cubic feet of space, if you need more room, pull on these two tabs and press forward to get those seats folded 60-40. There is a handle to close the lid, and it comes down nice and easy, ooh, you can see that carbon blue a little better here. The driver door adds two one-touch windows for the front, power adjusting, not power folding door mirrors, sliding in and closing up that door, I'll throw it in accessory mode with two taps of the start-stop button. That triggers on the redesigned digital gauge cluster and infotainment system, all within a single housing, like some BMW vehicles I know, but it's a favorable impression, and the visuals are crisp, the infotainment system is super responsive, it does have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Looking over at the wheel, which has been updated for 24 with perforations and sport grips at 9 and 3, contrast stitching on the inside in red here on the N-line, the diameter is a bit large, but it feels great in the hands, and it's got paddles right there at my fingertips. On the left side are controls for driving assistance features and updating the gauge cluster info, and on the right, that's for media. Here in the center stack, there's a red accent just below this fake carbon fiber-looking trim, the dashboard is in leatherette, I like that, and beneath, we've got some physical controls for volume and media, and then below that, some touch controls here for climate, and I do like that they kept dials to adjust the temperature, and the fan speed here is easy to adjust. Underneath that, we've got two USB-C ports, and one does plug in for that CarPlay system. There is also a wireless charging pad, storage off to the right, and I forgot to mention these front seats are heated in three stages. There is an auto-hold function, you can bring up the camera system whenever you want, and your drive mode selection is above that. Spot here for your key fob, two different sized cup holders, bigger one, smaller one, nice place for your arm rest on top of the leatherette top console, and inside, there is a good deal of storage space. Visibility looks good. There is a blind spot at the back pillar, but thankfully, you get that little window there, and there's standard blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic. Overall, this is a very well-equipped and attractive cabin for $36,000, with two blemishes. The lack of rear air vents, that's a big one, and headroom for taller riders, both in the back, and even here in the front. Now it's time to take the Sonata N-Line for a drive. All right, let's fire it up. A little rumble, a little shudder from the turbo four-cylinder, and we are live. Hello, cabin crew, thanks for joining for this drive review in the 2400 Sonata N-Line. I'm going to begin by selecting the drive mode here. We've got normal, sport, and a custom my drive mode. I'm going to start in normal before I go into reverse. Here on the stock, no longer here on the console, pull down to go in reverse, and that brings up a pretty high-res camera system with trajectory lines. I'll back on out here, and then to go into drive, I crank forward on that selector, and we'll start with a turning radius test. I didn't leave myself a whole lot of room here, but let's see how the Sonata does. And it is a front-drive car, and typically that means the turning circle isn't as great as rear drive, but we are going to clear it. That's a solid turning circle. Listening now for the turn signal sound. What a gentle knocking noise. I like that. What about the world-famous horn test? Oh, much less gentle. That's got quite the punch to it, and that's not the only thing with some punch. The turbo 2.5-liter four-cylinder in this Sonata N-Line makes 290 horsepower and 311 pound-feet of torque. That is riding through an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic, and that's significant because pretty much all the Sonata's competitors have gone to CVTs, or at the very least have torque converter autos. This is a proper dual-clutch, which is a performance transmission, and what typically accompanies that is some clunkiness at low speeds in the gear changes between second and first, and you find some of that in the Elantra N, which shares this gearbox, though I don't notice that here. It's been tuned differently. It's extremely smooth, even as you approach a stop, and it's the same deal as you're starting to accelerate. Imperceptible gear changes. And in the normal mode, the throttle response is, well, it's slackened somewhat compared to sport, but the powertrain producing its peak torque just from 1,650 RPM, it doesn't feel sluggish at all, and the brakes are also very easy to modulate, and so the around-town demeanor of this Sonata N is extremely approachable. As far as the ride quality, the suspension has been firmed up a little bit for this N-Line, and so I jostle more than the standard Sonata, but the ride is still pleasant, and the dampening's still sufficient to absorb most of the road blemishes. The seats are helping with that as well. They're very comfortable, nicely padded, support me without the bolsters cutting into my sides too much. I just wish, as I shared before, that they could be lowered more, because my head is just encroaching on that roofline. I feel like I'm peering way down at the steering wheel. Now as the speeds pick up, I'm going to listen to the cabin volume, first on this quieter road surface. Not hearing much in the way of wind noise. Tire noise, not a big issue, but it's going to transition here to a less perfectly paved strip. Deliberately going over some bumps, and I feel some rattles in the cabin. I hear more of that road noise, and definitely the imperfections are making their way through audibly. It's really not bad, but it's not quite as well insulated, I would say, as the new Toyota Camry is an example. Importantly, it's not so loud that I would need to raise my voice much to have a conversation with fellow passengers in either row, and the bumps are, well, they're not abusive. But now it's time to talk in line. I'm going to switch into the sport drive mode before I put my foot to the floor. All righty then. The mid-range in this car is serious. Once more. I feel some real G-force pressing me into the seat back. As I get close to that 6250 RPM cutoff, the turbocharger on boost, and the Sonata N-line properly moving down the roadway. What is Hyundai serving up here? It's a bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing. The exterior doesn't shout it, the daily driving experience doesn't shout it, but when you put your foot in it, it shouts it. Now, does the shout sound good? Well, the engine note isn't rich with character. It's just louder than it was when I was coasting around town. More than anything, just sounds like it's working. I want to try out manual mode now, and there's no way to lock it in manual mode. You just pull on the paddles, and it'll stay there until you stop pulling on them, and then it goes back to auto mode. Here we go. Left paddle engaged. Shifting pretty quick. And I just wanted to see, not touching the paddle, it does upshift for me. Don't love that, but I'll see if I can get ahead of things. Shifting it like, yeah, if I pull the paddle around 6000, don't wait for it to go past that, then it doesn't auto upshift, and the gear changes are prompt. Not quite as snappy as the Elantra N, and there is where the tuning differences come to light, but they're certainly not slow. And it does add something to the sensation of speed. Now let's get some numbers on the board with a real world zero to 60 test. I've got my race box set up to record, and I want to engage launch control, which this vehicle surprisingly has. You have to go into the my mode, and then here in the infotainment, make sure you're selecting the sport plus powertrain response. Then I hold the traction control button until that and stability control are disabled. Then I hold my foot on the brake, pin the throttle, I can set the RPM for launch. I'm going to bring it up a bit and release my foot from the brake. Tire spin, and there's 60 in 5.8 seconds. Speed, speed, speed, speed it all the time. Now, 5.8 seconds is rapid. It's quicker than any of the vehicles in this segment, but it's not even as quick as the N line can do. With a set of summer tires, Car and Driver got the Sonata N line to 60 in five seconds flat. And that puts this car into some very hot hatchback territory, at least in a straight line. But what about on a curvy road? I can feel those thicker anti-roll bars and the stiffer springs and firmer engine mounts trying to cut down on the body roll that the Sonata has. Non-N line, the upgraded brakes have good bite, have confidence as I go to them before a corner. Oh, hello, torque steer. Yeah, the wheel gets ripped in your hands a little bit as you go to the throttle coming out of a corner. And herein the differences between the full-on Elantra N and this Sonata N line are shining through. That car has a limited slip differential. This car does not. What that means is I don't feel the torque steer in the Elantra N and I do feel it here. I don't feel like I waste power in the Elantra N to the inner wheel. And when you're really pushing this car, I can sense you are wasting power. Just kind of struggling for grip there, struggling for traction. Now, the steering feel isn't awful. It's not brimming with feedback, but there is at the fringes some communication. Mostly it's telling me, hey, careful with that torque steer. Still a good time, just not razor sharp. And if I want some theme music to my corner carving, I can turn on the active sound design, which uses the sound system to create an enhanced acoustic environment. It's better than the natural engine sound. Heck, I kind of like it. And I do like the speed. And I do like the gearbox, as long as I upshift early. I can still do it myself. Let's now discuss some of the finer details of this Sonata N-Line. The fuel economy, EPA rated, 23mpg city, 32mpg highway, and 27mpg combined. The one, this current spirited outing, 12.7 miles per gallon. The top speed, that's 155 miles per hour, and I believe it. Starting price, $36,100. This one, as tested, only has carpeted floor mats as an option. It's $36,310. This car is just very well equipped as standard. Competition. It's kind of interesting, because the new generation Camry doesn't yet have a TRD, or I guess they'll now call it a GR version. And the new Honda Accord lost its sporty side to the sport trim. So this Sonata N-Line is in a bit of a league of its own. But let's look at the numbers anyway. I think the Camry XSE front drive would be the most direct competitor to this. That one costs $35,600 and makes 225 horsepower, gets to 60 in 7.2 seconds, has a top speed of 125 miles per hour, and fuel economy of 48 combined. Then to get the extra power in the Accord, you'd need the sport hybrid. That one would be about $34,000 and makes 204 horsepower, gets to 60 in 7 seconds flat, has a top speed of 118 miles per hour, and fuel economy of 44 combined. It's clear where Honda and Toyota are really focusing their attention. The fuel economy figures of the Accord and the Camry just crush this Sonata N-Line, although there is a Sonata hybrid to answer them. But Hyundai is digging into that performance. And when wrapped up in this attractive, mature package with lots of great standard features, it's a very compelling car. Just wish there were rear air vents and there was more headroom. And now as I let this Sonata kind of sort of steer itself with the driving assist features, I'll ask you, which would you choose? Would you go Honda Accord sport hybrid, Toyota Camry XSE front wheel drive, or this Hyundai Sonata N-Line? Let me know in the comments and I will see you again next time.