Hyundai’s super-efficient 2020 Sonata Hybrid sedan is best in class

To be fair, I expected the Sonata Hybrid to be good. An hour spent in the not-hybrid Sonata as part of the judging process for the World Car Awards in late 2019 suggested that the Camry and Accord should both be scared. As for the Sonata’s hybrid version, I first saw it at this year’s Chicago Auto Show, where it stood out against a sea of pedestrian-terrifying SUVs and trucks.

The Sonata is a sleek-looking thing, with a hint of techno catfish to it, thanks to visual whiskers that appear where the chrome cuts through the hourglass grille at its narrowest. I also love the way the daylight-running LEDs blend into strips of chrome as they make their way toward the A pillars. Other design details tell of the wind tunnel and fluid-dynamics simulations in a server farm rather than the whimsy of a design sketch—leading to the disc-like wheels, for instance, or the spikes on the tail lights that work like hostile architecture but for vortices instead of homeless people.

Other tricks from the aerodynamicist’s toolbox are hidden from view. Most of the underbody is covered by flat panels. And behind that hourglass grille, active air flaps only open when necessary. All of that gives the Sonata Hybrid a 0.24 drag coefficient—better than either the hybrid Accord or the Camry.

The little tweaks add up

You need more than just styling details and a low drag coefficient when trying to beat 50mpg. But most of the low-hanging fruit has been picked in this area; instead, the answer is a lot of little improvements here and there—like the solar panel roof. With an output of 205W, it might only contribute two miles of extra range a day, but that’s still two miles more than the Sonata Hybrid would go without it. Perhaps a more practical benefit is being able to power the infotainment and AC when the car is turned off, along with less chance of discovering your 12V battery has gone flat. (The panel will charge both 12V and high-voltage batteries via a solar DC-DC converter, and it will charge whichever battery has a lower state of charge.)

Under the hood, you’ll find a 2.0L four-cylinder gasoline engine, which produces 150hp (111kW) and 139lb-ft (189Nm) via the Atkinson Cycle (or a conventional cycle if the car’s brain decides that’s necessary). And also a 51hp (39kW), 151lb-ft (203Nm) permanent magnet synchronous motor, fed by a 1.6kWh lithium-Ion polymer battery (which lives under the back seat so as not to steal cargo volume from the trunk). These work together to send up to 192hp (143kW) to the front wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission.

Here, again, you find a bunch of incremental improvements. There’s a new clutch, which only uses three plates instead of five, and a new shift actuator. There’s also a clever new electronic strategy involving the electric motor during gearshifts. This adds or removes torque to the gearbox’s input shaft as necessary during the shift, which reduces shift time by as much as 150 milliseconds (depending upon the gear).

Hyundai says the Sonata Hybrid’s onboard brains now take a more holistic approach when controlling the powertrain. In each of the drive modes—Eco, Comfort, or Sport—the car measures inputs like the accelerator pedal position and rate of change, steering angle and lateral G, engine load, terrain, and the forward-looking cruise control radar to choose the right engine or transmission map.

Yes, 52mpg

Back in February, we only had the Sonata Hybrid’s European WLTP efficiency number, which was 4.5L/100km, or 52mpg in American. I cautioned then that a straight metric-US conversion probably wasn’t really possible because the WLTP and EPA test cycles aren’t the same. But we have an official EPA rating, and for the entry trim—the Sonata Hybrid Blue in Hyundai-speak—the car does, in fact, achieve a combined 52mpg.

The bigger 17-inch wheels on the SEL ($29,900) and the Limited ($35,300, and the version we tested) offset some of those improvements mentioned above, and these two trims only achieve a combined 47mpg (5L/100km), which breaks down to 45mpg (5.2L/100km) in the city and 51mpg (4.6L/100km) on the highway. In fact, I saw 48mpg (4.9L/100km) on some short city trips, so this is an abstemious vehicle when it comes to visiting a gas station.

The Sonata Hybrid is well-behaved on the road. When the goal is getting good mpg, leaving the vehicle in Sport mode feels like defeating the point, and it’s not a car that encourages you to drive like a teenage boy. I noticed a little initial jerkiness when moving off from a stop on some of DC’s more scarred neighborhood streets. Otherwise, ride comfort was good.

Just being in the Sonata Hybrid was comfortable, in truth. The cabin is tasteful and restrained, and all the surfaces you touch feel high-quality. Like Mazda, Hyunda shows you don’t need to spend Audi or Lexus money to get a luxury interior.

There’s a decent complement of driver-assistance technology. All Sonata Hybrids come with forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, plus blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alerts that can also brake the car to avoid a collision. There’s also a headlight high-beam assist, adaptive cruise control and lane keeping, and a rear-occupant alert that reminds you to check that you haven’t forgotten about a small human in the back of the car.

If you pick the Limited trim, you get a full-color heads-up display and a completely digital 12.3-inch main instrument display, which shows you a camera view of your blind spot when you use a turn signal. Since the display works for both left and right sides, it’s more useful than the passenger side-only system found in some Hondas. You also get 360-degree parking cameras and rear automatic emergency braking.

The Sonata Hybrid Limited also benefits from a larger 10.25-inch infotainment system that is actually pretty good, but Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard on both it and the smaller 8-inch system. Qi wireless charging and a digital NFC key are both standard on the SEL and Limited trims.

To summarize, the Sonata looks good on the outside, and it looks great on the inside. It doesn’t use much fuel, it’s not that expensive, and it boasts some clever safety and convenience tech. Which is another way of saying that the Sonata Hybrid might be the best mass-market sedan on sale today.