1999 Hyundai Elantra 4dr Sdn Gl At (cooper Lanie 317-839-6541) on 2040-cars

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How the Blue Link Apple Watch app talks to Hyundai Sonata PHEV

Getting all of our electronic gadgets to talk to each other is the technologist utopia normally called the Internet of Things. Cars are no strangers to this new Internet and that means that your smartphone is getting more and more chatty with any number of vehicles, especially plug-in vehicles. The new 2016 Hyundai Sonata Plug-In Hybrid is the latest that can communicate with your phone, and it also has a new-found ability to talk to smart watches. We talked with Hyundai's manager of connected care publicity, Miles Johnson, about the new features in the Apple Watch app during out recent test drive of the Sonata PHEV. To be honest, there's nothing groundbreaking in the new Blue Link Apple Watch app except that it works on your wrist instead of your palm – you can see the state of charge and be guided to your car in a crowded parking lot – but we're still in favor of anything that makes electric vehicles seem one step ahead of your non-connected ride. You can get an up-close and personal look at the new app's capabilities in the video above and read our first drive of the PHEV and the standard hybrid here.

The 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid starts at $23,035

Good news, green-car fans: The Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid starts at $23,035. That means it not only manages better fuel mileage than the segment-leading Toyota Prius, it's also around $2,000 less expensive. Or, for $30,035, an Ioniq buyer can choose to go full electric, cutting the gasoline umbilical cord entirely. The Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid scores an EPA-estimated fuel mileage rating of 58 miles per gallon combined in its least-expensive Blue trim level. Stepping up to the SEL trim will add an extra layer of luxury goodies for $24,785, and the top-level Limited model will cost $28,335. Those two models earn EPA ratings of 55 mpg combined, which is still better than the 52 mpg combined estimate for the Prius. Hyundai's Ioniq Electric is the most efficient vehicle sold in America, with an EPA-rated MPGe (miles per gallon equivalency) of 136. Its range, though, is only 124 miles, which will certainly limit its usability for some potential buyers. We've heard that an updated Ioniq Electric will come by 2018 with a range of over 200 miles, which would allow it to properly compete with the Chevy Bolt and upcoming Tesla Model 3. Toyota doesn't currently off a fully electric Prius, though the $27,985 Prius Prime does get a plug for extended EV-only driving. Hyundai has yet to announce a price for the plug-in hybrid version of its Ioniq hatchback, though we do know it will travel up to 31 miles on electricity alone. Related Video:

U.S. appeals court preserves $210M Hyundai-Kia fuel economy class settlement

A U.S. appeals court restored a $210 million nationwide class-action settlement for hundreds of thousands of owners of Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors Corp vehicles whose fuel economy estimates were inflated. By an 8-3 vote on Thursday, in a case closely watched by class-action lawyers, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California, said vehicle owners had enough in common to let them settle as a group. It also rejected arguments by owners opposed to the settlement that the claims process was too burdensome, and that lawyers for the class had colluded with the automakers to extract a "sweetheart deal" that undervalued their claims. The case began after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found flaws in Hyundai's and Kia's testing procedures, prompting the automakers to lower fuel efficiency estimates for about 900,000 vehicles from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 model years. Lawyers for objecting drivers had no immediate comment. Hyundai said it was grateful for the decision. Kia and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The decision by Circuit Judge Jacqueline Nguyen upheld a settlement approved in June 2015 by U.S. District Judge George Wu in Los Angeles. Wu "made careful findings, which the objectors here largely do not challenge, and which more than support the judgment," Nguyen wrote. The decision reversed a divided three-judge 9th Circuit panel's January 2018 rejection of the settlement and decertification of the class action. That panel said Wu failed to assess whether differences in state laws prevented certification of a nationwide class. It also said used car owners should have been excluded because it was unclear whether they had relied on the South Korean automakers' fuel economy claims. Lawyers had said it would become much harder to obtain nationwide settlements if the panel ruling stood. Nguyen had dissented from the panel ruling. Circuit Judge Sandra Ikuta, who wrote it, dissented on Thursday. Ikuta accused the majority of failing to determine what law should apply to the nationwide class or how the settlement, and thus attorneys' fees, should be valued. "The majority's failure to correct these errors may be beneficial for the class action bar, but it detracts from compliance with Supreme Court precedent," Ikuta wrote. The 9th Circuit covers nine western U.S. states, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.