Vehicle: 2004 Hyundai XG350
Price as tested: CDN$33120
Performance: The XG350 is powered by a 3.5L V6 24-valver DOHC engine that bumps out 194hp @ 5500 rpm and 216 lb/ft of torque @ 3500 rpm. This V6 engine is surprisingly refine and flexible. The overall refinement and smoothness are on par with anything else from Nissan and Toyota. There are plenty of low-end torque that deliver plenty of performance for passing without sacificing the high rpm when pushed. It never runs out of breath at high rpm, even close to redline. Its relaxed cruising gear ratio also ensures a very relaxing highway ride. It clocked at a lowly 2600 rpm @ 110 km/h. The shiftronic is a very smooth unit. While the manumatic mode allows you to rev before upshifts, there is a drawback with the auto mode. Like some auto Hyundais I have driven, the tranny is lazy to upshift. When its gonna to upshift, it creates a very abrupt and rough feeling. The tranny really does hurt the overall top-notch powertrain package.
Handling: The XG350 is more of a blvd cruiser than a curve hunter. Although XG is based on a stiff and rigid chassis, its suspension tuning is more of a soft side. There are plenty of body rolls and understeer when pushed. While the steering response is decent, it feels numb both off and on-center. The steering also feels darty and featherweight when pushed through corners. Despite of my criticisms on its softly sprung characters, its suspension has absorbed expansion joints and washboard pavements extremely well. Unlike some of the American rivals, its suspension setting gives you a confidence-inspiring feel that completely lacks the floaty “landyacht” feel you used to feel in American landyachts. Even when driving over 120 km/h, it has that stable feeling that you are able to find in more expensive European luxury sedans despite XG’s soft character.
Brakes: The brake pedal provides balanced feel and effort when haul it to a complete stop. The pedal feel is excellent and the modulation is linear. However, it has plenty of nose dive during hard stops because of its soft character.
Interior: XG’s interior really put a lot of so-called luxury cars in shame. There are plenty of soft plastic on top of the dashboard while the use of materials are excellent. The analog gauges are clear and easy to read. Auto climate control and stereo are placed on a logical position for easily reach. Those leather-covered seats are superb, providing great back and thing support. The back seats are as comfortable as the front seats, with plenty of head and legroom. However, there is 2 huge drawbacks. The faux wood trim looks really faux. The scariest thing is this faux wood trim covers the whole center of dashboard. If Hyundai designers are able to ton them down or, better yet, give us real wood trim. The interior ambience would feel much classier than it already is. Another drawback is the wood/leather steering feels very slippery when you are holding that piece of wood when flying through corners.
The trunk is nicely layout with low cut-off and uninstrusive trunk hinges.
Conclusion: XG350 has to be considered as one of the better cars in the V6 family car class. It got a decent powertrain, luxurious interior and a classy exterior. If Hyundai is going to fix the lazy tranny and wishy washy handling, this will surely bring XG as the top contenders in a tough segment currently dominated by Accord and Camry V6 alikes.
OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2004 HYUNDAI XG350
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Performance: 3.25/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 2/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 4.75/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 4.75/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 4.5/5
Value-for-money: 4.5/5
Overall rating: 3.75/5