Hyundai’s first full-size luxury car to be sold in South Africa, the Azera, is hard to fault. The Korean company’s new flagship is powerful, spacious, comfortable and safe. It’s also extremely quiet and delivers a very plush ride, which renders dreams of uniformed chauffeurs and bottles of champagne being consumed in the back seats quite plausible.
The Azera is considerably larger than its Sonata stable-mate — the factory claims it offers more cabin space than the BMW 5 Series. Its lines are conservative and the interior understated, but the car comes with a full box of toys.
Electronic driver aids include anti-locking brakes with electronic brake-force distribution, ESP traction control, a passenger-side exterior mirror that tilts downwards to show the kerb when you engage reverse gear, and rear parking distance sensors that warn of obstacles when parking.
Other handy features are auto-on headlights and windscreen wipers, an electro-chromatic self-dipping interior rear-view mirror, and classy leather seats. The latter, mounted on magnesium frames, are 10-way electronically adjustable for the driver, and fourway on the passenger side. The steering wheel and exterior mirror positioning are also electrically variable, and there’s a facility to store two people’s preferences for seats, mirrors and steering wheel position, meaning that a simple touch on a button gets everything just right for you each time you get in the car. Dual-zone climate control allows the driver and front-seat passenger to choose their own temperature levels, and separate ducting to the back leaves rear-seat passengers in control of their own environment.
Eight airbags distributed around the cabin help reduce the risk of injury should the chauffeur get stuck into the champagne.
The Hyundai was clearly designed as a luxury sedan rather than a sports model, but that doesn’t mean it’s a slug. Its all-aluminium 3,3-litre quad-cam V6 engine produces 173kW of power at 6 000rpm, while continuous variable-valve timing control and variable air intake tracts make torque of 303Nm available from just 3 500 rpm. Top speed is 230kph, and the big Hyundai will hit 100kph from standstill less than eight seconds after you floor the pedal.
The car comes with auto transmission only — Hyundai’s own five-speed H-Matic. Here, too, the factory has got things right. Gear changes are slick and, when the lever’s flipped across to manual mode, the gearbox allows the driver more control over cog swapping than most so-called dual-mode transmissions do.
The Korean designers went to great lengths to give their flagship a real luxury-car feel. Noise levels are exceptionally low, thanks to the use of double door-seals, thicker-than-usual window glass, and generous use of sound-deadening materials. The ride is plush, so there’s a certain amount of body roll evident when the car’s driven hard, but handling is nevertheless very good.
At R299 900 the Hyundai beats most cars in its price-range hands down in terms of what you get for the money and, when compared with cars offering the same luxury, size and performance, it’s a bloody steal. With the recent changes in taxation on car allowances, the chances are that many — particularly businessmen — will be looking for cars that deliver the type of comfort and performance they’re used to, at lower prices.
The biggest problem Hyundai faces is that of image — although the brand has achieved excellent quality and service ratings worldwide, there’s still a perception that Korean cars are, well, crap. That, and worries about resale value, has a powerful effect upon buyers’ decisions.