As a class of car, mid-size family sedans don't exactly stir the soul. Their purpose is to provide affordable, safe, and reliable transportation to work or soccer practice. Consequently, car fanatics usually dismiss them as passionless appliances for those disinterested in driving.
This wouldn't be a problem if everyone had sixty grand sitting around to buy an M3. But I'd bet a lot a car geeks are forced to drive around in Accords, Camrys, and Altimas out of sheer necessity. Think about it. There aren't many affordable sport sedans out there for less that $30k. You could perhaps try a hot hatch, like a GTI or Mazdaspeed3, but for that money, you could step into a efficient, spacious family car with lots of equipment.
Hyundai may have a bit of a compromise. The new Sonata has all the left-side-of-the-brain stuff you'd want: low price, efficiency, space, and safety. But it's also quite nice looking. And now, borrowing a page from the hot hatch playbook, they've installed a powerful 2.0 liter turbo making 274 horses. That's 74 more than a GTI and 11 more than the Mazda. All this for about $25k.
That's also more horsepower and torque that any V-6 competitor. Hyundai's taken a bit of gamble not offering a six, but take rates for sixes is very low, and leaving it off the menu means Hyundai could engineer the Sonata to be lighter. Another plus for the enthusiasts.
Make no mistake, you'll never have as much fun in a Sonata Turbo as you will in a hot hatch. I also doubt you'll see many Sonata fan clubs popping up. But for the first time in recent memory, a mid-size family sedan may offer some enthusiast fun along with all that boring stuff.
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