"Why don't you call us more often?" my mom would always ask me. Argh. The fact is I'm not much of a phone person anyway so she really shouldn't take it personally. I rather use text messaging and emails for casual communication. That way I don't interrupt the recipient of said messages in the middle of their day and they can get back to me whenever. Plus, I'm not big on chitchat. In any case, I realized that thanks to cars like our 2011 Hyundai Sonata with its Bluetooth hands-free ability, I do call my mom a lot more now.
I know this isn't something that's special only to the Sonata but I came to the above realization when I was driving the Hyundai the other day. It was an especially heinous rush hour and with nothing to do but stop and go, I decided to call her up again, even though I had just spoken with her the day before when I was in the Kia Optima. Needless to say, she was delighted.
Now regarding pairing my iPhone with the Sonata, editor Carroll Lachnit blogged how she had no trouble at all connecting her phone to the car, while I actually did. No biggie, but I just didn't find it as instantaneous as she did. First the car has to be in Park, not just in Drive with your foot on the brake. Yes, that means, you can't even save time by having your passenger do it for you.
In any case, my iPhone had trouble locating the Sonata signal. It wasn't til I gave up after four tries that I just decided to make the phone call using my phone (still parked). But when I initiated the call, that's when the Bluetooth picked it up and suddenly I was now connected and talking through the car. That may have just been a fluke, however, since Carroll had not problems like that.
Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor
jaeger1 says:
11:52 AM, 04/29/11
I am no techie - but my phone paired with the Sonata in a snap, with all my contacts pulled.
GT5000 says:
11:56 AM, 04/29/11
Did you guys get a Genesis coupe?
nick944 says:
11:57 AM, 04/29/11
@GT5000- I sure hope they did, it would make an interesting addition.
caroscuro says:
12:00 PM, 04/29/11
@GT5000 @nick944, No, that was when we had it as a short-termer.
steevmitch says:
02:09 PM, 04/29/11
I have a Gen Coupe (2 years now) and I def think they should get one for this blog. I was rather puzzled that with all the "game changing" adds to the fleet that this went overlooked. Seems like a major player and gamer changer, especially from Hyundai. In fact, I know it won a comparison or 2 with the Mustang and Camaro (both have been in the mix). My car, for $25K, is amazing value and performance, not to mentioned featured UP.
Speaking of...the Bluetooth in the Hyundai is the easiest, most accurate system I've ever used. I've tried to pair in the many rentals I've had and the Hyundai system is a total snap. I'm still astonished about how accurate the voice-activated calling system is. She never gets the name wrong. Never. And YES, I'm not a caller either, but find myself making calls to people just cause it's so easy in the car. Genius.
ryster says:
11:35 AM, 05/ 1/11
The Bluetooth in the 2011 Sonata is very buggy. It was totally unusable with my Samsung Alias2. Contacted Samsung, they said it was a Hyundai issue. Contacted Hyundai, they said it was a Samsung issue. Contacted Verizon and they said there were no firmware updates and there was really nothing they could do. Was able to find another Alias2 user with a different firmware version on their phone, and it wouldn't work with the Sonata either.
Finally gave up and got an HTC G2 (T-Mobile) Android, and everything is just fine.
Check out some of the online Hyundai forums, and they are full of posts related to issues with the 2011 Sonata Bluetooth system.