A week spent in Hyundai's best looking and most luxurious front wheel drive sedan.
Pros:
Exterior styling
Interior quality
Fuel economy
Cons:
Average handling
Lack of steering feel
2016 Hyundai Azera Limited
The 2016 Azera remains something of a "tweener" in Hyundai's sedan lineup. Large in both accommodations and luxury accoutrements, it falls between the brand's midsize Sonata front-driver and the more luxurious, and now stand-alone, rear-wheel-driven Genesis brand vehicles.
Exterior
As the middle child between two other like-size models, the Azera, with its swoopy first-generation "Fluidic Sculpture" is now the brand's style leader, easily outshining the more staid "Fluidic Sculpture 2" found on the new, more restrained-looking Sonata. In addition, it's also the recipient of a healthy dose of many of the luxury touches found in the entry-level upscale Genesis models.
Although based on the same platform as the Sonata, the 2016 Hyundai Azera is 2.5 inches longer and 0.2 inches lower than its midsize sibling. While its width is about the same, the Azera's wheelbase is longer by about 2 inches while its base curb weight is 434 pounds heavier.
Up front the Azera's grille is trimmed in bright chrome on only three sides, with the horizontal grille bars featuring a brushed charcoal chrome finish. The headlight enclosures, sleeker than those found on the Sonata, contain projector beam lamps surrounded by smaller LED lights with "waterfall" LED lighting beginning the upper portion and terminating at the lower inboard corner.
In back, the Azera's taillamps stretch across the entire width of the trunk, trimmed with a narrow band of chrome.
The Azera's cab-forward look is enhanced by a steeply raked windshield. Along the sides, a soft character line begins about a third of the way down and just forward of the front door and gently sweeps upward along the side of the body to just above the rear taillight. A second and more distinct character line begins just forward of the rear door handle where it begins to sweeps slightly upward until it reaches the trunk lid where it forms upper trailing edge of the trunk.
Further down the sides, a prominent swage line can be found between the highly-flared front and rear wheel wells that, on our test vehicle, housed aggressive 19-inch alloy wheels wrapped in P245/40R19 Hankook Optimo tires.
Finally, in a theme echoed by the rest of Hyundai's sedan lineup, a chrome trim strip begins just above the upper edge of the headlamp enclosure and follows the beltline until it terminating at the lower rear corner of the greenhouse. There, it meets an upper trim strip that began at the base of the A-pillar where it follows the A-line.
Interior
Every bit as striking as the exterior, the Azera's airy interior (an EPA passenger volume of 106 cubic feet) makes liberal use of leather, and soft-touch surfaces. Fit and finish is outstanding with a mix of materials and finishes that would look at home in a vehicle costing thousands more.
Instead of cheesy-looking fake wood, Hyundai has chosen a dark carbon-fiber-like trim it calls "3D carbon." This is used as an accent around the dashboard vents, center console and door latches. Adding to the luxury feel, brushed metal is used to trim both the steering wheel and center dash controls.
Both front seats are firm and supportive. Like the rest of the interior, they're covered in perforated leather and both heated and cooled (the rear seats are heated) with, on Limited models, a power lumbar adjustment and an extendable lower cushion for more thigh support. They're nicely bolstered and provide excellent lateral support. The rear seats flip and fold forward and the pass-through was large enough to transport a 52cm road bike without removing the front wheel.
The intuitive dashboard and console controls are large, easy to read, and within easy reach of the driver, while the switchgear is buttery smooth.
Despite the high beltline and cowl, the view out the front, sides and rear three-quarters is excellent thanks to a large expanse of glass, a narrow A-pillar and a third window in front of the C-pillar. There's also a standard rearview camera with dynamic guidelines that automatically compensate for the vehicle's steering angle.
Equipment
For 2016, the Azera is available in two monospec trim levels – base and Limited. The base model now features an 8-inch touchscreen navigation system in place of the former 6-inch screen with no nav as well as an electroluminescent gauge cluster. Also standard is an Infinity 550-watt sound system with 8-inch subwoofer.
Limited models have also been given an upgrade and now come standard with what used to be called the Premium Package - 19-inch alloy wheels, a panoramic sunroof, power rear window sunshade and manual rear side window sunshades.
Other than that, the standard features on both models include auto-up/down power windows (all), locks and heated outside mirrors. A leather interior, tilt-and-telescoping leather-wrapped steering wheel with integrated cruise, audio and phone control, leather-wrapped shift knob, cloth roof, A, B and C-pillar trim, remote keyless entry with proximity sensor and push-button start, heated power front seats, an auto-dimming rearview mirror and a cooled glovebox are also standard.
The Limited trim level adds the aforementioned equipment (including the former Premium Package) plus HID headlights, smart cruise control with stop/start capability, an electronic parking brake, power folding outside mirrors, 2-position driver's seat memory, power tilt and telescoping steering wheel, heated rear seats, ventilated front seats and interior ambient lighting.
Additional safety features includes full complement of 9 airbags, 4-wheel disc brakes with ABS, traction control and vehicle stability control, blind spot detection and lane change assist. Limited models up the ante with standard lane departure warning, forward collision warning and automatic high beam assist.
Under the hood
The Azera is powered by Hyundai's all-aluminum Lambda II 3.3-liter direct-injected V6 that produces 293 horsepower at 6,400 rpm and a maximum 255 lb.-ft. of torque at 5,200 rpm. It's mated to a six-speed automatic transmission with manual shift mode with steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters.
The combination provides for a smooth and quiet drivetrain that shifts both smoothly and nearly imperceptibly. EPA estimated fuel economy for the Azera is 20/28/23 city/highway/combined. Our own driving elicited an observed and very good 27.7 mpg in mixed city and highway driving.
On the road
The Azera's MacPherson Strut front and multi-link rear suspension did a nice job of soaking up road imperfections – even some of the larger potholes still found in Michigan this time of year. There's also very little body lean in corners, although handling is hardly what you would call sporty. The Azera's brakes were also excellent and easy to modulate with plenty of feedback to the driver. But while there's a nice weight to the steering, the system still feels detached from the road with very little feedback to the driver.
On the freeway the body feels well planted and it was unaffected by either crosswinds or pavement irregularities. Interior sound levels are another one of the high points of driving an Azera as very little in the way of engine, wind, road or tire noise intrudes into the cabin.
2016 Hyundai Azera prices
Manufacturer's suggested retail pricing for 2016 starts at $34,995 for the base (if you can call it that) trim, while a Limited model, like our tester and sans any accessories, tops out at $39,300.
Our Limited tester scored a price slightly above that, with floor mats adding $125 to its bottom line for an MSRP, including an $895 delivery charge, of $40,320.
The Bottom Line
After nearly a week of driving, we found that the 2016 Hyundai Azera still has a lot going for it – good looks, plenty of power from its V6 engine and a quiet interior that puts vehicles costing thousands of dollars more to shame.
On the flip side, handling, though secure, is a long way from sporty and the lack of steering feel really detracts from a vehicle that has so many other things going for it.
But the fact remains that drivers not particularly interested in sporty handling, but looking for a high-quality vehicle with a great warranty that offers a lot of bang for the buck, should really check out an Azera. More to the point, buyers considering a high end Sonata should note that, for literally only a few dollars more, a base model Azera is larger, more powerful, more luxurious and more stylish.
