Video: 2012 Hyundai Azera

It slots below the Genesis luxury sedan and competes with the likes of the Ford Taurus, the Toyota Avalon, and the Chrysler 300. We'll check out what's new. If you think you're seeing the popular Hyundai Sonata sedan here, I don't blame you. The Azera is the seventh car now to use Hyundai's fluidic sculpture design language. You see a lot of similar elements to the Sonata, things like this grill here and the headlights that sort of flow down toward the center. There's a strip here that runs along the headlights through to the cars beltline, similar again to the Sonata. The Azera is a few inches bigger. And I actually think the proportions are more tightly wrapped, better looking overall than the Sonata, especially as you get around in back where the tail lights have this sort of floating appearance. There's a center crossbar that says Azera. That's a cue from the prior generation. Less bulbous, though. Certainly a cooler look. Reminds me a little bit of a Jaguar XF. Not a bad thing for Hyundai. Hyundai claims more than 45 inches of front leg room and 40 inches of head room. Sometimes numbers lie, but in this case they don't, There's actually a ton of room for me to stretch my legs and go all the way up to the pedals there. Cabin materials in the show car, which is certainly subject to change by the time the Azera hits dealerships, are pretty good. There's nice sort of brush textures along the center controls. There's a stitched panel here on the upper door sections. I'm curious why Hyundai didn't stitch up any portion of the upper dashboard. That's something that a few entry-level luxury cars offer. The Azera will come pretty well equipped though. Leather upholstery, heated front and rear seats, and a navigation system with a backup camera are standard. A panoramic moonroof and ventilated front seats are optional. In the back seat, the seat sits a little bit low to the ground. It could be a little bit higher up. And headroom gets a little bit tight if you kind of just sit back like this, but otherwise it's really roomy back here. I've got a ton of leg room, inches to spare, and the floor hump's nice and low, so somebody can even sit in the center. A direct injection V6 gets 20 miles per gallon city, 29 miles per gallon highway, Hyundai says. That's competitive with the rest of the segment. But the segment sales are kind of on the decline, and Hyundai's already got the Genesis sedan sort of competing here. The Azera is a solid effort, but it was a bit player last year, and it's got a long road to climb before getting into the main stream. I'm also wondering if that stream is even worth swimming these days. <v Announcer>For more car related news, go to cars.com or our blog KickingTires.net.