The midsize sedan market is bursting with new life, with the Honda Accord Hybrid and the upcoming 2025 Toyota Camry as hybrid offerings with available all-wheel drive, capturing much attention. The price cut on some models of the refreshed 2024 Hyundai Sonata makes this market even more enticing.
Hyundai announced that the starting price for the 2024 Sonata SEL is $28,615, including a $1,115 destination fee. This is $2,050, or 8%, more than the outgoing 2023 model, but this is because Hyundai has scrapped the outgoing base SE model for this year. The new base trim for the 2024 Hyundai Sonata is the SEL, which last year cost $29,090, including destination.
This means the new Sonata actually costs $475 less than last year’s SEL. Stop the presses.
Incredibly, the 2024 Hyundai Sonata SEL comes better equipped than its predecessor. Standard features include a 12.3-inch touchscreen curved toward the driver, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity for the first time. Previously, that only came on the small 8.0-inch touchscreen. The SEL also has heated front seats, a power driver seat, dual-climate control, a hands-free power trunk, four USB-C ports, and over-the-air updates to keep the apps fresh.
Standard driver-assist features include automatic emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, blind-spot monitors, active lane control, adaptive cruise control, automatic high beams, and LED projector headlights favored by safety agencies such as the IIHS.
The Sonata still boasts the industry’s best warranty as well, with 5-year/60,000-mile basic and 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain coverage.
Every Sonata sports a new look with the hood tucked down low and a light bar ruling over a lower, broader, more rakish face. Rectangular headlight housings flank the ends and air intakes wrap around the fenders into a body line down the side to the rear. The interior reflects the wide and low approach of the exterior. The dash shelf sits over a thin band of vents stretched end to end, and beneath them are volume and tuning dials for audio followed by actual climate controls instead of just a haptic touch panel. The gear shifter has been moved to the steering column, similar to the Ioniq 5, and a new three-spoke steering wheel completes the transformation.
The base 191-hp 2.5-liter inline-4 powers the SEL and the SEL Convenience, with an 8-speed automatic sending power to the front wheels or available all-wheel drive for the first time, which is available on the SEL for $1,500 more.
The $31,665 SEL Convenience upgrades from 17-inch to 18-inch alloy wheels and adds a panoramic sunroof, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a wireless smartphone charger, digital key, and a leather-wrapped steering wheel.
A 290-hp 2.5-liter turbo-4 with an 8-speed dual-clutch automatic elevates N Line models for $36,065. It rides on 19-inch alloy wheels with 245/40 tires, and has quad exhausts, a rear lip spoiler, black window surrounds and grille elements, and on the inside a 12-speaker Bose audio system and sport bucket seats.
The 2024 Sonata also returns the excellent hybrid variant in SEL or Limited trim. The 192-hp hybrid pairs a 2.0-liter inline-4 with an electric motor and a 6-speed automatic transmission routing system power to the front wheels only. Fuel economy numbers have not been confirmed for the 2024 model year, but last year’s base Hybrid Blue model had a Prius-like 52 mpg combined.
The Hybrid Blue has not been announced yet, leaving the $31,915 Sonata Hybrid SEL as the entry point. It has synthetic leather upholstery and a power passenger seat.
The Sonata Hybrid Limited tops the lineup at $38,315 and adds cooled front seats, a heated steering wheel, ambient lighting, a 12.0-inch head-up display, leather upholstery, and other top-end features.
The 2024 Hyundai Sonata is on sale now, with the hybrid model expected in the first quarter of 2024.
