2007 Hyundai Sonata Sedan review and picture gallery.

Design tastes are extremely volatile in the automotive world. A styling cue like an arched-eyebrow headlight treatment can go from eye-catching to invisible in a couple years. Or it can survive for decades and come to be accepted as a brand trademark, such as BMW's twin-kidney grille. The Hyundai Sonata hasn't yet found its signature trademark cues, but the 2007's designers are looking in the right places.

The 2007 Hyundai Sonata's interior marks a major step up the quality ladder. Some rough edges on a few plastic molds and a less-than-lustrous finish on some dash panels are the only shortcomings we noticed. The overall look, though, is clearly competitive with most in the class and better than some.

A polished, hard-surfaced applique capped with a thin slice of chrome divides the upper and lower halves of the dash. The upper is a glare-absorbing dark color, the lower a space-enhancing light tone. The passenger airbag enclosure is seamless, mimicking the trend in higher-end midsize sedans.

Seats are comfortable, with adequate bolstering for the style of driving to which the Sonata aspires. The cloth upholstery on the GL looks and feels durable; on the GLS, it's a bit fancier in texture and stitching. The leather surfaces in the LX add a touch of class without pretending to be luxurious. The height adjustment on the driver's seat, both manual and power, pivots on the seat's front mounts, which effectively moves the seat forward as it rises. This compels taller drivers to choose between rearward seat travel and forward sightline, not always a happy compromise. On the upside, this adds inches to rear-seat legroom behind the driver, one of the multitude of measures in which the '06 Sonata bests the competition. Among the primary competitors, the new Sonata only comes in second to the Honda Accord in front and rear headroom and to the Toyota Camry in rear-seat headroom, but by a mere one- to three-tenths of an inch. And of the second-tier competitors, the Kia Optima alone betters the new Sonata and then only by three-tenths of an inch in front seat hip room.

The 2007 Hyundai Sonata comes in one body style, a four-door, five-passenger sedan. Two engines and three transmissions are available. The base engine is a 162-horsepower four-cylinder. The uplevel engine is a 235-horsepower V6. The four-cylinder can have either a five-speed manual transmission or a four-speed Shiftronic automatic. The V6 comes only with a new-for-2006 five-speed Shiftronic automatic.