IS Australia ready for another posh Hyundai? The South Korean company says yes, pointing to exemplary owner-satisfaction ratings in America as well as its newfound obsession with quality. But the last Grandeur, the XG, was a dynamic laughing stock as well as a sales flop, so it's a risky business resurrecting that old name. Yet Hyundai has reason to be confident, because this time the NF Sonata donates its competent base, the new TG model's styling works in, well, a grand sort of way, and there's plenty of plushness for the money. So can the Grandeur actually make it for Hyundai after all?
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XG Grandeur
Released: September 1999
Ended: January 2004
Family Tree: GrandeurThe South Korean company's first crack at the luxury segment was an unmitigated flop in more ways than one. Based on the 1998 front-wheel drive EF Sonata platform, the '99 XG arrived straight from the factory with roly-poly American-market suspension settings for a sick-inducing, tyre-squealing experience. Add strange styling and a chintzy interior and it's not hard to see why Australians kept away in their thousands - although around 4200 finally found homes here. Under the engine bay lurked a 141kW/260Nm 3.0-litre V6 mated to a slick five-speed automatic gearbox.
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