[shatrughna]

@ Ajmat - I fully agree with you that the dash of Verna SX is so similar Sonata even the climate control buttons are almost the same. Accord surely looks and feels much better.
@jayguar- I would love to buy accord v6 (3.5 ltr & expected 270 bhp ) but thats beyond my budget specially because of poor FE in petrol - at the most I could reach upto Accord 2.4 AT at current prices but now its not available, hence, currently choices are limited to these two only.

@ JK Das - I have read the article you suggested. thanks buddy. but I cant keep it for 5 years. Till now I have not used any car more than 2 years few months and I dont think that there would be no better technology and options available in the similar price range or affordable price range (unless I hit a jackpot or go broke).

[dipen]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Looked at an Embera once - problem is, you sit inside, feel the dash and think, this is just a big Verna

Rather I would say, looking at the dask of Verna, you feel its a smaller Embera.

[iraghava]

Guys, reasons behind poor sales of Sonata CRDi have been discussed earlier in another thread. Link below:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...bera-crdi.html (What happened to the Sonata Embera CRDI?)

[csentil]

Interesting set of questions.

If you drive 2.5K kms every month, choice should be a Diesel.

However if you don't keep a car for more than 2 yrs then based on 2nd sales price the Civic would be a better choice.

Would the savings earned by driving 50K kms in a Diesel car offset the premium paid for a Diesel car + the poor 2nd sales value of the Sonata as compared to the Civic.

When I decided to buy a car, the Elantra did not rock my boat, Corolla/Skoda were too old. I had to make the least amount of compromises for the Civic as compared to other cars in that segment. So I got it. Not that it was a Japanese car and it enhances brand image or whatever !!

[androdev]

OT: Few years back there was an axiom: No one gets fired for buying IBM. Same thing can be said for Honda in India. It is probably not the best fit, but you know it is a safe bet.

[BUSA]

If you intend to keep the car for less then 2 years, its a no brainer, get a Civic or any Honda. They have fantastic resale.

[AMATMO]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Have they stopped manufacturing the Accord already to launch the new version ?!

The Sonata deal is rubbish, even if you get a 3 lakh discount its not a good deal.

I suggest you wait for the new Corolla and if budget permits new Accord !

why?!! rubbish what is so bad about the embera... if you are getting it for 3 lacs lesser then even resale will not be as bad

why do you think its at rubbish deal when the car can offer luxury and feel that is very close to accord and i believe sonata is well reputed in the rest of the world too

i dont understand why sonata evokes contempt dear sahil?

[vasudeva]

Sonata: only 3 lakhs discount?.
On its own, Sonata is a decent car but it does not sell well across the world only because at that price point, it is a Hyundai and has to compete against the market leaders-Camry and Accord, and other strong cars such as Teana, Malibu, etc. It is a fact that Hyundai cars are decent, but consumer perception is not, and Hyundai is spending millions changing that.

When they succeed, Hyundai's resales would go up. Till that time, stick with what is proven.

[vasudeva]

Who said that Sonata sells well? Where? The US sales numbers show how uncompetitive Sonata is (despite it being a `decent' car).

In 2007, Sonata sold 145568. Chevy Malibu sold 128,312 Malibus in 2007, while Honda sold 392,231 Accords. (Neither GM or Honda company had its redesigned 2008 model on sale for more than the last few months of the year.) By contrast, the old Camry vanquished all with sales of 473108. Furthermore, the Nissan Altima (284,762) nearly doubled Sonata sales. Even the Ford's Fusion with 149552 sold more than Sonata.

[AMATMO]

vasudeva in USA the price difference between sonata and accord and camry is not significant cause basically cars are avilable at a price half of that in india..so its totally understandable as to why sonata is not doing very well there..but dont think civic is a better than sonata

vasudeva, this topic is about sonata's conflict with civic not accord.

and we are all talking of choosing sonata over civic not accord

[anandm78]

If you are buying Automatic Transmission, go for the Civic. I lived in the US for more than 6 years and always drove auto transmissions. The auto transmission in Hyundai cars suck big time and I have first hand experience with Sonata in the US as well - a brand new rental car (with 700 miles on it) on a 2 day trip. In a well designed auto-transmission, the gear shifts are barely noticeable unless you are accelerating really hard. However in Hyundai cars, the shifts give you the feeling of being in a 15 year old Tata bus. For example - when you start moving you can feel the high rev of the first gear and then feel a jerk when the gear shift happens. The same happens during the shift from 2nd to 3rd as well. This will not happen in a well designed AT.

I would advice you to test drive the Sonata and the Civic and decide for yourself. If I were buying auto-transmission, I'd definitely go for Civic. Low ground clearance could be a problem area but I think I'd live with that rather than having to put up with a lousy AT.

As an aside, if I am spending 12 Lakhs+ on a car, the last thing I'd do is buy a Korean car.

[vasudeva]

Sonata is in a different segment than Civic, although effectively you can get a higher segment Hyundai for the price of a lower segment Civic. But Civic wallops Sonata on almost all counts except size. Hyundai may now be making better cars (thinkaboutit.com tries to get this across), but for most people, they have to get over the fact that Hyundai is not Korean for Yugo.

[suman]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

But Civic wallops Sonata on almost all counts except size.

Vasudeva, which are the counts that the Civic wallops it on? Let us for a minute push aside the bit about peoples perceptions & the Honda badge etc - when you say "Almost ALL", I'm assuming that you mean that on the majority of the comparators, the Civic is ahead & I really can't see that here

[shatrughna]

@anand- i test drove both the cars ( albeit test drive sonata was in petrol version) and as far as driveability and refinement is concerned Civic tranny is way better than Sonata 's H Matic. However, as Amatmo has put it the luxury feel , space & comfort in Sonata is way above that in Civic.
And friends the dealer has offered only 1 lakh discount in 2007 sonata crdi automatic and not 2 or 3 lakhs. I have not yet reverted to him hoping that a few more days may see a better discount being offered on Sonata.
In the meantime- I have been offered 30K corporate discount for Civic AT( V). Will wait to see more comments from Suman and Vasudeva to get a better perspective on both these cars.

[ram_hyundai]

vasudeva,
can you make your point clear on what grounds does civic eat up the sonata.i definitely feel that you have percieved it wrong.its not looks or 0-100 figure we are comparing.its the cars in total and total ownership levels.
ram