KEY POINTS:
Judging by the facelift Sonata, Hyundai has little interest in joining Ford, Mazda and Honda in their obsession with creating "sporty" mid-size sedans.
The Sonata has been classed-up somewhat, with smoother lines and a beautifully made interior, but it's still happy to trundle along being non- threatening in appearance and comfort-oriented when it comes to the driving experience, and there's nothing wrong with that.
There's a quiet confid- ence about the car and that character suits our test model, the 2.0-litre CRDi turbo diesel quite well.
The diesel engine has a touch more power than before, but while the 2.4 and 3.3-litre petrols have five-speed automatics, the CRDi still makes do with a four-cog shifter. That's disappointing, but 305Nm compensates somewhat.
The Sonata remains impressively refined, thrifty and a thoroughly pleasant package, and Hyundais are no longer cheap and nor do they need to be - they are better made and better equipped than most of the Japanese competition. And let's not forget than you still can't get a diesel Honda Accord Euro or Mazda6.
But there's still a pretty big problem with this classy, nicely made Sonata Elite CRDi - it's exactly the same price as Ford's jazzy Mon- deo Zetec diesel, which comes complete with six-speed automatic.
For some people, the sporty Ford will make this car a no-brainer.
For others, whose preference is to go middle-of-the-road than feel like a thrusting 30-something middle manager, the Sonata might still hold some appeal and charm.
Let me help - the facelift Sonata picks up the brilliant iPod docking system from the smaller i30, which puts the contents of your Apple music player into the car's sound system.
Never mind the spongy handling, feel the power of 10,000 songs on your steering wheel audio controls.
