2014 Hyundai Sonata Se 2.0t on 2040-cars

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2020 Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade will see price increases

New year, new MSRP. CarsDirect got hold of a "recent pricing guide" and discovered Hyundai and Kia chanted that mantra over the Palisade and the Telluride, respectively. The Palisade has been on sale since June of last year, and already received a $50 price increase before the turn of the year. As of this month, Hyundai has goosed the MSRP by another $225 to $31,775, and the destination charge by $25 to $1,120. The $250 bump takes the starting price for a front-wheel drive Palisade SE to $31,775. The premium is applied throughout the range, making the top-tier Limited AWD model $47,745. The Telluride was first priced at $32,735 after destination. It, too, received a visit from the surcharge fairy last year to the tune of $50, boosting the cost to $32,785. This month, Kia tweaked the MSRP by $250 to $31,890, and the destination charge by $25 to $1,170. That comes to a $275 increase, meaning a front-wheel drive Telluride LX is now starting at $33,060. Whereas the Telluride had been $140 more expensive than the Palisade, the three-row Kia now stands $165 beyond the three-row Hyundai.  None of this should affect sales, both models already having won numerous awards, the Palisade receiving a Top Safety Pick+ rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Telluride capping its excellent reviews with victory in the North American 2020 Utility of the Year competition. Kia is moving more than 6,000 Tellurides per month in the U.S., and a carmaker rep said the vehicle "is still on deep backorder." The Palisade looks on track to join it, and both sell for more than MSRP in many parts of the country, according to TrueCar. Based on recent reports, things might get even more varied on the Kia side, in fact. One rumor said there could be flagship luxury and off-road trims on the way. This week, Motor1 heard from "an anonymous Kia employee" with details on a potential X-Line appearance package. The possible cosmetic suite would install a satin black grille, body-colored door handles, bright bumper and lower door garnish, front and rear skid plates, and a unique 20-inch wheel for $1,695. And it's said that Kia is investigating consumer interest in a long-wheelbase Telluride.

We visit Hyundai's Nurburgring test center

Understanding the achievement and the message of Hyundai Motor Group having a European Technical Center at the Nurburgring might be easier if we look at what Hyundai has done in the US. In 1985 Hyundai Motor America set up shop in California. The first car sold here was the 1986 Excel, a rebodied Mitsubishi Mirage with a Hyundai interior treatment. This was the first Mirage, which also served as the Chrysler Colt in hatchback form and circled back as the Mitsubishi Precis so Mitsu could get around Japanese automakers' voluntary export quotas of the time. The Excel made such an impression on reviewers and buyers that in Car and Driver's 1986 review they wrote that "'astounding' is not too strong word" to describe the company's progress, and said, "Our guess is that Hyundai will be a major force in the US car market almost from the moment it opens its doors." Hyundai sold 168,882 Excels in the US in its first year, back when the Ford F-Series led all comers with 544,969 sales. That's what happened. The company sold 168,882 Excels in the US in its first year, back when the Ford F-Series led all comers with 544,969 sales, the Chevrolet Celebrity came second of all vehicles with 408,946 sales, the Honda Accord seventh with 325,004 sales. The Excel sold even better the following year, and the year after that. Three years on, buyers began to discover that one of the things the Excel did best was disintegrate. It's been called "fantastically crappy," Popular Mechanics would later say the Excel "deserved to fail," and they decomposed so thoroughly that you'll have a hard time finding one in any junkyard. Buyers got so allergic to the Flying H badge that sales declined for ten consecutive years. By 1999, when Hyundai's model range was four times larger than it had been in 1986 – Accent, Elantra, Sonata, Tiburon – the brand sold just 90,217 cars in the US. Two important things happened around that nadir. In 1998, as a way of reassuring potential customers, Hyundai became the first automaker to introduce a 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty. In 1999, Mong-Koo Chung became the CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, promoted from 11 years as CEO of Hyundai Motor Service, a role that put him in charge of global warranty claims. Having spent all those years of his life wading through that carnage, he swore when he took the top spot that he'd get the situation fixed. In 2014 the JD Power Initial Quality Survey ranked Hyundai the leading non-premium brand.

2019 Hyundai Santa Fe First Drive Review | Trading ‘Sport’ for spiffy

SEOUL, S. Korea — Say goodbye to the Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. For 2019, it becomes the Santa Fe — a two-row crossover that will continue to compete with the likes of the Nissan Rogue, Ford Edge and Toyota RAV4. Three-row versions coming later, which will go up against the Honda Pilot and Ford Explorer, will get an "XL" or some other, yet undisclosed moniker tacked onto the nameplate depending on the configuration. As such, it will have bigger shoes to fill in this increasingly competitive segment. The timing feels right for the crossover to come into its own, and Hyundai has done its best to make sure it pulls its weight against its rivals. View 32 Photos With the updated name comes an updated look. In the flesh, it's a handsome ute that seems more SUV than CUV: beefed up and boxy, and less overtly elegant than so many swoopy crossover profiles we see today. Its big, chiseled face conveys a Lexus-like gravitas without looking too complicated or polarizing — check out the slight pinch where the "cascading" grille meets the front bumper. The rising beltline feels modern, while the mostly horizontal roof and almost vertical rear end feel anciently familiar; maybe a utility vehicle can sate our thirst for wagons after all. Inside, the new Santa Fe has an air of quality to it, perhaps not in strict terms of materials, but in thoughtfulness. Hyundai does good things with affordable materials, and in general the interior is well laid out — specifically, the center console and its switchgear feel utilitarian and organized. We loved the smooth, tight feel of the leather wheel in our hand and the crispness of the digital display central to the instrument cluster. The seats are cozy, supportive without feeling cushy, and it was easy to find a natural seating position with little adjustment. Visibility is good, despite what you might think from looking at that high beltline from outside. There's a fixed piece of glass ahead of the side windows to improve sight lines at the bottom of the A-pillar. Checking the blind spot, the larger rear quarter window behind the second row of seating helps with visibility. It was only after spending a couple of hours in the cabin that we noticed that there's a lot going on here. The headliner in our tester had a look somewhere between chambray and denim, but felt soft to the touch. The top of the dash was a softish dark plastic — a polyurethane leatherette, to be more specific.