Originally posted by pcarfan Hyundai should come with a luxury division (Like Acura or lexus) and sell some of their cars as such, and I bet the US sales will sky rocket. They have improved so much, and currently are making some fabulous cars, but the name/stigma spoils it for them.
When they say "Lets do to lexus what they did to Mercedes", they mean it and they have the goods to carry it through....but, they need a luxury divison.
P.S: I am most likely skipping the K-5 as well....happy with the K-7.
I drive a 2009 Subaru Outback, and when my (now ex) girlfriend was car shopping, I was like "oh my god she's looking at Hyndais" - However, the more research I did, the more impressed I was with the 2006+ Sonatas. The Sonata she bought in the end was a very nice solid car. I just drove a 2010 or 2011 Sonata as a rental last week, and I was very impressed with it. The new GDI engines (200HP from a 2.4l engine) and 6-speed transmission make for a very drivable sedan. (Apparently in 2012 or so they will have a turbocharged GDI engine to replace the now-gone-from-Sonatas V6).
It seems like the future for vehicle engines is GDI (turbocharged or not) - Ford EcoBoost, GM's High Feature V6, the new Hyundai GDI engines.
I'm looking forward to GDI making its way into the Subaru line.
As to K-5 - If the original price estimates ($1600-1700 MSRP, probably meaning 1300-1500 street) are correct, I'll be holding off. If the newer ($1399 MSRP, probable $1100-1200 street) estimates are correct, I'll be upgrading immediately - I skipped the K-7 because it was a major failure in the "value" department compared to the K20D and especially the K10D.