2015 HYUNDAI AZERA LIMITED
Interior view of the 2015 Hyundai Azera Limited.
The 2015 Hyundai Azera Limited’s ride was so smooth, so effortless, that I actually found myself straining to feel potholes or to hear even the slightest bit of road noise, writes Sally Miller Wyatt.
My father-in-law had a very simple demand for the cars that he owned, and we used to tease him about it a lot. This Navy veteran insisted on a ride so smooth, it was if he were sailing along. “The car just has to float,” he’d say, accompanied by a waving hand gesture. Whenever he’d ride with me in my test cars, he’d judge those cars on their ability to float, and any bumps or jostles got a teasing review: “That was a rough ride, Sally.”
My test car this month would have made him proud. The 2015 Hyundai Azera Limited’s ride was so smooth, so effortless, that I actually found myself straining to feel potholes or to hear even the slightest bit of road noise. Pop would have loved this car.
The 2015 Hyundai Azera Limited has its steering and suspension is based on a MacPherson strut front suspension, with coil springs and a front stabilizer bar, and a multi-link independent rear suspension. Both are maximized through something called Sachs Amplified Selective Dampers. They allow the suspension to be flexible enough for “optimal small bump comfort.” Now, that’s what Pop was talking about. It also improves ride comfort by providing superior body and wheel control, and optimizing tire contact with the road surface.
The Hyundai Azera is also a light car – at 3,684 pounds it is lighter than the Ford Taurus or Buick LaCrosse — which helps with agility, performance and fuel efficiency.
It’s also packed with lots of advanced safety features, which are standard, and that appeals to my focus on family safety and budgets. Blind Spot Detection with Rear Cross-traffic Alert and Lane Change Assist are standard and I give that a huge thumb’s up. It helps to warn you to drivers in your blind spot, or those that are behind you when you’re backing up. Not only is this great for seasoned drivers, but young ones just learning the hazards of parking lots. Lane Change Assist measures the distance closing rate of a vehicle in the lane next to you, to let you know with audible and visual alerts that it’s safe to move over. Great to have, especially if you’re a commuter.
Some models also have the Lane Departure Warning, which alerts you when you drift out of the lane without turning on your blinker. Also new for 2015 is Forward Collision Warning, which lets you know if a collision is imminent. That alarm sounded for me as I came too close to the car ahead of me while slowing down for a light.
Also standard, and new for 2015, are illuminated door sill plates, a hands-free smart trunk opener, an eight-inch color LCD navigation display, and a newly designed center stack design on the dashboard. On the exterior, new LED fog lights are added to the Limited editions, and the front grille and front and bumpers have been restyled.
Behind the wheel I found the seats to be comfortable and the visibility to front and sides was good. The side view mirrors are not so large that they obstruct things, as is the case with some cars.
The rear seat is good sized, and can easily seat two adults and a child in the middle.
The trunk is wide and accommodating, easily swallowing up large items such as suitcases and a week’s worth of groceries.
The 2015 Hyundai Azera is top of the line for this manufacturer and the “fit and finish” is top drawer. If you’re searching for a good-sized, feature-packed family sedan that gets high marks for safety, then this might be your car. If you’re craving smooth sailing, then it certainly must be.
