2018 Hyundai Sonata vs Mazda 6

What's the difference?

The Sonata's new look is unlikely to send it rocketing up the sales charts, but that's not what  it's all about here in Australia. Having said that, it comes with some useful improvements, especially in Active trim, with a few spec additions that make the Premium's almost 50 percent... er... premium on price look a bit stiff.

The Mazda 6's competition is not nearly as good looking, and none have that smooth 2.5-litre turbo to get them whistling along with such little fuss.

You can buy a Camry and enjoy the solid drive, or a Kia Optima and enjoy the, erm, exclusivity. Or the turbo Hyundai Sonata, which is also somewhat exclusive.

The GT is a terrific car, and it's terrific because of its smooth, powerful and calming engine. It's a shame that the engine is only available in the top end of the range, though...

Hyundai has given the Sonata a good old fashioned facelift, with a new front and rear end to liven things up a bit. The old car was sleek but not at all sporty, so the new look is designed to match the dynamism that is steadily creeping into the Hyundai line-up. The big new grille, angrier headlights and kicked up bootlid with new taillights combine to make the Sonata look sportier, saucier and, oddly enough, shorter.

The grille is different between the entry-level Active and top-spec Premium, with the latter scoring a more interesting 3D look, while our Active made do with a slightly more conventional one. The effect is a bit trout-lippy, but it grew on me.

The cabin didn't need much work, with just a few materials swapped out and made to look and feel a bit more upmarket. The dash is a very conventional design - clean and clear with big dials and a small digital screen for extra information. The general fit and finish is good and my newly re-discovered fandom of cloth trim was given a boost by a rather fetching textured interior.

The 6 is a seriously good-looking car, and I mean that in a head-turning, wolf-whistling kind of way.

Mazda's Kodo design language rarely disappoints. Here in the 6, the facelift is similar in nature to the CX-5 - slimmed headlights, simplified shapes front and rear, but a muscular, lithe profile.

Changes in the cabin have been more noticeable, because unlike the exterior design, Things Needed To Happen. The old interior wasn't bad, but Mazda had this terrible habit of making its cabins dark and gloomy.

A simple thing like sending some of the indicator lights up into a unit with the rear vision mirror significantly reduced the clutter on the centre console. There's a distinct Audi influence in the way the horizontal stacked sections make the cabin feel wider and more airy, too. Just about everything has been changed, except the steering wheel and the shifter, and it's worked.

The Sonata is one of the roomiest cars I've ever been in, save for properly big cars like the Audi A8 or BMW 7 Series. Rear-seat passengers cheerfully loll about with tonnes of leg and headroom. The bench seat is comfortably padded and it's probably the best spot in the house for long journeys. If you were a ride-sharing driver who specialised in basketballer transport, this would be the car for you.

Storage isn't bad either, with four cupholders, pockets and slots scattered about and a bottle holder in each door. The boot is a solid 510 litres - drop the 60/40 split-fold rears and you'll have a seriously large load area.

Front-seat passengers score a pair of cupholders with a neat cover for when they're not in use. The centre console is on the smaller side, but a decent phone cubby under the climate controls makes up for that. The fold-down centre armrest features a pair of cupholders, too, plus there's a slot to hold a phone or small tablet upright, and a small lidded tray with a pair of USB ports.

There is plenty of room for front-seat passengers, and even those in the rear won't run into any headroom trouble. There is plenty of leg room, too, as well as decent foot room. Smaller folks will be okay in the middle seat.

Boot space isn't too bad, at 474 litres (VDA) with the rear seats in place.

The GT is third in a four-model line-up that starts with the $32,940 Sport and ends with the $50,090 Atenza diesel. The GT is the first in the range to feature the turbocharged petrol engine, which is kind of sad, because a turbo-powered Sport would be brilliant.

Starting at $43,990, you get 19-inch alloys, active LED headlights, black or white leather seats, power heated and folding mirrors, power windows, electric seats, an 11-speaker Bose stereo, auto headlights and wipers, dual-zone climate control, leather steering wheel and shifter, sat nav, keyless entry and start, active cruise control, adaptive headlights, front and rear parking sensors, heated front and rear seats and a space-saver spare.

Mazda's 'MZD Connect' multimedia system is accessible through the dash-mounted touchscreen and a console-mounted rotary dial. And my usual whinge about the lack of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto now has a happy-ish ending - by the end of 2018, you'll be able to retrofit both. Not perfect, but even older Mazdas dating back to 2014 are upgradeable.

The Active soldiers on with Hyundai's 2.4-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder, which is good for a reasonable 138kW and 241Nm. The front wheels are driven by the same six-speed auto as before, pushing the Active's 1587kg kerb weight along at a reasonable clip.

Towing capacity is rated at 1300kg braked and 400kg unbraked.

Mazda slaps a 'SkyActiv' badge on just about everything, so it will be no surprise to find that this engine bears the name. The GT's 2.5-litre four cylinder spins up 170kW and 420Nm - the same figure as the CX-9, but with a quite a few less kilos to haul.

The 6 is front-wheel drive, and power reaches those wheels via a six-speed automatic. I didn't think a six-speed 'box would be enough, but it didn't bother me at all.

Towing capacity is rated at 550kg unbraked and 1550kg braked.

Hyundai claims 8.3L/100km on the combined cycle for the Active. I've always found Hyundai figures unusually accurate and we got 8.7L/100km in the week we had it. There is no stop-start trickery to reduce consumption, which explains the baseline figure. It's worth noting that the Sonata makes do quite happily on standard 91 RON fuel, which is a good saving.

Mazda says that the 2.5-litre turbo drinks 91RON (yep, the cheaper stuff) at the rate of 7.5L/100km.

My week with the car in mostly urban driving yielded a disappointing 11.3L/100km. That might have had something to do with my right foot, but that's classified information.

Hyundai's Australian suspension tuning team gave the Sonata the once over first time around, so the tune hasn't changed for the facelift. That means a plush, easygoing ride that dismisses potholes and speed bumps the way polite company ignores something in your teeth.

It's an effortless thing to drive around in, with smart response from the gearbox and engine when you want a bit of go, yet both are completely unobtrusive otherwise. Passengers will enjoy that ride and while the handling is pretty tidy, it's not going to excite the keen driver. The turbo-engined car is the one to go for if you're a fan of chirping front wheels and powerful overtaking urge.

City driving is as serene as highway running, with little in the way of any wind noise. The engine is a distant drone, easily overcome with the stereo.

The only quirks are the slightly grabby brakes (which require some getting used to), the halogen headlights are still a bit ordinary and the steering is still absurdly light, but that's about it.

Okay, I feel I've misled you a little, way back at the beginning of this story.

I feel like I may have intimated that shoving this turbocharged engine under the bonnet meant a transformation to something a bit hotter. After all, it has a lot more torque than the fondly remembered 6 MPS, and isn't all that short of that monster's power figure either.

It's nowhere near a replacement for the 6 MPS, though. In fact, it's better than that.

Mazda got out of performance cars a long time ago, preferring to just pretend there's another RX-7 on the way (that story always surfaces in April for some reason). The new turbo engine isn't a huffing, puffing performer. It's actually borderline dull. It isn't peaky or laggy, but super-quiet and super smooth.

You can surf along on the torque, overtake with far less planning and buttock-clenching.

Adding the turbo engine to the 6 fixes what was an extremely competent car looking for a good engine. The standard petrol in the lower-spec cars is adequate, but it's not really up to the task of swift, effortless progress.

This turbocharged unit actually calms the driving experience because you know you can surf along on the torque, overtake with far less planning and buttock-clenching.

The rest of the car? Well it's as lovely and easygoing as ever. The new car is stiffer than before, and, like most Mazda updates, is filled with detail changes that add up to a significant improvement.

It's so much quieter, too, with just a bit of racket from the GT's bigger wheels over coarse surfaces. Most of the suspension noise from the older cars is gone.

Passengers really liked the interior of the 6, with its broader, airier feel, and in Soul Red with the white interior, it looks properly classy.

The 6 arrives with six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, high beam control, lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, forward and reverse AEB, reverse cross-traffic alert, a reversing camera and traffic-sign recognition.

ANCAP awarded the Mazda a maximum five stars in 2012.

The Sonata is covered by Hyundai's impressive five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty with 12 months of roadside assist. The Active requires a trip to the dealer every 12 months or 15,000km (the turbo Premium needs a visit every 10,000km).

Hyundai also offers lifetime capped-price servicing. For the first five years, you'll pay $1425 all up - four of the five services are $265 each while the third service jumps to $365.

Mazda recently increased its long-standing three-year warranty to five years/unlimited kilometres, which was odd, because at the car's launch in May, they said three years was plenty. Still, I'm not arguing with the change.

Roadside assist, sadly, is not part of the deal. It costs between $99 and $109 per year.

Service intervals are a bit close at 12 months or 10,000km, whichever comes first. Prices are capped for the first five years, alternating between $312 and $341 for a total of $1618 for the first 50,000km.