First Drive Review
Koreans are not easily discouraged, we've noticed. Particularly the Koreans at Hyundai Motor Company, who have struggled to overcome early quality problems here and responded to a potentially besmirched reputation by offering the longest-ever powertrain warranties.
Now, having established its image with affordable small cars that are covered by a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain guarantee, Hyundai has introduced a near-luxury contender, the XG300. Based on the Korean-market XG Grandeur, this vehicle requests entry to a club populated by big hitters such as the Lexus ES300 and Acura 3.2TL with its size, specification, and complement of luxury features, but it undercuts those cars by thousands of dollars.
With a base price of $23,934 and a top price of $25,434 for the L-model (which includes heated seats, a sunroof, and a leather-and-wood steering wheel), the XG300 is attempting to do in this segment what its cheaper siblings have done among compact cars. That is, tempt upmarket wannabes with comprehensively equipped equivalents.
Will it work? Maybe. As Hyundai's level of sophistication draws ever nearer the established players, people will begin to look on the italicized "H" logo as less of a cheap alternative and more of a value-for-money marque. Just take a look at what the XG300 offers. There's a 192-horsepower quad-cam V-6 hooked to a five-speed Shiftronic transmission (that's Hyundai's manumatic), and this powertrain sounds and feels very much like what's expected in this segment.
Okay, the performance numbers turned in by our prototype test car weren't that impressive -- the car took 9.3 seconds to hit 60 mph and 17.1 seconds to cover the quarter, right about where the big SUVs run -- but the real-world performance feels much better than the numbers suggest. With a meaty torque concentration in the midrange, the XG300 tows itself around suburbia with a pleasing amount of punch.
Throttle response is good, and the shift quality of Hyundai's five-speed is mostly very smooth, although we noticed some lag while the mechanism ponders the possibility of a kickdown. Other than that, we see the car fulfilling most of the needs of a buyer looking for upper-middle levels of luxury and refinement.
First of all, the XG300 offers pretty good interior space, easily accommodating 99th-percentile drivers and boasting best-in-class rear-seat space. Second, the ambiance inside is also quite pleasant, if a little somber in our black-on-gray tester, with a tidily conservative gauge and console arrangement, a good-looking wheel, and firm leather seats.
The interior has all the gadgetry demanded by the segment, such as fully automatic climate control, cruise control, keyless entry, a CD player, dual front and side airbags (with passenger-presence detection), front seatbelts with pretensioners and force limiters, a trip computer, power-adjustable front seats, and other features too numerous to list.
As befits a pretender to the near-luxury class, the XG300 has some thoughtful touches: a cover for the front cup holders, a dual-level console storage box, and a coin drawer that deploys below the climate-control panel with appropriate hydraulically damped hauteur.
On the other hand, the plastic masquerading as interior wood isn't at all convincing. And we don't care for the ballpoint-pen-type gear-selector release button. It looks like something out of a Pontiac Grand Am.
So, yes, it's a somewhat mixed bag, lacking the all-encompassing sense of quality you find in the Acura TL and Lexus ES300, but the XG300 still gives a good account of itself in some important areas. The body structure seems strong and solid, and the chassis feels robust, too, although it manifests some of the company's usual shortcomings: a bit of jitteriness on small surface imperfections and handling that gets soggy at the limit.
With a dual-control-arm front suspension and an independent rear suspension with an upper control arm and trailing and lateral links, the XG has the paper qualifications to do battle with the big boys. In keeping with that, it pulls 0.77 g on the skidpad -- right in the near-luxury ballpark. But the tuning (and perhaps the Michelin MXV4 tires) conspires to deliver a less than totally compliant ride, with handling somewhere short of perfect precision. Push this car hard, and you'll get quite a bit of kickback through the steering over bumps along with increasing amounts of push.
But you know what? You do in Lexus's ES300, too, and that car stickers some eight grand north of the XG300. Sure, Lexus offers a great dealer experience, proven durability, and five-star resale value. But Hyundai covers its cars with some of the wildest warranties in the business, which might go some way to reassure buyers.
Anyway, the car's sticker will invite cross-shopping from Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Oldsmobile Intrigue, and Nissan Maxima prospects, too, broadening its potential market. Ultimately, the kicker may be the car's looks. Not everyone will like the XG's styling, but it is distinctive. You can't say that about many of the cars in the target segment. Plus, the Hyundai is not without charm. There's something quite beguiling in the direct, mechanical way it goes about its business. Besides, there's an underdog, antihero thing going for it. We kinda like that.
