One Little Change Makes A Big Difference In Hyundai's New Hybrid Sonata

I got a chance to take a short drive the 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid last week, and overall I was quite impressed.

The latest generation of the Sonata looks very much like its predecessor, but it has a few touches that make the car a true step up.

Most of those are under the hood, but others are cosmetic.

In that latter category is a particularly smart, simple upgrade: The wheels look a lot better.

Chris Hosford, Hyundai's executive director of corporate communications, told Business Insider those little changes are surprisingly hard to get approved.

But, he said, they make a big difference to American buyers. A lot of factors go into choosing a new car, and one of the most important — along with price, practicality, and performance — is what the car looks like.

Hyundai has made a hybrid that has solid EPA-rated fuel mileage (38 mpg city and highway combined), drives nicely, and will cost less than $26,000.

Thanks to a thought process that didn't skip the details, the new Sonata has the looks to match.

Here are the wheels on the 2013 model:

And in comparison, here's how they looked on the 2012 Sonata:

That was a big step up over what the 2008 model had: