Surprised Me Tonight!

Well, it all started by having to replace my 03 Grand Am which met with an
unpleasant fate. I went looking at Sonatas since we've had excellent
service out of my wife's 04 Sonata. Not a single problem in over 70,000
miles.

I wanted a six cylinder because I'm just that kind of guy. I'd read Matt
and Bryan talking about how their 4 bangers had all the power they needed
and secretly, I just scoffed. Certainly, they must be old before their
times.

So - tonight my wife and I went to the dealer and took a couple of 06
Sonatas out for drives. I never buy new cars and the 07's weren't
depreciated enough for my tastes, so I was specifically looking for 06's.
The first one we took out was a 4 cylinder. I was a bit peeved that the
salesman had lined this car up for us to drive because he knows us very well
and he knows how I feel about 4's. Needless to say, I was shocked. I've
driven a ton of Japanese and American 4 cylinders, enough European 4's and I
didn't need to drive a Korean 4 cylinder to know I would not like it.
But... that sucker is no Japanese or European or American 4 cylinder. One
might not even realize it was a 4. It was way more powerful than I expected
off the line, performed extremely well on the interstate (~2700 RPM @
75mph), and it just never did that typical 4 cylinder scream as I put it
through some paces. I mean, I was seriously impressed.

Then I took the 6 out. Clearly a better performer. 75mph on the interstate
was a mere ~2300 RPM. Certainly more power and quite snottier too. I
finally went with the 6, but that decision was in no small part due to the
timing belt in the 4 versus a chain in the 6. Of course there was that part
of me that really wanted a 6. But I'm just that kind of guy...

--

-Mike-
mmarlowREMOVE.DeleteThis@alltel.net

> I finally went with the 6, but that decision was in no small part due to
> the
> timing belt in the 4 versus a chain in the 6

Another surprise!! The four has a chain also.

--


"Mike Marlow" <mmarlowREMOVE.RemoveThis@alltel.net> wrote in message
news:133c1$47abd005$a22700f5$2553@ALLTEL.NET...
> Well, it all started by having to replace my 03 Grand Am which met with an
> unpleasant fate. I went looking at Sonatas since we've had excellent
> service out of my wife's 04 Sonata. Not a single problem in over 70,000
> miles.
>
> I wanted a six cylinder because I'm just that kind of guy. I'd read Matt
> and Bryan talking about how their 4 bangers had all the power they needed
> and secretly, I just scoffed. Certainly, they must be old before their
> times.
>
> So - tonight my wife and I went to the dealer and took a couple of 06
> Sonatas out for drives. I never buy new cars and the 07's weren't
> depreciated enough for my tastes, so I was specifically looking for 06's.
> The first one we took out was a 4 cylinder. I was a bit peeved that the
> salesman had lined this car up for us to drive because he knows us very
> well and he knows how I feel about 4's. Needless to say, I was shocked.
> I've driven a ton of Japanese and American 4 cylinders, enough European
> 4's and I didn't need to drive a Korean 4 cylinder to know I would not
> like it. But... that sucker is no Japanese or European or American 4
> cylinder. One might not even realize it was a 4. It was way more
> powerful than I expected off the line, performed extremely well on the
> interstate (~2700 RPM @ 75mph), and it just never did that typical 4
> cylinder scream as I put it through some paces. I mean, I was seriously
> impressed.
>
> Then I took the 6 out. Clearly a better performer. 75mph on the
> interstate was a mere ~2300 RPM. Certainly more power and quite snottier
> too. I finally went with the 6, but that decision was in no small part
> due to the timing belt in the 4 versus a chain in the 6. Of course there
> was that part of me that really wanted a 6. But I'm just that kind of
> guy...
>
> --
>
> -Mike-
> mmarlowREMOVE.RemoveThis@alltel.net
>