Hyundai Grandeur 2006 review

That it carries a Hyundai badge may be the biggest obstacle in buyers signing the cheque for this large luxury sedan. Not that it's shoddy or poorly engineered. On the contrary; Korean-built cars are now of a much higher standard than before and often hard to pick from Japanese or European vehicles.

Yet Hyundai must earn badge credibility. It's taken Mercedes-Benz, BMW and other desirable and coveted marques decades of producing better than average cars to climb to a position of respect.

But the advantage a buyer gets with the Hyundai Grandeur is price – the comparatively low $42,990 for the Grandeur and $46,990 for Grandeur Limited compensating for any worry about depreciation of a brand not (yet) deemed as desirable as the more famous traditional marques. Grandeur is a large four-door sedan with good interior space. Certainly the back seat feels more relaxing than a Ford Fairmont or Holden Berlina/Calais.

Look at what you get for the price on Grandeur: A 3.8-litre V6 engine giving a claimed 194kW of power, which is more than its rivals, although its 348Nm of torue is bettered by the four-litre Ford Fairmont. Grandeur has a five-speed sequential shift automatic (Fairmont and Berlina still have

only four-speed auto). Equipment would take a couple of pages to list but a selection includes dual-zone climate-control airconditioning, cruise control, steering wheel controls for the audio system which has a six-stack CD and eight speakers (and a tape player), power windows, remote central locking, trip computer, leather interior power adjustable front seats, boot cargo net, 60/40 fold-down rear seat backrest, front and rear fog lamps, 17in-diameter alloy wheels, reverse sensing warning, electronic stability control, ABS brakes, dual front airbags, front and rear side (thorax) airbags and front and rear side curtain airbags. That's for $42,990.

Spend another $4000 for the Grandeur Limited and you'll also get memory settings for seats, steering wheel and mirrors, heated front seats, automatic day-night mirror, power up-down rear windscreen sunshade, power sunroof, solar glass plus xenon headlights with washers. Steering has electric ad justment, too, including reach. It has a foot-pedal park brake and day-illuminated instruments.

Slip it into reverse and the outside mirrors dip to show the rear

wheels and the rear windscreen sunshade automatically lowers. Put it back into drive and they return to normal.

The Grandeur is best at low to medium speeds – very quiet, comfortable, composed and able to return 10 litres/100km in rural and Hills driving.

The lusty V6 responds with a purposeful distant growl when you put the foot down. The big 1645kg Grandeur is no sports sedan. Press hard and understeer is evident on the front-wheel-drive chassis and the body leans. Put a bit more air pressure in the front tyres and the 235/55 x 17 tyres hang on better yet it's not as composed on bumpy corners as the Aussie-made rivals.

But the point is this: the people who buy Grandeur probably won't seek a sports sedan or pin-sharp steering. They'll want a luxury feel, lots of comfort and convenience equipment and smooth power.