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It has heated and cooled seats

So does the Model 3.

I drove a friends Model 3 and it is very disconcerting to have to look to your right

I drive a MINI with the speedometer in the middle of the dash, that is not a problem at all after a day or two.

It has 260 miles and access to CCS and ChargeAmerica

That range is OK although personally for a long road trip I think 300 would be a minimum, especially as you drain the car for various uses (like seat heaters).

I'm glad they have something but it still seems like Tesla has a much more expansive quick-charging network.

Rear visibility. The Model 3 is really difficult to get a clear rear view

I'll believe that when I see it as ALL new cars have incredibly poor rear visibility now, sloping roof or not.

In fact I do not believe it at all when I look at the rear shots of the Kona Electric (about fourth image from top), that is a tinier rear area to see through even than the Model 3 (especially with the roof being glass)! It is the typical no-visibility rear view window you find on every crossover SUV today.

And if you are doing a long 400 mile drive would you rather do it in a cramped sedan or a SUV with more legspace.

The Model 3 has a lot of leg space (my friend has one), these small crossover SUV's can often be worse depending on how they have allocated the cargo area.
I can tell you for sure I'd rather be in a Model 3 than a Rav4 for example....

Really.

Google has both the Hyundai Ioniq and the Kia Soul EV at 124 and 110 miles of range, or less than half of the not-yet-existing standard range Model 3, and a little over a third of the shipping for 6-months Model 3 long range.

Yeah, Hyundai has also "announced" the Kona EV with a 250 mile range, but there's exactly as many of those on the road as Model 3 standard range: zero.

So how is around 50% "similar" ? Or is it that they are similarly not available anywhere except a web site?

"The use of" "parts is required to keep your" "manufacturerâ(TM)s warranties and any extended warranties intact"

https://www.hyundaiusa.com/myhyundai/manuals-and-how-tos/Getfaq?faqId=2&category=Consumer_Awareness

"This warranty shall not apply if this product" "is used with products not sold or licensed by"

https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/manuals/warrantytext_us.jsp

"This warranty does not apply if this product" "has had the warranty seal on the" "altered, defaced, or removed."

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/support/warranties/ps4/

but they also have a lifetime battery warranty.

How sumptuously vague. It could mean that it lasts as long as it lasts or that if your battery fails they have you assassinated.

The 2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid’s new battery warranty will reportedly last for the life of the car. “If the battery fails, the company will replace it and take care of any recycling costs,” Cars.com reports." More here.

If the word "reportedly" makes you queasy, there's this, straight from Hyundai: The Lifetime Hybrid Battery Warranty applies to all U.S. 2012-2016 model-year Sonata Hybrids. The Lifetime Hybrid Battery Warranty ensures that if the lithium polymer battery fails, Hyundai will replace the battery and cover recycling costs for the old battery free of charge to the original owner. The Lifetime Hybrid Battery Warranty excludes coverage for vehicles placed in commercial use (e.g., taxi, route delivery, rental, etc.).

Also, if you sell the car, the next owner gets an additional 10 years/100,000 mile warranty on the battery.

I had a VW GTI Jetta that I just turned in just 3 weeks ago. The process was way to simple. My original goal was to just trade it in for a new GTI but VW abandoned the diesal in the states.

So I got a Hyundi Ioniq Hybrid instead. VW is WAY behind on there interior electronics. Even looking at the newer non diesel Jetta had no options in the way of LCD controls. The first time I tried Android Auto, I wondered why the hell everyone doesn't just do this instead of getting some proprietary menu. As a hybrid I have been getting about same mileage as I was from my GTI (about 44mpg per tank) so I am happy with that.

I wanted the Model 3, but no way that's is happening in the next year till manufacturing catches up with the pre-orders and knowing Tesla, a bunch of early small recalls initially too. It just shows that some 3rd tier automaker and build a decent hybrid with an interesting interior. I really hope this is a wake up call for VW because all they seem to have is the bettle.

Automatics get better fuel economy than manuals in all new cars now.

Sounds good. The only problem: it's not true. Granted, the efficiency of non-manual transmissions (traditional automatics, CVTs, automated manual transmission , etc.) has improved greatly, and in some cases it's better than manual transmissions, but from what I've seen from shopping for small cars, manual transmissions are still a bit more fuel efficient on average.

I won't post a ton of links, but your statement only requires a single counterexample to disprove, so here's one: the Hyundai Accent.

The model name is Equus. https://www.hyundaiusa.com/equ...

Actually, Hyundai, Kia and Mitsubishi all offer the 5/60 bumper/bumper and 10/100 powertrain warranties on all their new cars to this day. I dare say it hasn't translated to higher sales for Mitsubishi as effectively as it did for the Koreans.

https://www.hyundaiusa.com/ass...
http://www.kia.com/us/en/conte...
http://www.mitsubishicars.com/...

The Sonata is also available as a hybrid.
It's capable of 70 mph on electric.

yep, my parent's just got a car with a bluelink package, and the most basic GPS features are lumped into their most expensive package. That's just insane considering those features can be had for $100 upfront cost or by use of her smartphone considering she's already paying for a data connection.

Non-coincidentally, it so wants to be a Hyndia Sonata. That is literally Ford's version of the Sonata. Teh Fusion has a lot less horsepower and comparable MPG. Hell, Ford even embraced the 4-cylinder turbo concept which Hyndai kicked off in the midsize segment.

The Fusion is not ugly by any means, but as it typical, Ford is trailing everyone else.

This is targeted at retailers trying to use the products in a promotion to get customers

The most notable example, of course, being the iPad that comes with the Hyundai Equus.

Would you expect a car manufacturer to offer a 10 year warranty on all of their cars?

Yes.

http://www.hyundaiusa.com/global/warranty/warranty.aspx

http://www.kia.com/#/warranty

http://www.mitsubishicars.com/MMNA/jsp/owners/warranties.do

And for a short period of time, Chrysler had a lifetime warranty on their powertrains. If these companies can warranty a vehicle with an internal combustion engine and hundreds of moving parts for 10 years, Microsoft can suck it up and backport the patch.

>Why don't they take a cheap car and put a sexy face on it?

Well, they do. Look at the Hyundai Tiberon. It looks like a sexy sportscar, but its a cheap-ish Hyundai. I think buyers in the econobox market want a submissive car.

Im sure a lot of people shopping for Hyundais and Kias are turned off by the Tiberon as being "too sporty." They probably think its just going to burn too much gas and go too fast, but the Civic or similiar looks like your friendly pal who will do his best to get you to where you need to be without breaking down or burning too much gas.

Not to mention its difficult to market to women and families with over-masculine designs.

For a few more bucks than the base accord - $15,345 - you can pick up a Hyundai Accent GLS. It's got all the crap you want, and then some:

- 1.6-liter, 16-valve, DOHC, 4-cylinder engine with CVVT
- 5-speed manual transmission
- 4-speed automatic transmission with overdrive (optional)
- 4-wheel disc brakes
- Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD)
- Power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering
- Advanced dual front airbags, front seat-mounted side-impact airbags and roof-mounted side-curtain airbags
- Automatic front seatbelt pretensioners with force limiters
- Side-impact door beams
- 14" steel wheels and full wheel covers with P185/65HR14 tires
- 15" alloy wheels with P195/55VR15 tires (optional)
- Heated dual power outside mirrors (optional)
- Chrome accented front grille
- Bodycolor bumpers, bodyside moldings, mirrors and door handles
- Tinted glass with windshield shade band
- Variable intermittent windshield wipers
- Roof-mounted micro antenna for greater radio reception
- Most interior volume (passengers and cargo) for a sedan in its class
- 8-way adjustable driver seat with dual height adjustment
- Adjustable head restraints for all seating positions
- Driver's seat folding armrest
- Front seatback pockets
- Bottle holders and map pockets in all four doors
- Front and rear storage trays
- 60/40 split fold-down rear seatback
- Rear center folding armrest with cupholder
- 172-watt AM/FM/CD audio system with 6 speakers and equalizer
- Air conditioning (optional)
- Tachometer
- Power windows with driver's auto-down (optional)
- Remote keyless entry system with alarm (optional)
- Front illuminated vanity mirrors
- Rear recessed coat hook
- Two 12-volt outlets
Premium-Sport
- Air conditioning
- Power windows with driver's auto-down
- Power heated mirrors
- Power door locks
- Remote keyless entry with panic
- 15" alloy wheels with P195/55VR15 tires

And they have the "best warranty in america" - a statement I actually agree with.

Plus, it's not a Toyota :)

Ah...the young. You've got that nailed. We see life stretching out before us, never thinking that the next second we could be sliding off the road into a tree.

BTW, my other car is a 2005 Hyundai Tucson.

It was weird, but the car felt as if it were driving itself

For the record Hyundai is a Korean company but American Hyundais are made by Americans in Alabama. Just for the (off-topic) record.

As an example - if someone made a car that looked very much like a Jaguar, but cost a third as much and had more commodity parts under the hood, and started selling it as the Panther. That's very obviously wrong, and even those theme-makers will probably agree.

You mean something like this and this? Guess it's not always wrong as long as you aren't misrepresenting yourself.

I think that more often than not there is nothing wrong with imitation at all. It seems to drive down prices for end consumers and foster more rapid innovation. Linux brings together the best of UNIX, MacOS and MS Windows at the lowest price point possible for example. If patents, copyrights and trademarks were abused to the extreme to protect every little idea, how much innovation would market leaders have to meaningfully improve their product?

IM(NS)HO, of course

But, if you get a really environmentally-friendly system, you can produce the Hydrogen at a plant powered by solar, wind, hydroelectric, or other 'alternative' electricity-generating plant.

I'm lucky enough to live in Portland, OR, which is one of (and hopefully soon, THE) most environmentally friendly cities in the US. IIRC, we get a larger percentage of our electricity from 'environmentally-friendly' sources than any other US metropolis (metro area with >1M people.) Yeah, there are smaller cities and towns (most notably in California) that get larger percentages (up to 100%) of their electricity from friendly sources (IIRC, 1000 Palms gets 100% from wind.) But, Portland is a large city, thus it needs alot more power. We get our power from hydroelectric (dams on the Columbia river,) wind (just added in the Columbia River Gorge, one of the most predicably windy locations in the US, which has great windsurfing, BTW,) and unfortunately, coal. Ten years ago, we had a nuclear reactor running, too, but it had so many problems we voted to shut it down. (Aah, gotta love Oregon. The closest to a 'true democracy' of any state in the union. Any one citizen can start a petition to get an initiative on the state-wide ballot for absolutely anything he/she wants.) Personally, I'm happy that Portland is very bicycle-friendly (in large part due to Portland's Bicycle Transportation Alliance) and have chosen that as my primary mode of transportation. With a bike (and a bike-friendly city,) a good public transit system (also bike-friendly,) and a cheap, fuel-efficient car, I can go anywhere I want. Plus, when my company goes public, I'm going to convert my car to CNG, electric, or some other friendly technology.

As for fuel cells? They still have a few years before they mature for proper use in cars. Right now they don't produce enough power for their size to be practical in regular sedan-sized cars. Companies could probably make it work in either a large vehicle (pickup/van) or in a small vehicle with no storage (a la the Toyota Prius,) but not in a 'normal' car without sacrificing storage space.