i drive the wifes 07 gls every so often and its ok going slow and straight. i was on a nice large sweeping cloverleaf yesterday and decided to step on it. man, talk about hanging on for dear life. its a newer interstate but i think there was an expansion joint about every 100ft and i literally had to hang on each time i hit a joint. the car was almost out of control. jerk, snap, jerk, snap. what a lousy exercise. i try and bump the speed up to the point where the tires are just starting to slide but i could not even get close. i guess its true the gls handles like crap with stock tires/shocks. its only good going in a straight line. my wife needed a disposable car and drives very little. we got a 30 month lease and have only put 16k miles on in 24 months.

 

It's a mid-sized family sedan, not a sports car. If you wanted something that handled better you should have purchased the SE model insted of the GLS or the Tiburon.

 

its a brand new car or at least it was 2yrs ago and is supposed to compete with camry/accord and it handles like sh**? so tell me why spending more $$ for an SE gets slightly improved suspension bushings and/or stiffer shock/springs and maybe a stiffer roll bar and oh wait, i guess thats why all manufacturers make their entry level cars handle like crap and force you to spend more $$ to actually get a car that is acceptable. typical crap.

 

The SE has larger wheels and wider tires along with different struts, shocks and sway bars. Yes, that costs more but some people (like you) want a better handling cars and (unlike you) are willing to pay for it. However, that stuff makes are car more stiff and some people don't want a stiff car. They want to drive a car slow and feel no bumps at all. Basically, driving their livingroom couch. So take you pick, handles great and is stiff or poor handling and no road feel. It was your choice and to quote the Grail Knight from the 1989 movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: "You chose poorly."

 

we all know that hyundai wants everyone to think the sonata is as good as an accord. i have not driven a new accord lx so i can't verify that it handles worse than a ex or higher trim model. maybe my car has the funky noisy shocks but that is supposed to only occur on the V6 cars of 06 vintage? its just so disappointing to have a new car than handles so poorly. i read about the new mustang GT's that come with slightly different aspect ratio tires and supposedly handle much better than the previous years car. they went from 60 series to 65. or something very minor and now all of a sudden the car handles much better. i am not sure that is the only change but it seems hard to believe. i know replacing the struts for new ones would potentially have an effect on handling. i don't think it is the springs. is it the strut bushings?

 

Check your tire pressure..... it can make a big difference in the ride and handling. The others are right though, the SE has a sportier suspension and handles a lot better. Wait till the end of your lease & upgrade to an SE or spend thousands more and get a Honda Accord.

 

Tires aren't the problem. The body motions you describe are a result of poorly damped shocks and soft springs. I suspect aftermarket shocks with more aggressive valving would improve handling dramatically.

I've had the same problem with previous cars, but not to the degree manifested by my Sonata. Those cars had strong aftermarket support, so it was relatively easy to completely change the car's handling characteristics by simply bolting on after market shocks, springs, sway bars, bushings, etc. I personally wouldn't spend money on tires until you get the body motions under control. Stickier, more responsive low profile tires could actually magnify your handling problems.

I'm a huge proponent of good tires. I've been known to remove all-season tires (by definition crappy performers) from brand new cars so I could run sticky summer performance tires. So, my perspective is not that tires can't make a big difference, but that the Sonata's suspension calibrations are so out-of-whack that there are other things that should be done prior to trying better tires, particularly lower profile tires.

 

i drove my dads 10yr old minivan on the same cloverleaf and it was much more stable. no sideways hopping at all. i agree the tires are probably not the issue. but try and find aftermarket struts for this car. i just put new kyb struts on our grand prix. a little bit more solid. we have a gt and gtp and both seem to handle the same. if there is another import with similar struts, i have not read about it.

 

Yes, aftermarket performance parts are hard to find for this car. Eibach and at least one other company sell stiffer/lower springs, but stiffer springs with the same crappy shocks isn't going to do much, which is why I'm holding out for shocks. There is a company that sells sway bars, but they're just the stockers with some sort "special process" applied and painted blue. No thanks. I read on another Hyundai forum that rear shocks are available, but nothing for the front yet.

My '06 GLS V6 is my first Hyundai and I've been pleasantly surprised by everything but the suspension. The powertrain is smooth and quiet (much more so than a 2009 Audi A4 S-Line I rode in the other day), the quality of the interior materials is on par with anything in it's price class (and as good or better than some cars costing thousand of dollars more), but Hyundai totally dropped the ball on the suspension. What really aggravates me is that it wouldn't have cost them any more to install properly damped shocks and firmer springs. I don't buy the argument that some have put forward that this is a family car and it's not supposed to handle well. BS. This is probably the worst handling car I've ever owned, and I've owned 30+ cars/trucks of the last 30 years. I had a 2001 Regal GS, which should be comparable to the Sonata, and it handled much better. In fact GM Performance Parts used to sell a spring/strut package (Koni adjustables) that made the Regal handle like a slot car. Too bad Hyundai doesn't have something similar for the Sonata.