Interior: A

Exterior: C-, but I love them for trying.

I get the dreaded red X.

All I'm getting -----> [x] [x]

^ Ditto for me.

Me too.

If you take an Infiniti center stack and mash it with the other crappy Hyundai interiors, you get this.

Rentalville.

For the love of Christ, that is one of the most poorly-styled cars I have ever seen. Nice job making the rear wheels look dinky, Hyundai. Idiots.

If you take an Infiniti center stack and mash it with the other crappy Hyundai interiors, you get this.

Rentalville.

For the love of Christ, that is one of the most poorly-styled cars I have ever seen. Nice job making the rear wheels look dinky, Hyundai. Idiots.

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You're kidding, right? It's bolder than expected...and perhaps not pretty.

If Hyundai is staffed by Idiots, what does that say about GM's management ranks?

(Since Hyundai/Kia has, in essence, removed all relevance to the low-end market that GM once had.)

If Hyundai is Rentalville, does that mean GM's 30% fleet sales are occupying, appropriately enough, Rentalville's Town DUMP?

Reminds me of that old story about the Ugly Duckling, only when it grows up it will be a Buick LaCrosse.

You're kidding, right? It's bolder than expected...and perhaps not pretty.

Poor styling differs from a lack of styling. You say 'bold,' I say 'melted Taurus with badly-placed taillamps and uncohesive lines.'

If Hyundai is staffed by Idiots, what does that say about GM's management ranks?

(Since Hyundai/Kia has, in essence, removed all relevance to the low-end market that GM once had.)

I wasn't talking about GM. I wasn't even talking about all of Hyundai, merely those with bad vision and a lack of parts outside the Hyundai/Kia Bin that cobbled together this car.

If Hyundai is Rentalville, does that mean GM's 30% fleet sales are occupying, appropriately enough, Rentalville's Town DUMP?

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I don't see how Hyundai dumping a healthy fraction of Sonatas and Azeras into rental lots is any better of a thing than what GM is doing. I haven't seen fleet statistics for Hyundai, have you? If so, please share. BTW, where are the retail Optimas? Haven't seen one yet. Plenty with barcodes, though.

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Hmm... I like the front end, but this angle makes it look a little fat to me. It's swoopy, too.

A 2 year old with a box of crayons could design a better car.

exterior is nasty but the interior is not bad for the price class. i hear its huge inside.

re:rentals...the new sonata is the darling of the hertz i drive by all the time. i am sure this car will be too.

Poor styling differs from a lack of styling. You say 'bold,' I say 'melted Taurus with badly-placed taillamps and uncohesive lines.'

I wasn't talking about GM. I wasn't even talking about all of Hyundai, merely those with bad vision and a lack of parts outside the Hyundai/Kia Bin that cobbled together this car.

I don't see how Hyundai dumping a healthy fraction of Sonatas and Azeras into rental lots is any better of a thing than what GM is doing. I haven't seen fleet statistics for Hyundai, have you? If so, please share. BTW, where are the retail Optimas? Haven't seen one yet. Plenty with barcodes, though.

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If you're defending GM's wholesale dump into fleets by comparing it to Hyundai's fleet %, then I can't help you....how the mighty have fallen.

Optimas are selling at our retail locations....can't comment on sales numbers as a whole.

Does anyone else see a tiny bit of the LaCrosse in the rear 3/4?

If you're defending GM's wholesale dump into fleets by comparing it to Hyundai's fleet %, then I can't help you....how the mighty have fallen.

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My comment was "I don't see how Hyundai dumping a healthy fraction of Sonatas and Azeras into rental lots is any better of a thing than what GM is doing." I don't see how you can interpret this as defending "GM's wholesale dump," which is slightly exaggerated itself. You started making this comparison to GM; I was merely commenting on how yet another Hyundai product is going to be fleeted from the get-go.

How the mighty have fallen? What do you think Hertz and Avis rented out in 1954, Citroens? The Big Three have always sold to fleets and will always continue to do so at varying percentages. If anyone has fallen, its Nissan, Mitsubishi, Toyota, and Mazda who now sell a far greater percentage of their volume to fleets than they ever have ten, twenty years ago. I don't include Hyundai/Kia because, well, how much can they even fall, nor Honda who has somehow managed to avoid the tempatation its fellow Japanese manufacturers succumbed to.

Weak exterior design. I wasn't expecting much from Hyundai anyway. Did a good job with the interior mimicing something you might see from a Toyota three years ago. Seriously though, it's not bad, just not original.

The Lacrosse backend comes from the fact that this looks like a shrunken Azera.

What I have never liked about Hyundais and what I continue to not like about them is their "bubbly/jelly-beanish" appearance. Every model they have, save the new Sonata (which really isn't all that edgy), has bubbly curves all over it. No sharp edges.

My comment was "I don't see how Hyundai dumping a healthy fraction of Sonatas and Azeras into rental lots is any better of a thing than what GM is doing." I don't see how you can interpret this as defending "GM's wholesale dump," which is slightly exaggerated itself. You started making this comparison to GM; I was merely commenting on how yet another Hyundai product is going to be fleeted from the get-go.

How the mighty have fallen? What do you think Hertz and Avis rented out in 1954, Citroens? The Big Three have always sold to fleets and will always continue to do so at varying percentages. If anyone has fallen, its Nissan, Mitsubishi, Toyota, and Mazda who now sell a far greater percentage of their volume to fleets than they ever have ten, twenty years ago. I don't include Hyundai/Kia because, well, how much can they even fall, nor Honda who has somehow managed to avoid the tempatation its fellow Japanese manufacturers succumbed to.

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30% of sales is dumping--and someone at GM is being incredibly disingenuous when they cite raw numbers as evidence that fleet sales are down....IIRC, 30% is historically the highest ever for GM. 3/10 units are not being sold for anywhere near MSRP....you know what that does to profit margins? or resale? or your street cred?

Hyundai's SHOULD be fleeted. They are average, everyman's cars that are nothing special....exactly the type of plain, simply executed product GM used to sell in droves.

Also, as an aside...pointing out that other competitors are 'doing it too' doesn't make it right or wise or excusable. It's not logical nor a convincing argument...didn't your mother ever lecture you about the folly of following others if they 'jumped off a roof'?

Getting back to the topic:

This Hyundai is fine. No more or less good than the Focus, Corolla, Cobalt or G5 it'll compete with in the marketplace. I give 'em credit for trying something different, even if I don't like it myself.

Edited August 9, 200618 yr by enzl

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Hyundai IS going Retro. At what point did they decide to stop copying good designs and make their own? It looks like they ended up copying their old designs. That sideshot makes it look like a 4dr version of the 2000 Tiberon.

The exterior is horrible. It looks like a fat girl wearing a short top that allows her fat rolls to hang over the tight pants she has on. Just nasty. The interior, on the other hands, looks pretty good for an economy car but it could use a little bit more silver plastic. Perhaps around the window switches?

What I have never liked about Hyundais and what I continue to not like about them is their "bubbly/jelly-beanish" appearance.  Every model they have, save the new Sonata (which really isn't all that edgy), has bubbly curves all over it.  No sharp edges.

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i like how hyundai benchmarks a 10 year old taurus for design

Edited August 10, 200618 yr by regfootball

The exterior is horrible.  It looks like a fat girl wearing a short top that allows her fat rolls to hang over the tight pants she has on.  Just nasty. 

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go-k-fed!

go-k-fed!

Edited August 10, 200618 yr by regfootball

Don't like the exterior but the interior is very nice looking

eh, it doesn't look all that good at all, I'm sorry to say.

go-k-fed!

go-k-fed!

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Hey, don't be messing with my girl! :AH-HA_wink: She's pregnant again and not just fat.

she is NOWHERE near as tractive as she used to be and she's dumb as a rock.

i just read a headline for automotive news which says the eleantra's intro has been postponed for months because of the jailing of that chairman dude for Hyundai in Korea.