How has your Hyundai worked out for you ? (engine, cost, warranty)

[rosecitywanderer]

Originally Posted by FightinPhils

You wonder why other car companies don;t have a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty? Because companies like Honda, Toyota, Subaru, and Nissan don't need gimmick warranties to sell their cars. With them, you know you're getting a car that will be reliable for years to come. A warranty is only as good as the car....if I crap in a box and put a warranty on it, its still a piece of crap in a box.

Here's a crash course in economics, genius. If their cars were the 'piece of crap in a box' you claim they are, they would be out of money paying to fix them and/or begging for a government bailout. Some holes in your theory, friend.

And as far as gimmicks are concerned, Toyota has everybody by the balls and has started slapping some shoddy construction on the new Camry. I read some damning reviews of the new Camry that has lead me to believe they don't care about building a good car. They have the image and they are letting quality take a back seat to reputation.

Originally Posted by BLAZER PROPHET

My daughter's best friend had a mid 90's Elantra and it was, literally, in the junk yard at about 90,000 miles.

My best friend's wife had a small one in the early 90's and also made the junk yard at about 60,000.

Both vehicles just fell apart. The worst collection of nuts & bolts I had ever seen.

Now, about a decade later their commercials state their better than Toyota, M-B & BMW. Or is it comic relief?

The '80s and '90s Hyundais were terrible. Have you actually sat in/driven a new Hyundai? They're great. I've had fewer problems with my Santa Fe than my mom has had with her Lexus or my dad with his Acura.

Originally Posted by FightinPhils

My 2001 Elantra was junk. The transmission was on its last leg at just over 40,000 miles, and the car was well-maintained. Its had an on-again-off-again hesitation problem. I wouldn't recommend Hyundai to anyone. Honda and Toyota are your best best.

2001 was a turning point for these cars. It was after that things really turned around. I've read horror stories about the new Camry transmission problems, the sludging on their 3.0 V6, or the VVT-i problems on the Yaris 1.5 liter and Highlander 3.5 liter motors. Good cars they are but not worth $35,000. I had a '93 Previa van that I ran to 177,000 miles with not a lick of trouble; awesome vehicle. I've seen the newer Toyotas and I'm not impressed.

[rosecitywanderer]

Originally Posted by southernnaturelover

5 years is not long enough to have a good reliability record IMO. The average car at 5 years has about 75k miles on it, we need to see how well a Hyundai can stand up to 175k miles.

You can talk to a couple of the gents I know. Pick one.

- '02 Santa Fe V6 4WD - 180,xxx miles and has the ever loving crap beat out of it. It takes everything he hands it and it comes back asking for more.
- 01 Santa Fe 4-cyl - Somewhere near 300 grand by now I'm sure. He was at 225,000 back in '05.
- '04 Santa Fe V6 4WD - 107,200 miles (that's me)

[Epik151]

Truedelta is a good place to check reliability.

Hyundai is right up there with Honda and Toyota. Better with some models. Hyundai has a 3-year test period for all NA cars so year 1 here is actually like year 4 in terms of quality and reliability.

[bblaine]

my mom has a 2002 hyundai elantra with almost 200,000 miles on it and the ac just gave out. other than that, no problems.

i had a 2002 accent and the transmission went out in 05 but they paid to have it replaced. i would still have it today if it was for the crash test ratings (i have a baby now). i sold it in 2007 for $2500 in san diego... it's the bright blue one with 5 nautical stars across the back, honk if you see it : )

[texas7]

Originally Posted by FightinPhils

My 2001 Elantra was junk. The transmission was on its last leg at just over 40,000 miles, and the car was well-maintained. Its had an on-again-off-again hesitation problem. We ditched it for a Toyota Corolla and couldn't be happier. The Toyota is a well-built, reliable car, fuel efficient, and with a remarkably smooth ride for a small car. The exact opposite of the Hyundai, which is a cheaply built (very cheap parts, right down to the paint and the interior), gas hog (the Elantra is a small car, yet it seemed to have SUV-like gas mileage), and very unreliable. I wouldn't recommend Hyundai to anyone. Honda and Toyota are your best best.

However, if you do your research - you'll find that Hyudai has made a huge turnaround in quality, reliability and style since 2001. In fact, since 2005 or 2006 they've made a huge leap. So to compare apples to apples you'd need to compare current newer models.

Since the 90's I have had a Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and now an 07 Hyundai Santa Fe. Loved them all - love my Santa Fe. My friends who ride in it love it as well. Yeah it saves about $5k when compared to similarly equipped or lesser equipped cars by other makers but I got a lot of value for my $$, it rides well and so far has never had any issues after about 40k miles.

[canibeyou]

Originally Posted by FightinPhils

You wonder why other car companies don;t have a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty?

I've never once wondered that. The way I look at it is, once they (the other car companies) get your money they couldn't give one crap about you, hence their warranties (or lack of).

If that's not their stance, perhaps they should step up and give a warranty that is comparable and then sit back and relax knowing no one's gonna have to use it.


I'm not gonna hold my breath.

[FlyGuy]

Hi Everyone,
I had a 1996 hyundai elantra wagon bought it with 18k. I loved that car. We had no problems with it. All we ever did to the car was routine manitence. It had 180k when we got rid of it. The only thing i will say is that the inside was falling apart the door handles were breaking all the time. Other than that i have no complaints on the cars. I would buy another one. All i can say is that all cars have there problems. Just some are bigger than others .

[Tennesseestorm]

I know a older man with a 2005 Sonata... he rarely drives it, because he has a truck he mostly drives. I think he said the Sonata has 12K miles. He said he took it into the dealer once for an oil change when it had 9K miles on it and they said it had an oil leak. Not sure where it was, but he said they fixed it.... he said other than that, its a fine car. 2005 was the last year of that style.

I know a girl with a 2000 Sonata that said her voltage regulator or alternator failed and it shorted out alot of her electrical system. Not sure if she was mistaken, but she said it blew alot of bulbs and her radio started sizzling and smoking. I thought fuses were designed to protect against this? Guess not. Hers is a RARE 5-speed manual shift model.... she had the clutch replaced 2300 miles ago and its gone out again. Amazing, but she said that radio still works!

I know another girl that had a 2000 Elantra... it was a good car, but she literally ran it into the ground. She never changed the oil, tires or brakes and one time with 6 people in the car, she jumped some RR tracks going 60 mph and slammed back down so hard that it cracked the windshield! It was still running, but she inherited a 2000 Chevy Blazer and a 1990 Buick Century with 49K and now the Elantra is parked and has been for about a year now. Now she can run those in the ground, but I think she has matured some since then... I hope.

[Dwatted Wabbit]

Originally Posted by Sayantsi

Its funny you say that, because while it may be a gimmick, it helps sell cars. I have a friend on her second Santa Fe - 78k mi on the first, 50k mi and counting on the second, and the only problem she had was a piece of trim fell off her second one.

My Honda fwiw, went into the shop for warranty work four times over its 36k mi warranty period. Honda doesn't need to extend the warranty to sell cars, but that just means you start paying for repairs sooner.

I had a friend who had a late 80s Hyundai, orange. I think they made one model then, so whatever that was. She had 130,000 on it and no problems. She loved her Hyundai.

My 2003 Accord was in the shop at least three times for the rear drums. The problem wouldn't go away. Drums are dumb.

I have a 2007 KIA Spectra, a Hyundai Elantra clone. It's an excellent car, a very stable and smooth driver at all speeds.
Consumer Reports trashes it in their write ups, but I think they drove a different car.
Corners reluctantly? NO. 25 MPG? NO, I've gotten that a couple of times but that's the low end of the scale.
Paid a bit over 12000 for a new 07 in early 08.

D-I-L had an 07 Rondo. There is no direct Hyundai relative, but Hyundai is the parent company. It was a great car until T-boned by a red light runner. Side bags went off and probably saved serious injury, it hurt her enough as it is.
Replaced it with an 08 Sorento, an extra 900 LBS. and V6 power. That car drives like a dream, again CR says it bounces and rides like a truck. It rode like 1961 Impala, jet smooth ride but with good cornering stiffness, stability control, abs, side bags and knee bag, and paid $16,000 for a new 2008 about two weeks ago. A very nice car.

Having owned maybe 30 cars in my life I will say the one thing that p's me off is something that keeps breaking. The next thing is a dealer who won't do his duty.

I really haven't had a lot of trouble with any of my cars. A Buick dealer did me dirty with a warranty instrument cluster replacement that they didn't want to do. They then reset the odometer 2000 miles high. They were incredibly arrogant and that's a good way to put your company under.

Honda was good about fixing and fixing again the drum brakes, but drums are 1970s technology and I don't see the point in saving 10 bucks per car by using such junk. The warranty work cost them much more.

Hyundai/KIA. Good cars, I'd buy another in a minute.

[RT85]

I had a 2001 Elantra. It had a great engine and transmission. But the electronics were horrible. My power windows would open but not close. Every minute on the clock in the dash lasts 74 seconds. Taking the key out would not turn off the accessories. Finally, the odometer quit working at 63,530 miles. I drove the car for another 4,000 miles before trading it in for a Yaris.

Despite all the electrical problems, the car drove great. I got between 35 and 40 MPGs.

I would consider buying another Hyundai after my Yaris expires.

P.S. Don't tell the Toyota dealership about the broken odometer.