Do we like or hate this Hyundai shifter?

I have a Hyundai Sonata as a loaner while the Elantra is having some work done. It has an odd transmission that I kinda hated at first, but am slowly warming to it. The best feature is that when you want to park, you just turn off the car and it shifts into park and applies the parking brake automatically. When you shift to drive or reverse, the parking brake comes off automatically. If you shift to park before shutting the car off, you have to manually engage the parking brake which is odd. Takes me back to my old column-shift Impala days, 

Semi-related, my '21 F-150 would automatically apply the parking brake when you shifted to park if you engaged the "trailer hitch" view on the camera when backing up. I thought that was really handy as you naturally don't want that 3" of roll you potentially get as the park pawl actually takes up when you're backing up to a trailer. Similarly, it would take the parking brake off once you touched the throttle. The screen would admonish you to "remove parking brake before moving" or some such, but I never listened. If it'll do it for me, I'll continue to let it.

If a video is necessary to show me how a shifter works, I'm gonna hate it.

I test-drove a new Kona a little while ago. It had one of these new selectors, though I had little issue using it.

I think it would take me a little while to develop the muscle memory to reach "up" for gear changes instead of "down," but no qualms from me.

New things can be fun sometimes. 

(It's also worth mentioning all trims but the N Line gets an 8-speed auto. The N Line gets an 8-speed DCT)

Appleseed said:

If a video is necessary to show me how a shifter works, I'm gonna hate it.

Oh, how true.   

I watched the video.  From 1:18 mark to the 1:38 mark they detail the SIX STEPS needed if you with to have the engine running but the car in neutral.  REALLY!  

Colin Wood said:

It's also worth mentioning all trims but the N Line gets an 8-speed auto. 

I am kinda surprised to hear that, I swore it had a CVT .  It is really bad when pulling out from a stop, and pedal position, engine rpm, and acceleration are not related in any way. You can have high RPM with no acceleration, lots of pedal pressure with no increase in RPM,  or high RPM for 5 seconds after you release the pedal. Its pretty bad. 

I am all for simplifying any given process. Getting away from these silly gates is a good thing.

So the little nubbin that you just twist gets my approval but..... That procedure for putting the car in neutral made my head explode. 

Just give me a forklift style shifter on an automatic I guess

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
did they not learn for the Chrysler Jeep debacle? I like others have said, if you have to make a video to show me how it works you failed.

Yeah same shifter in my wife's Ioniq5 and it's fairly intuitive as fast as as new-era shifters go.

Only weirdness we discovered was at the car wash where we found out that it won't hold N if you shift there from park. You have to shift to neutral from drive, then hit the button to confirm neutral, for it to stay in neutral. If you go to neutral from park, even if you hit the confirm button, it will quickly throw the car back into park again. Not the easiest thing to figure out when everyone behind you in line is honking.

JG Pasterjak said:

Yeah same shifter in my wife's Ioniq5 and it's fairly intuitive as fast as as new-era shifters go.

Only weirdness we discovered was at the car wash where we found out that it won't hold N if you shift there from park. You have to shift to neutral from drive, then hit the button to confirm neutral, for it to stay in neutral. If you go to neutral from park, even if you hit the confirm button, it will quickly throw the car back into park again. Not the easiest thing to figure out when everyone behind you in line is honking.

I hate cars that argue with me with a hot white passion, burning with the intensity of a thousand suns.

John Welsh said:

Appleseed said:

If a video is necessary to show me how a shifter works, I'm gonna hate it.

Oh, how true.   

I watched the video.  From 1:18 mark to the 1:38 mark they detail the SIX STEPS needed if you with to have the engine running but the car in neutral.  REALLY!  

Eh.  At least you have the option, that doesn't involve removing interior panels so you can access a lanyard to pull.

BTW, in most cars, if you pull that lanyard and start the engine, it'll set codes.  Hope you don't need to pass emissions anytime soon...

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

John Welsh said:

Appleseed said:

If a video is necessary to show me how a shifter works, I'm gonna hate it.

Oh, how true.   

I watched the video.  From 1:18 mark to the 1:38 mark they detail the SIX STEPS needed if you with to have the engine running but the car in neutral.  REALLY!  

Eh.  At least you have the option, that doesn't involve removing interior panels so you can access a lanyard to pull.

BTW, in most cars, if you pull that lanyard and start the engine, it'll set codes.  Hope you don't need to pass emissions anytime soon...

Also, in most new GM products with the neutral lanyard, as soon as you pull the lanyard, it then activates the electronic parking brake. So even though the transmission is in neutral, you still can't move it, because no amount of cajoling will get it to release the parking brake unless you put it in neutral. So you also need to either pull the fuse or unplug the actuators before pulling the lanyard.

Also, a lot of new GMs have no way to actually put in neutral if the engine doesn't run. The C8 manual says that if the engine can't be run, to just skid the car. And currently, I've got a 2023 Suburban with 25k miles with the typical locked-up 6.2L (hey, congrats, at least you made it past the first oil change!), and the only way to move it if the engine doesn't run, per GM, is to either crawl under it and unbolt the shift cable and install a special tool to actuate the shift lever, or to put dollies under the rear wheels. I can't get under it, because I'm kind of a big dude and the frame on the modern mall-crawler Suburban is so low, plus it's parked in a snow bank. And the dollies don't work, because again, it's in a snow bank and the parking lot is a rutted, rough icy mess.

In reply to NickD :

For that situation,  we used to just call the tow company that dropped it off and ask them nicely to drop it in the building for us.  We had a good working relationship with one of the local companies(*) and they'd usually do this for us within an hour.

* When an axle fell out of my S40(**) about 30-40 miles from home, I called them.  They drove down, picked me up, then hauled the car to my shop, which included a short hike on the Ohio turnpike.  Cost? $100.

** I was on the way to Columbus to "sell" the car to EvanB, after which he was going to drive us to Grand Rapids to pick up the S60.  The axle was new, and there was nothing keeping the carrier bearing in place, so the axle just sort of walked its way out of the trans.  I warrantied the axle and welded the new axle's bearing to the intermediate shaft.

John Welsh said:

I watched the video.  From 1:18 mark to the 1:38 mark they detail the SIX STEPS needed if you with to have the engine running but the car in neutral.  REALLY!  

That's for holding neutral when turning the engine off, not keeping it on. When the engine is still running, it's easy. I get making it difficult for drivers to accidentally put the car in neutral when turning the car off.

We have a pretty good slope to our driveway - in our Audis, if you put it in park it automatically sets the park brake on that sloped driveway - if you're on level ground it doesn't. I haven't been able to ascertain at what angle it makes the decision to set the brake!

Coming out of our 2014 Audi with it's very conventional 8 speed automatic into the newer one with its 7 speed DCT took a bit of retraining of the muscle memory. Sometimes even now I have to pause and look at it to make sure I'm doing it right.....

NickD said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

John Welsh said:

Appleseed said:

If a video is necessary to show me how a shifter works, I'm gonna hate it.

Oh, how true.   

I watched the video.  From 1:18 mark to the 1:38 mark they detail the SIX STEPS needed if you with to have the engine running but the car in neutral.  REALLY!  

Eh.  At least you have the option, that doesn't involve removing interior panels so you can access a lanyard to pull.

BTW, in most cars, if you pull that lanyard and start the engine, it'll set codes.  Hope you don't need to pass emissions anytime soon...

Also, in most new GM products with the neutral lanyard, as soon as you pull the lanyard, it then activates the electronic parking brake. So even though the transmission is in neutral, you still can't move it, because no amount of cajoling will get it to release the parking brake unless you put it in neutral. So you also need to either pull the fuse or unplug the actuators before pulling the lanyard.

Also, a lot of new GMs have no way to actually put in neutral if the engine doesn't run. The C8 manual says that if the engine can't be run, to just skid the car. And currently, I've got a 2023 Suburban with 25k miles with the typical locked-up 6.2L (hey, congrats, at least you made it past the first oil change!), and the only way to move it if the engine doesn't run, per GM, is to either crawl under it and unbolt the shift cable and install a special tool to actuate the shift lever, or to put dollies under the rear wheels. I can't get under it, because I'm kind of a big dude and the frame on the modern mall-crawler Suburban is so low, plus it's parked in a snow bank. And the dollies don't work, because again, it's in a snow bank and the parking lot is a rutted, rough icy mess.

It would never occur to me that this would be a thing to check for before buying a car. Now I'm even less interested in modern GM and Hyundai vehicles.

Had to drive a Hyundai a few weeks ago with that shifter. If someone hadn't explained it to me I'd probably still be in the parking lot. Well the rest of the the car is a piece of E36M3 why should the shifter be any different?

I'm surprised that some manufacturers make it so hard or even impossible to engage neutral. Seems like the are just asking for more damage. This is a safety hazard in my opinion.

Seems less annoying than Ford's stupid rotary knob shifter. The auto park/auto park brake stuff isn't unique, I'm pretty sure at least a few other brands have some variety of it. Hondas with the push button shifters for sure. For that matter, my decade old manual transmission Porsche will engage the brake if you park on a hill, and auto disengages when you drive off.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

"I hate cars that argue with me with a hot white passion, burning with the intensity of a thousand suns."

This needs to be said again.

The maddest I've been in recent years was because of the traction control (that you couldn't turn off) in my Focus ZXW a few years ago. I was raised in Mississippi. I know what it takes to get through this muddy patch. The berkeleyer took away the gas pedal and put the brakes on. I'm pissed all over again just thinking about it. The hell with all that E36 M3.

My Maverick hybrid also puts the transmission in park when you turn the engine off or open the door while it's in gear.

Of course, some dude on the Maverick forum was bitching because he couldn't move the truck on his ranch property with the door open.

I rarely use the parking brake but it didn't like how it automatically releases when you put it in drive or reverse and give it some throttle. It makes bad sounds.

I don't like change for the sake of change or "innovation". If the function is not intuitive, then it's a poor design.

A shift lever on the column has worked well for close to a century, I haven't seen where any of these modern versions has improved on its function.