Jaguar XJ vs Hyundai Sonata

What's the difference?

It might be old and facing German competition bursting with advanced technology, but the XJR is still a car you can buy with heart and head. But mostly your heart. It goes like stink, has a much better interior than the Quattroporte and is more interesting than just about anything this big or this grand.

It's also a better car than the Maserati Quattroporte if you want to get on with the driving yourself and is far prettier than the Porsche Panamera. It's a wonderful thing and even more wonderful that Jaguar continues to build it. Long live that supercharged V8 and the XJ is a great home for it.

The updated Sonata N Line looks beautifully modern from its new face to the refreshed cockpit, while remaining a ‘driver’s car’ with good dynamics, and a sporty engine. 

The Sonata isn’t an ideal family car, however. This is down to a lack of practicality. Although the cabin is fairly roomy, if that roofline wasn’t so coupe-like and cabin storage was better, and the boot had a large hatch opening, and the ride height was more elevated then it would be a great family car. Oh, I’ve just described an SUV.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

The XJ has a marvellously exaggerated length, with a rear overhang redolent of Jag's sporting coupe and roadster pair of the time of its launch, the XK. There's nothing else in the segment like it, with the three Germans - Mercedes' S-Class, Audi's A8 and BMW's 7 Series - having gone all Hugo Boss and and in the latter two's case, almost shrinking violet. The only credible Japanese alternative, the Lexus LS, looks like a Lexused 7 Series. The XJR is a more emotional car, like Maserati's Quattroporte.

The R adds an aggro grille, 20-inch wheels with low-ish profile tyres, a bootlid spoiler, red brake calipers and vents in the bonnet. Bits and pieces get the black gloss treatment and there are V8 and R badges, as well as a rather large leaper on the bootlid. Capping it all off are four exhausts poking out from the bumper and distinctive vertical taillights.

Inside remains largely unchanged. The cabin is big and luxurious, leather-lined and very, very comfortable. The front air vents have to be modelled on the de Havilland Comet's integrated jet engine intakes and, again, the dash design stays away from the horizontal lines of its obvious competition.

There is probably a bit much chrome for my liking, particularly on the centre console and around the rotary dial shifter, which reflects sunlight into your face during the day.

The lovely 'Riva Hoop' - a band that sweeps from door to door across the top of the dash - is a great touch and remains a defining feature in the cabin. The last update brought an Audi-like digital dashboard, including maps, but it's not nearly as slick as the German. The graphics for the dials are good (and quick) but the maps are a bit so-so.

So, we’ve established that the Sonata N Line is a sedan and that means if you’re still reading this you are, a) A Sonata owner looking to trade the old one in for this new one, b) Driving another type of sedan such as a Toyota Camry or Volkswagen Passat and looking to update your trusty steed with one from Hyundai or c) Not in the market for an SUV.

Whatever the reason, sedans lend themselves to being sleek and sophisticated in their styling just by being lower to the ground than SUVs and generally longer than sports cars.

The Sonata N Line is long at 4.91m end-to-end. That’s only 8.0cm shorter than the gigantic Hyundai Palisade which has eight seats. I know… it bends the mind.

This new Sonata N Line looks even wider than the previous version, too, with that broad flat bonnet meeting the Seamless Horizon LED strip.

Fact is the Sonata N Line is 1.86m across - exactly the same as the previous version. Remind me never to wear a 'seamless horizon' T-shirt on days I’m feeling rotund. 

If you look closely at the photos you can see the hidden LED headlights flanking the large, dark and low-set grille.

The rear of the new Sonata looks so different from the previous version, too, with its boot lid spoiler and LED tail-lights. 

The menacing body kit comes with the N Line grade and accentuates the sporty nature of this car. It’s a good thing it has an engine to back up the looks, but more on that later.

Inside, the Sonata has been given the new 12.3-inch curved screens and a digital climate control display, while the steering wheel is new and adorned with the Hyundai 'Morse Code' badge (the letter H is four dots in Morse Code). It’s a premium and modern looking cockpit topped off with suede and leather leather N Line sports seats.

It might be over five metres long, but the Jag's cabin isn't as gigantic as that might suggest - luckily, if you want space, the XJ L has it. The SWB version is roomy enough, though, just not palatial. You can fit five people, but the big transmission tunnel will limit the size of that fifth.

Front and rear passengers have a pair of cupholders each, with rubber bubbles to help hold smaller cups in tight. The front and rear doors have pockets but aren't really for bottles.

Boot space is a reasonable 520 litres, with a space saver spare under the floor.

Sedans might be sleek and sophisticated but practicality is not typically their strength because their low height means passenger access isn’t as easy as it is with an SUV, but mainly because the cargo carrying ability is limited by the relatively small boot opening.

Still, the Sonata N Line does have a big 480-litre boot and cabin storage has been improved thanks to the gear shifter being relocated to the steering column and freeing up space in the centre console for stowing items and a wireless phone charger.

Rear legroom is also good. I’m 189cm tall and I can sit behind my driving position with space to spare. Headroom back there is also good thanks to contoured heading which has a ‘carved out’ section for extra space.

Along with the wireless phone charger there are two Type-C USB ports up front and another two for the second row.

There are four cupholders (two up front and two in the second row) and decent sized bottle holders in the doors.

This lack of practicality compared to an SUV or even a station wagon means the Sonata N Line really isn’t the perfect family car.

Hyundai offers one type of Sonata in Australia, so there’s not a lot of choice. Actually there’s no choice: it’s the petrol version of the Sonata in the sporty N Line grade or nothing.

But if I were to choose one Sonata this would be the one, even if at a list price of $55,500 it’s quite expensive and about $3500 more than the previous Sonata N Line.

In return for the almost $56K price you’re getting a lot of standard features, including a mountain of new equipment for this updated model.

So, new for this 2024 Sonata are dual 12.3-inch curved screens for media and driving instruments, the digital climate control display, there’s a column-mounted gear shifter, LED ambient lighting and a hands-free boot lid. That’s in addition to proximity unlocking, sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a 12-speaker Bose sound system.

There’s also suede and Nappa leather seats, a leather steering wheel, sunroof, dual-zone climate control, heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, LED headlights and the LED strip which wraps around the front of the Sonata.

Hyundai calls it the 'Seamless Horizon', which sounds beautifully poetic and leads us nicely into the Design section of this review.

Jaguar's lovely 5.0-litre V8 with supercharger continues under the XJ's long and shapely bonnet, delivering a walloping 404kW and a tyre-shredding 680Nm. The sprint to 100km/h for all 1875kg of XJR is completed in an impressive 4.6 seconds, which was very competitive at the car's launch in 2009.

Power reaches the rear wheels via ZF's eight-speed automatic and you can control it with the tacky plastic paddles on the steering wheel. Oh, and it has stop-start.

The Sonata N Line comes with a 2.5-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine making 213kW and 422Nm, which is plenty of oomph, and it all goes to the front wheels through an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

So no, there’s not a diesel version nor an all-wheel drive version, but this sporty engine suits the Sonata N Line perfectly.

That said a hybrid variant would be good seeing it’s 2023.

The combined cycle figure for the V8 is listed at 11.1L/100km but fully expect to see the 16.1L/100km we got, especially as you try and fail to tyre of the monstrous power delivery and lovely (if muted) V8 roar.

Luckily, even if you're belting it, the 82 litre tank is a generous size and you'll cover a fair amount of ground.

As we were saying above there’s no hybrid variant of the Sonata N Line and there should be. Actually there is, but Hyundai says it isn't available for the Australian market.

So, this turbo-petrol four-cylinder is all we have and according to Hyundai it uses 8.1L/100km on the combined cycle.

When we tested it at the launch our trip computer was reporting exactly 8.1L/100km, but the roads were clear, the traffic was nowhere to be seen, so you can expect that consumption to climb higher if you’re commuting around the city.

Indecently quick, surprisingly agile and heaps of fun. While the first descriptor applies purely because of its size, the next two shouldn't when you're in command of 5.13 metres of motor vehicle. As with the Audi and now the 7, the Jag has a lot of aluminium to help keep the kilos off and good gracious, it has worked.

The R is based around the short wheelbase version of the XJ for perhaps obvious reasons. Even so, it appears to be the shorter-again XF's because this thing turns in like a demon. No, it won't stay with the dearly-departed XF-R but it does a mighty fine impression of one, just with a better ride quality.

Rear seat passengers should be prepared to feel a lot of wheelslip, especially when in Dynamic mode, as even the fat Pirelli P-Zero's struggle for purchase when the right foot hits the carpet. The V8 rumbles rather than bellows, but the rears cheerfully spin up until the computers and active differential rein things in. Traction control off and you've got a proper tyre-smoker if you're not playing by the rules. Jag's engineers are clearly hooligans at heart.

As always, ZF's eight-speed transmission does an incredible job of marshalling the horses in a rearward direction and when you're not after a bit of sound and light, have achieved a tremendous amount with the damping. When in normal mode, the car glides along, so much so that the lady of the house wasn't so sure it was a sporting sedan.

Once she was apprised of dynamic mode (you have to cycle the button through winter mode first, for some reason), her only complaint was that it was too long and the steering wheel too big for this type of car. I was persuaded of the latter, especially after stepping out of an Audi S3 which has a tiny wheel. Long story short, the XJR is now 'her' car (to be more accurate, the XFR is, but that hasn't arrived yet, so...), as it felt smaller than it was when not parking and she's a sucker for a torquey V8.

The Sonata N Line’s performance matches its sporty looks. That turbo-petrol engine is responsive and provides great acceleration, the transmission shifts fast and the steering is nicely weighted and accurate. 

Add to this better rigidity in the car’s structure in this updated model and a feeling of stability thanks to this being a sedan with a low centre of mass and you have a dynamic and enjoyable vehicle in your hands.

Sure it doesn't have the sky-high visibility that comes from the pilot’s seat of an SUV, but the Sonata N Line is for those who like to drive but still want the practicality of four doors, back seats and a boot.

The Sonata N Line hasn’t been tested by ANCAP, but it does have an extensive armoury of safety tech including AEB (which also works at intersections) able to detect pedestrians, cyclists, other cars and now motorbikes.

There’s blind spot warning which pulls you back into your lane and lane keeping assistance, plus rear cross-traffic alert with braking, as well.

A rear occupant alert will remind the driver there are passengers in the back seat and 'Safe Exit Assist' will protect children from opening the door into moving traffic.

Along with all this, which Hyundai bundles together in its 'Safety Sense' package as standard on the Sonata N Line, there are also side airbags protecting the rear passengers and plenty of airbags in the front for the driver and passenger.

Jaguar offers a three year/unlimited kilometre warranty and roadside assist for the same period.

Like the F-Type, XJ owners benefit from three years/100,000km free servicing.

The Sonata N Line is covered by Hyundai’s five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. 

Servicing is recommended annually or every 10,000km. There’s no capped price serving but you can buy a 'Lifetime' or a five-year plan that work out to be between $350-$400 on average a year.