Two weeks ago, purchased a new 2003 Sonata GLX. It shares the same 170
HP V6 engine (2.7 Litre) as in the Tiburon. I hadn't even considered a
Hyundai, thinking they were the same car maker of the not-so-Stellars of
years gone.

I have just come from 13 years of owning two Taurus SHO's with the
legendary Yamaha racing engine. So I have a little experience with fast
sedans. I told the Ford dealer, they should have given Yamaha the whole
car to build. Spectacular engine. I would put it in an aircraft and fly
single-engine IFR with it. I put over 500,000 Km's on the two engines
and they never as much as hiccupped. Except when you took them over
7,000 rpm and the governor kicked in. <grin>

I purchased the Sonata as a result of a number of considerations. Price,
reliability (based on the stellar rating from Consumer Reports... tied
with Honda in second place {11 issues per 100 vehicles} Toyota was first
with {10 per 100 vehicles} BMW, Mazda, VW were {20 per 100} Mercedes was
{23 per 100} Okay since I'm going... Subaru {13 per 100} Nissan {15 per
100} Chrysler {20 per 100} Ford {23 or 24 per 100}

I then drove the Sonata and fell in love with the ShifTronic
tranny/shifter. Automatic on left side... throw the shifter right from
Drive and you are in manual mode. Flick wrist down for minus shifting
and flick wrist up for plus shifting. Hot Damn! Only downside... it has
a four speed tranny. Need to pony up more cash for the GX350 with the
3.5 litre 5 speed.

I have put 1500 KM's on this car and I'm impressed. It is tight,
fun-to-drive and responsive. The GLX model is the full-meal-deal with
climate control, power sunroof, leather etc.

A couple of observations... I would like a stiffer suspension for
serious cornering, heavier anti-sways and the ability to install a cold
air induction like is available for the Tiburon. The cold air intake
will give a further 15% increase in power! The transmission location
creates a installation issue for the cold air intake. We (the local
dealer & myself) are looking at a different routing. This would give the
Sonata much the same power as the larger/heavier GX350. That said, I
just coasted this sedan up a very long and steep mountain freeway 18
Km's long at 160 KMH (100 MPH) with it loafing along at 4,000 rpm in
third. Redline is 6500 RPM.

Just thought I would share my first impressions.

Rod