Hyundai Sonata: Most Car for the Least Money?
现代索纳塔：性价比之王？
No one will ever write erotic poetry about the Hyundai Sonata. No courting suitor ever promises a woman, 'Darling, I'll give you the moon, the stars, a Sonata with cloth seats...' Snooki from 'Jersey Shore' will be named secretary of agriculture before a Sonata crosses the field at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance classic-car show. These things are appliances, disposable widgets, destined to wind up as brightly colored cubes of crushed and fused metal, the unlamented scat of our mobility society.
从没有人给现代索纳塔(Hyundai Sonata)汽车写过煽情的诗歌，从没有求婚者对女孩许诺说“亲爱的，我要为你摘下月亮和星星，我要给你买一辆布套座椅的索纳塔……”。要是索纳塔能在 “加州卵石湾经典汽车巡展”(Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance classic-car show)上亮相，美国新推出的真人秀节目《泽西海岸》(Jersey Shore)中的主角Snooki就能当上美国农业部长。这类汽车就是家用消费品，用用就换的东西，注定最后被送进报废厂，成为一堆五颜六色的金属块。在我们这个汽车王国里，没人会为此扼腕叹息。
But for now, be amazed. Be amazed that any company can put together a car with this much raw, unmitigated content-a 2.4-liter direct-injection four cylinder with variable valve timing on both cams; six-speed automatic with manual shift mode; iPod/USB/AUX jacks and Bluetooth; stability control and smart ABS; airbags and power amenities galore-wrap the whole thing in a 10-year powertrain warranty and push it out the door for $20,195. That's ridiculous, ridonkulous. This is the sort of scorched-earth pricing that makes other car makers consider a change in strategic direction. Perhaps there are some openings at Hardees?
但现在，你要大吃一惊了。这份惊奇来自竟然会有公司能做出这样一款新鲜出炉、顶级配置的车型 ──2.4升可变正时双气门调节技术的四缸直喷发动机，六速手自一体变速箱，iPod/USB/AUX接口和蓝牙技术，稳定的操控性，智能ABS系统，多气囊，丰富的内饰，以及惊人的十年质保承诺──而所有这些，只要20,195美元就能拿下。简直太、太荒谬了！这种低到极致的“地窖价”令其他汽车制造商不得不考虑战略转型。要不，干脆改行去做餐饮算了？
The 2011 Sonata-the sixth generation of the nameplate in the company's history-extends Hyundai's business plan in the U.S. market, which is summed up in the phrase 'overwhelming numerical leverage,' which I just made up. If you lay it out and compare the Sonata with its mass-market, suburbo-drone, I-wish-I'd-stayed-single competitors-Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Chevy Malibu-the case for the Sonata is summary. On paper, at least, it's just more car for the money.
2011款索纳塔属于第六代车型，也是韩国现代公司进一步扩大美国市场份额的新武器。我给这款车的评价是“用数字说话，所向披靡”。如果摊开来与主流市场其他“孤芳自赏”的同类车型相比──如丰田凯美瑞(Toyota Camry)、本田雅阁(Honda Accord)和雪弗兰Malibu──索纳塔胜在“有容乃大”。至少从表面看，这款车物超所值。
Consider the intersection of these monster numbers from Sonata's spec sheet: 198 hp (200 hp in the dual-exhaust SE model) and 35 mpg highway. The four-cylinder Honda Accord LX serves up 177 hp while delivering a highway mileage a full 4 mpg less than the Sonata. The Honda is also $1,660 more dear.
让我们来看看索纳塔技术参数表中的惊人数字：198马力（双排气口的SE款为200马力），高速公路每加仑汽油可跑35英里（合百公里耗油6.7升）。四缸发动机的本田雅阁LX的马力为177马力，高速公路每加仑汽油要比索纳塔少跑整整4英里，而价格要贵1,660 美元。
I'm not saying the Sonata is a better car. Ah, hell no. I'm saying that if you set aside intangibles-things like brand modulus, styling, materiality, and the ineffable sense of quality you get when you touch and use engineered things-the Sonata is too persuasive to ignore. In a way, Hyundai's strategy is a brilliant adaptation to a car-buying environment increasingly driven by online data comparison. If you're an overscheduled public-school teacher and you need a new car, what are you going to do? You're going to fire up the computer, go to Edmunds.com or cars.com, plow through the numbers and conclude-not unreasonably-that the Sonata is the best deal out there. Then you're going to go to one dealership, the Hyundai dealership, take the Sonata around the block and think, Yeah, OK, nice.
我并不是说索纳塔要比其他同类车型胜出一筹。当然不是！我的意思是说，如果不考虑品牌、风格、质感等无形因素以及触摸和使用汽车时那种难以用语言表达出来的品质感，索纳塔几乎让你无法拒绝。从某种意义上说，现代公司的战略迎合了一种购车趋势，即消费者越来越注重在网上比较各种车型的技术参数，作为购买的依据。如果你是一位工作繁忙的公立学校老师，又想买一辆新车，你会怎么做？你会打开电脑，去Edmunds.com或 cars.com网站，比较各种技术参数并得出结论──而且不无道理──索纳塔是性价比最高的选择。然后你会去一个车行，现代汽车的车行，把索纳塔开出去转一圈，然后想：哇，不错，真不错。
Let me just run this by my sales manager.
接下来就是销售经理的事儿了。
Of course, all cars are in some sense political, since country of origin and economic policy are inextricable. And here the story turns a bit melancholy. The Sonata's awesome pricing occurs at the whip end of a long chain of factors, including the fact that it's built in a place with low wages, a low standard of living and an indifferent attitude toward workers' rights. Someone really should take up a collection for Montgomery, Ala.
当然，所有的汽车都带有一点政治色彩，因为产地国家不同，经济政策复杂。在这方面，索纳塔就有一个软肋，其惊人的低价是建立在一连串因素之上，比如索纳塔由位于美国阿拉巴马州蒙哥马力 (Montgomery, Ala)的现代汽车工厂负责生产，那里的工资不高，生活水平较低，对工人的正当权利较为漠视。
Hyundai, the world's fourth-largest car company by units sold, is hotter than the hinges of Hades right now. It posted a fivefold increase in profit in Q1 of 2010, to a tidy $1 billion, on the recovering world market and favorable currency-exchange rates. For obvious reasons, a stronger Japanese yen helps the Korean car maker enormously in the U.S.
按汽车销量来看，现代公司在全球排名第四，目前的经营状况可谓如日中天。2010年一季度，在全球市场复苏和汇率因素的支撑下，公司利润同比增长五倍，达到10亿美元。显而易见，日圆汇率走强降低了日本汽车的价格竞争力，使韩国汽车制造商在美国市场如鱼得水。
Hyundai's ambitions for the Sonata transcend the value equation, however. Like the larger and equally overachieving Hyundai Genesis sedan and coupe, the new Sonata is about elevating the image of the brand.
然而，现代公司在索纳塔上的野心不仅局限于性价比方面的优势。与尺寸更大而性价比同样优越的现代Genesis轿车及轿跑车一样，新款索纳塔也致力于提升现代品牌的高端形像。
Enter styling.
造型设计
This is a nice-looking car, and for all the blathering about remote keyless entry and the like, the styling-thoughtful, attractive, premium, by several degrees above the call of duty-is the feature that impresses me most. Wrought in what Hyundai calls 'fluidic styling'-trademark alert!-the car does have a handsome, hydraulic wholeness to it, like water flowing over a river rock. The bold 'light spear' along the side (the shallow draft under the accent line broadens as it goes back along the side of the car, creating a spear-like shadow) plays nicely against the back-drafting energy of the roof line. A little bit of Volkswagen CC in there, a little Mercedes-Benz CLS. The most sophisticated exterior touch is a thin chromic bow that runs from the headlamp to the C-pillar along the belt line, a brightwork meteor across the car's firmament. Lovely.
索纳塔的外形很好看，虽然关于其“遥控车门开关”等高科技手段的宣传很多，但让我印象最深的是它的富有创见、迷人的外观设计，比中规中矩的要求高出几个段位。现代公司精心打造一种“流动的雕塑”的设计语言（这个提法值得抢注成商标），而索纳塔整体而言确实有水流一般的漂亮效果，如同河水冲刷过礁石所呈现出的那样。车身侧面大胆地采取了“光矛”的设计（车身侧面的装饰线条在向后延展的过程中不断扩大，创造出一种长矛般的阴影），与车顶的动感回流线条交相辉映，有点大众CC(Volkswagen CC)的感觉，也有点奔驰CLS (Mercedes-Benz CLS)的味道。最优美的外部装饰是沿着腰线从前大灯延伸到C柱的一条细细的弓形镀铬线条，就像流星一样划过车身，魅力十足。
Deconstructing the styling a bit: The Sonata strikes me as an aspirational placeholder kind of car, the sort of choice that will speak to people on their way up to benchmark luxury brands like Lexus, BMW, Mercedes. A luxury-car starter kit, if you will. Those sorts of buyers will equate style-the evident and obvious exertions of style rippling across the Sonata-with pride of ownership. It's worth noting that Hyundai will soon introduce the Lexus-like Equus sedan to the U.S. market-figure the early $60,000s to start-and, knowing that, I can't help seeing the Sonata as the bottom rung of a luxury ladder Hyundai is building, year by year.
让我们来进一步体会一下这种外观设计：索纳塔给我留下深刻的印象，彷佛那种在梦境中应留有一席之地的汽车，让人不由自主地联想起雷克萨斯(Lexus)、宝马 (BMW)、奔驰等豪华车品牌。可以这么说，索纳塔是一款入门级的豪华车。贯穿于索纳塔各个方面的设计理念彰显出现代公司的不懈努力，将令这款车的拥有者油然而生一种骄傲的心情。值得一提的是，现代公司即将在美国市场推出与雷克萨斯有几分相像的Equus轿车，起步价为6万多美元。了解了这一点，我不禁会预想现代汽车会逐渐成为入门级豪华车的选择之一。
Inside, the Sonata is roomy, comfortable and has some interesting choices of materials-the door panels are a kind of plasticized taffeta-but overall the car's interior is more conventional and less surprising than the exterior. The central console pours down from the upper dash between the front seats in a graceful cataract of switches and displays. However, the plastics are hard, the seats feel a little thin and door latches and switches feel and sound hollow. If I were the chief project engineer for the Sonata...well, first of all, I'd hire an engineer to replace me. But then I'd put more substance, more structure, behind these touch areas.
索纳塔的内部空间宽敞舒适，在用材方面有一些有趣的地方──车门内板使用一种类似塔夫绸的塑化材料──但整体而言，这款车的内饰风格相对于外型设计来说更为传统，没有那么多的惊人之笔。中央控制台位于两个前座椅的中间，由上而下的排列十分流畅，各种开关和仪表优雅地分布其中。不过，车内使用的塑料比较硬，椅子感觉有点薄，车门开合的感觉不太厚重，声音有些空洞。如果我是索纳塔的工程总监…… 当然，我首先会请个更专业的来辅助我，然后我就会选择在这些人车经常接触的地方用上更多的材料，设计更好的构造。
Nowhere does the program of radical economizing show more than in the engine sound. For all its high-tech direct-injection efficiency, this thing has a positively antique sound, with a valve click so pronounced it almost sounds like a diesel. I actually took a flashlight to my test car to see if perhaps the exhaust manifold gasket had sprung a pinhole leak, or else it had inadvertently sucked up a set of castanets. If this thing is in spec then, please, somebody send the company a box of hearing aids.
没什么比发动机声音更显现出索纳塔极端的成本控制了。虽然这款直喷发动机科技含量和燃油能效较高，但声音着实有些古董车的风范，引擎阀门开合的卡哒声太过明显，听上去简直就像柴油发动机。事实上，我专门拿着手电筒打开我测试那辆汽车的前盖，看是不是排气集管垫片坏了导致出现针孔状漏气，还是发动机意外吸入了作响的异物。如果这个现象属于正常，那么麻烦哪位给现代公司直接寄去一盒助听器吧。
Two hundred horsepower absolves a lot, however, and the Sonata GLS gets down the road with dispatch, if not wild abandon. This is not a performance car by any means; still, the Sonata feels reasonably spry, with nicely controlled body roll, accurate steering with good feedback, and assured braking. The six-speed automatic, with the shifter in manual mode, helps the car shed its cast of servile domestication when the road opens up and the driving mood darkens.
不过，200马力的引擎足以平息一些怨言，索纳塔GLS的速度即使称不上狂放，也是够迅猛的。当然，这款车的性能算不上顶级，但驾驶感觉相当灵动，车控感很好，转向精确，路感反馈清晰，刹车也很到位。借助六速手自一体变速箱，在开阔道路上或是感觉有些沉闷时可切换为手动模式，让车子从老老实实的驯服状态一下子脱胎换骨。
The common midmarket midsize sedan executed uncommonly well, the Sonata is a one-car price war, a line in the sand, daring competitors to cross. Which they won't, will they? I am agog at its value. And if you have a four-letter yardstick with which you measure cars, C-A-S-H, you can stop your search here. Ditto if your yardstick says M-P-G. But I'm still not quite in love with Hyundai, still not inspired to write that love sonnet. I wait for the Equus, quill in hand.
索纳塔这款定位于中端市场的中型轿车表现不同凡响，足以引发一场价格战，形成一个市场标准，看哪个竞争对手敢于超越。但我想，敢于出头的竞争对手寥寥无几。我对索纳塔的性价比推崇备至，如果你最看重的是性价比，那么索纳塔就将成为你搜寻后的最终选择；如果你最看重的是燃油经济性，结果也是一样。不过，我尚未对现代汽车完全痴迷，还没找到灵感为索纳塔写一首情诗。我把笔拿在手中，期待现代Equus能让我有此动力。
DAN NEIL
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