I’m old enough to remember the tin cans with roll-up windows that Hyundai displayed at the Detroit Auto Show in 2000. You’ve come a long way, baby. The Hyundai Sonata has been one of the most stylish mainstream sedans in the U.
S. market since its breakout, sixth-generation 2010 model — alongside the most stylish mainstream compact in the market, the Elantra. For the 2024 model year, Sonata has turned up the volume again.
The 2019 model strutted down the runway with big front headlights and accompanying LED extensions that ran dramatically up the side of the hood. For 2024, Sonata changes spectacles for a more sci-fi look — think Cyclops from the X-Men superhero movies. The LEDs run horizontally across a big black grille anchored by twin flying buttresses.
Almost lost in the design are the small, mid-mounted headlights that recede into the dark corners of the fascia. It’s quite a piece of work and a real departure, not only from the last-gen Sonata but from sedans in general with their anthropomorphic front ends. It’s the first time I’ve seen a car mimic the mid-fascia headlights of bigger, more upright vehicles like GM SUVs and pickups.
The visual drama continues rearward across deeply scalloped side sheet metal that sweeps to a lovely rear deck wrapped in horizontal, red LED taillamps. The rear facia, too, has been updated with hip light graphics that made a nice light show as I walked up to my upper-trim N-line tester after dark. My N-line adds to that drama w.