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| 2006 Hyundai Azera Review | |||
| Whether you're about to spend $40K on a brand new car, or half that on a used car, it is always important to learn as much as you can about the used car. Read these car reviews to learn about all aspects of the vehicle. Each of the usedcar reviews cover interior and exterior features, options, road tests, and more. | |||
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Introduction
| Road Test
| Inside & Out
| Other Thoughts
| Last Word
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| Road Test | |||
After picking up the Azera I immediately headed for the forest, figuring I'd get the stress test out of the way first. What could be more amusing than hurrying a giant front-wheel-drive sedan - most of all one with Korean engineering biases - through a challenging road? Needless to say, the drive remained on the near side of stimulating. The body swayed somewhat around every turn, the steering fed back little information about the slipping tires, and the chassis maintained the bias I've experienced in every Hyundai to date: a rear end that refuses to rotate even one inch under any circumstances. I wasn't aching to stay very long.And yet, the tire slip wasn't excessive on this Azera Limited model, which wears P235/55VR17 Michelins that gave sufficient stick. The helm could be placed accurately, and even if you had to slow down in corners to avoid plowing the nose, the fine-sounding engine had enough grunt to quickly regain momentum afterwards. The Shiftronic automatic is smart enough to not downshift when floored (though it upshifts at redline), and finally the Sonata-sourced double-wishbone and multilink suspensions never let bumps interfere with the car's trajectory. Sure, the Azera felt kind of big, but it hardly embarrassed itself. Besides, earning a passing grade out here is obviously proof of having more moves than its owner base will ever ask for. As with the Sonata, Hyundai expects that owner base will drop in age and rise in dynamic expectations. That would explain the company's use of words like "firmer" and "sportier" in comparison to the Avalon, and why having the largest powerplant with "more horsepower than the Ford and Buick" and "more torque than the Ford and Toyota" are stressed as selling points. Scrutinizing the sportiness of these cars is about as fruitful as conducting a corn flake taste test, but the Azera sure has some forward motivation. Making leaps and bounds over the weak 194-horsepower 3.5-liter "Sigma" V6 in the Azera's predecessor, the new DOHC "Lambda" 3.8-liter V6's 263 horsepower (the addition of valve timing accounts for some of the increase) endows it with far stronger acceleration, while 255 pounds-feet of torque backs it up with muscular delivery. That and the lessened load of only 3,629 pounds easily explain why 0-60 times just crashed down through two floors: from the low-8s to the low-6s. From lazy and obese to fast and fit in one year? Hyundai can do it; so can you. Speed aside, the Azera places emphasis on the qualities you'd expect to find in a Hyundai. The easy-going steering is set up for an arthritic audience, and its response time actually got slowed down from the XG350 (from a 13.5:1 ratio to 16.8:1). When not driving over a surface that amplifies the slightly noisy Michelins, the Azera cuts through the atmosphere with just a whisper. The ride motions don't seem "inbetween" as much as flat-out American-style soft. I'd always wondered why Hyundai had never tried making a whopper sedan before; the traits of their cars always seemed perfectly suited. But some of Hyundai's traits wouldn't be missed in any car, and many of them stuck around. Other ways to describe that American-style ride are Lincoln large and Buick buoyant - it takes big leaps over some bumps - and it also elicits Honda Accord jitteriness over others and transmits nervous steering kickback on the sharpest of them. The five-speed automatic is very smooth, but the smoothness came at the expense of response, with full-throttle downshifts elongated to nearly two seconds (for lesser demands, maybe one second). Neither the brake nor throttle pedal seems perfectly linear. And finally, the new engine family doesn't get new-age fuel economy: 23 MPG even though I practically nailed it to the freeway. The Azera also has one of the more pessimistic trip computers I've met, underestimating mileage by a good 2 MPG by my calculator's count. At least the engine only wants 87 gas, unlike most V6s of such prodigious power. The Azera's a pretty solid drive, but only after cutting these needless compromises can Hyundai lay claim to acing the Avalon. |
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