The Hyundai Sonata is a well-priced four door sedan with a quiet interior. The base engine in the Sonata is a 2.4L four cylinder unit. The four cylinder powerplant features a dual overhead cam valve train and multi-point fuel injection. The Sonata can be outfitted with either a five speed manual transmission or a five speed automatic with overdrive and the shiftronic function. The shifttronic function allows the driver to drive the Sonata in either normal automatic mode or switch to the shiftronic model and shift the tranmission's gears manually. Horsepower output in the 2.4L engine is one hundred seventy-five horsepower at six thousand revolutions per minute. The optional 3.3L six cylinder engine produces two hundred forty-nine maximum horsepower.
The Sonata is a front engine, front wheel drive layout; all wheel drive is currently not available. Fuel economy ratings for the 2.4L powerplant are twenty-two miles per gallon on the city cycle and thirty-two miles per gallon on the highway cycle. The optional 3.3L engine returns nineteen miles per gallon in city driving, and twenty-nine miles per gallon on the highway. The 2.4L base engine accelerates from zero to sixty miles per gallon in nine and eight-tenths seconds; the 3.3L engine is able to accelerate from zero to sixty miles per hour in seven and four-tenths seconds. The base engine is able to reach a maximum speed of seventy-eight miles per hour over a quarter mile, while the 3.3L optional engine is able to hit ninety-three miles per hour in the same test. Notable standard features found on the Sonata include air conditioning and XM satellite radio service for three months.