"It-Sonata-Accord!!"

2006 Hyundai Sonata (Photo: Justin Pritchard, Auto123)

This Saturday morning I went flying in a 1956 Cessna 170B floatplane. It's a noisy, rattly, cramped little aircraft that's older than my parents and about as advanced as a pair of rubber boots. Once the floats lift out of the water though, none of that matters. You feel a push into your seat and the ground keeps disappearing farther and farther behind you until you level off and marvel at the scenery below. This is where the little rattly float-plane is in its "zone". The Cessna is a magical experience -- it can go wherever it wants, has no speed limits or signs to obey, and gives you a different perspective on how the world looks. I've never seen my house, school, and local coffee-shop hangout all at the same time before.

For those of us confined to 4 wheels and pavement instead of the atmosphere, there is a new player in the market of affordable, midsized cars, and its called the Sonata. It has limits as to where it can go, has signs to obey and can't give you a birds eye view of your town. But unlike the Cessna, its efficient, advanced, relaxing and quiet. I spoke of the Cessna being in its "Zone" a moment ago, and how it performs its job, in that zone, very well. The Sonata has a zone too -- it really shines when hauling around 4 or 5 people who don't want to kick in a whole lot for gas money, but want to be comfortable, safe and well equipped at the same time.

The first order of business -- this Sonata looks like a Honda Accord from the back. The one sedan rear-end I thought was too ugly to be copied, has been copied. (It is much nicer looking on the Sonata). From the front, I see a little bit of Acura TSX in the grille and lights, and some Lexus-like muscular lines running from the window pillars, down the hood, and into the grille. Some folks in a parking lot told me it looked like an Audi. It's a good looking car, and since there are few original looking cars on the road now anyhow, one can't really complain. (I stopped trying to figure out most new car styling about 6 years back and don't plan to resume any time soon.) Looking like a Honda Accord is fine -- it's also equipped like one in either 4 or 6 cylinder trim, and retails for thousands less when both are fully loaded.

Inside, my tester combined light grey and navy blue materials for an upbeat color scheme. The interior of this new Sonata, in a word, is clever. There are clever storage spaces about the gear shifter and center console to store your coffee money, glasses, cell phone, PDA or any other small objects. The armrest is clever too -- it has two separate storage compartments stacked on top of one another inside it. There is even a clever place to put your MP3 CD's in the center stack out of sight, and a clever place for your sunglasses overhead. The materials are beautifully pieced together, and soft leather even covers the steering wheel and shifter knob on all models -- a nice touch for where your hands will spend most of their time. Everything in the car feels rich with quality -- every click, every knob, every adjustment and control you can manipulate feels solid and precise.

It's also safe, with side-impact beams as well as six airbags. You even get active head restraints, which keep you from snapping your neck if you get rear ended (this may happen, for instance, if the person behind you is

2006 Hyundai Sonata (Photo: Justin Pritchard, Auto123)

trying to figure out where he has seen those taillights before, and forgets to brake). There is plenty of headroom to go around and the Sonata will seat 4 adults or 2 grownups and 3 kids very comfortably. Open the doors and have a seat, front or back, and the roominess is fantastic. I'm not just referring to once you are seated either. There is more than enough room as you enter and exit the car from any door as well. I usually bonk my head on something when I get into the backseat of a 4 door car, not the Sonata though. I kept asking myself "where is this room coming from?" You look at the car from the outside and it doesn't look very big. This really comes to life in the trunk area. If you want to wow your friends, show them the trunk -- I thought my eyes were playing a trick on me, and kept walking to the side of the car and back around to see how the trunk was made to be so large. I even put a mountain bike in the back without even taking it apart! The trunk is larger than that of a Honda Accord, in fact it's even bigger than the trunk in a Cadillac STS!