2006 Sonata GLS V6 and 1991 PLymouth Laser RS Turbo

**Jun aka Pekto** · August 27th, 2014 09:39 AM

Coast to coast road trip. Rest area in Illinois.

**Jun aka Pekto** · September 9th, 2014 10:29 PM

Last leg of our road trip. We eventually racked up 3200 miles (5150km) without problems.

Now, the wife can call herself a road warrior.

The Sonata also reached 162,000 miles* (261,000km) on the odometer. Still accelerates very well. I can't overload it with cargo (800lb limit) anymore though. The rear suspension gives a bit too easily now. No problem. Once we reached our final destination, its only cargo is me from now on.

* In comparison, my 1991 Plymouth Laser RS Turbo was on its last legs when it reached 162,000 miles. The 4G63T died at 167,000 miles. The Lambda 3.3 of the Sonata looks to be a much more durable engine.

**Jun aka Pekto** · June 17th, 2015 01:32 PM

My 2006 Sonata V6 back when it was new in 2005 and (almost) a decade later:

**EQAddict** · June 17th, 2015 06:17 PM

Very clean

**Jun aka Pekto** · June 17th, 2015 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by EQAddict

Very clean

Good thing the car is wet on the bottom photo. It's hiding the dent and scratches.

**Jun aka Pekto** · June 18th, 2015 05:40 AM

Oh. I was wrong about the odometer reading of the Sonata at 162,000 miles. It's now at 170,150 miles (273,830 km).

**Jun aka Pekto** · June 24th, 2015 06:52 PM

Moments before (yet) another blizzard hit, winter 2013-2014. Found some photos from the wife's smartphone. She was wondering why all work and classes were cancelled along with no unnecessary travel. She found out soon enough. About two minutes after the photo was taken, the visibility became so bad we couldn't see the tree nearby.

**Jun aka Pekto** · June 24th, 2015 11:36 PM

One of the last big snow of the 2013-2014 winter. 24 hours prior, all the snow were gone and it felt like spring. Then some time past midnight, more snow fell.

Although the license plate screws are all rusted out, the car's paint and finish actually held up very well.

**Horsepower** · June 30th, 2015 10:17 AM

Nice photos Jun! Never been to the US yet but my wife says snow is nice (I counter by saying: not for the one who'll shovel all that frost. hehehe).

I see that your Sonata is indeed holding up very well. Here in the PH, unfortunately, they raised the price way too much 2Million i think for a tiny 2.4L! A few years back, one can get a Sonata for just a million bucks. No wonder I never see any new Sonata on the roads. At its price, it's a hardsell compared to 3.5L Accord, 3.5 Camry and 3.5 Altima but I'm afraid of that 3.5L's appetite so I'm waiting for the 2.0L Diesel Altima. Regards to the wife and kids!

PS,
what happened to your plan of retiring here (and perhaps working as a meteorologist/weatherman)?

**Jun aka Pekto** · June 30th, 2015 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by Horsepower

Nice photos Jun! Never been to the US yet but my wife says snow is nice (I counter by saying: not for the one who'll shovel all that frost. hehehe).

I see that your Sonata is indeed holding up very well. Here in the PH, unfortunately, they raised the price way too much 2Million i think for a tiny 2.4L! A few years back, one can get a Sonata for just a million bucks. No wonder I never see any new Sonata on the roads. At its price, it's a hardsell compared to 3.5L Accord, 3.5 Camry and 3.5 Altima but I'm afraid of that 3.5L's appetite so I'm waiting for the 2.0L Diesel Altima. Regards to the wife and kids!

PS,
what happened to your plan of retiring here (and perhaps working as a meteorologist/weatherman)?

Let me answer the last question first. I got the wife pregnant...... End of story.

More recently, that super typhoon caused a lot of damage to her family business in Leyte. That means I have to keep working and help get their business back on its feet.
-----

I'm also not a big fan of the direction Hyundai is taking lately. I don't like seeing 4-cyl turbos on midsize sedans. I've always liked the V6 Hyundais. My 2006 Sonata 3.3L was the lightest, stripped down version which I got for $19000 out the door. I'm not going to see that kind of pricing again. Nowadays, a V6 car is around $30,000.

The Sonata did pretty good on the snow. There were large numbers of Sonatas in Upstate New York which is strange for a FWD car in snow country. It doesn't even have traction control. It does have ESC which kicked in at just the right time, keeping the car straight and pointed in the right direction.

Edit:

If we had just one kid (the eldest), the wife and I could have made a good living in the PH on my pension alone. I could have stayed at a resort every day or indulged in my favorite hobby (meteorology). But, you know. Things never go according to plan.