Called a mid-season refresh, the changes that appear in the 2009 Hyundai Sonata include some external styling lifts and improved interior materials to give a more luxurious feeling. The Sonata is Hyundai's most successful sedan to date and the intent of the recent upgrade is to keep that momentum moving. Front end collisions will be less intrusive with strengthening of the frame.

More than skin deep, the changes for 2009 include new, more powerful engines that are just as fuel economical as the old ones. Sonata will ship with either a 2.4 4-cylinder engine that creates 175hp or a 3.3L V6 that pumps out 279hp. On the side of safety, the Sonata offers front, side and curtain airbags. Sonata's prominence in the sedan segment was hard-won and Hyundai intends to keep its place in the market.

Optional GPS navigation is a new feature for the Sonata in its effort to outfit itself in more luxury. Safety is another all-around effort, with standard electronic stability control now a reality. Driving the 2009 Sonata will feel decidedly different due to ist sports tuned suspension and larger roll bar. No body can predict how all of this will play out when the new Sonata rolls out, but Hyundai had tooled another level of sophistication onto its best-selling sedan.

The 2009 Hyundai Sonata arrives at a time when gas prices are threatened to hit $4.00 per gallon, recession is in the wind, and consumers are as tight fisted as ever. Hyundai hopes it has struck a chord with the auto buying public with what they see as an economical solution to the excesses of old.