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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I have had bad experience with Toyota, twice, and will never buy one again.
Honda seems to be reliable but I drive a Civic Hybrid at work and the non-powertrain quality is terrible. Things like windows falling out.
When looking for a commute beater I ended up with an older Ford Escort, but I did look at several Hyundais with well over 100,000 miles still going strong, and these were from the late 90s when the quality was said to be poor. I guess time will tell.
About 5 years ago, my brother bought a Hyundai Santa Fe, and it has proven to be "bulletproof". Because it was so reliable and trouble-free, when he needed an additional vehicle, he bought a Hyundai Azera.
While he did have some initial problems with the Azera (traced to a defective temperature sensor), once that situation was resolved, the Azera has proven to be equally trouble-free for the 3 years that he has owned it.
So--I am sorry if the OP had a negative experience with his Hyundai, but that is not necessarily similar to the experience of others.
Because the crazy markup for a Honda and Toyota isn't worth it. Plus, Toyota's interiors are fugly.
I'm very happy with my '11 Kia Optima EX. I only wish Kia would put AWD in it. If Subaru could actually build a quality interior and give it features (keyless ignition, standard bluetooth/sirius, etc) at a good price, I would have went the Legacy route.
I keep my cars for 3-4 years, then move on to the next greatest thing. Reliability isn't a big deal to me, since I'm covered under warranty and it's still a new car. People that buy 5+ old used cars want something reliable, because they tend not to have a lot of money. Then I can understand looking at a Toyota or Honda.
Whether you think Toyota is boring (it is) or Honda is living off its past (subjective), isn't relevant to my issues with reliability. You want to applaud Hyundai for its features, for it's interior, for it's styling, all true, the Veloster is very nice looking, but that doesn't apply to what I'm talking about as far as Reliability goes, which, IMO, is the most important thing.
It'd be one thing is we were talking about a car company that was trying to make a comeback, but Hyundai can't make a comeback because it has never been good to start with. Never. And yes, their are other cars. Like I said, the Veloster looks nice, the Genesis, I'm not really talking about the genesis, I'm talking more about the high volume sellers, the commuter cars, the cars that you don't drive hard and so they shouldn't be falling apart the way a Hyundai will.
The Sonata, the Elantra are the main ones, comparing them to the Accord, Civic, Camry, and Corolla. Toyota and Civic being two companies that again, aren't particularly known for their style and flash. Never. They've always have pretty conservative styling, but they don't sell the most because of how they look but because of how well they run, and in that regard, Hyundai has always disapointted. Sure you'll have some stories of how someone has had a Hyundai for years and never a problem, but that's the exception and not the rule in the case of Hyundai, and studies into Hyundai's as a whole have shown that they have major issues, and I seriously doubt that they've gone from practically the very bottom, to the top in essentially a year.
I don't own a Hyundai, nor a Toyota. I own several Hondas. Yes they have been very reliable.
But for millions of people around the world, reliability is important but maybe not the most important thing.
Even if it is - are you ignoring the vastly improved reliability of Hyundai? How can you say they aren't reliable today? A number of Hondas today are rated "average reliability" by Consumer Reports. Same story for several Toyotas. Hyundai's original disaster car, the Excel, then the Accent, do not reflect current Hyundai quality. Today's Sonata, Elantra, Santa Fe, etc. are at least "average" quality now.
I have some concerns that Hyundai is expanding too fast, and will cut a few corners to get new cars to market. I think Toyota did that in their drive to overtake GM. But Hyundai is long past the days when they bought engines from Mitsubishi. They do some fine work, including their engines.
So if you have some data to back up your slam against Hyundai, please link it here.
Gee, another 'this brand of car sucks compared to..."
If the OP thinks Hyundai is no good, don't buy one.
I try, not always successfully, to resist reading these threads: anecdotes and arm wrestles, imo.
And, I don't get the intent by the OP, other than inane pot stirring.
GL, mD
I have owned/driven a Honda civic and a Honda Accord in the past. Three and a half years ago I purchased a Hyundai and prefer it hands down to either of the Hondas. So far it has required nothing but regualar matience and I appriciate the bargin as I have other things I would rather spend $ on than the nameplate on a car.
I also have a friend who purchased an Elantra back in the 90's (when the quality was known to be poor) and drove it like crazy- and her teenage daughter is driving it now.
dont forget that toyota, honda, and nissan all started out building cars of less than stellar quality as well. hyundai has improved their quality control substantially, and will continue to do so.
Correct. Just like Ford doesn't make Model As anymore, Hyndai doesn't make Stellars and Exels anymore. This is modern manufacturing in action: you can't MAKE a truly bad car anymore in most car making nations (not going to include China in that yet, though the Chinese are catching up fast, too).
Quantitatively, and qualitatively, it's been proven repeatedly that Hyundais of today ARE as good as Hondas and Toyotas. And from a purely anecdotal perspective, having owned a fairly recent Accent, I'd have to agree.
Actually, now they codevelop their engines with Mitsubishi. Before their cars were just poorly copied licensed clones of old Mitsubishi tech.
I think that cooperation with Mitsubishi is limited to the 2.4L engine, and the R&D is led by Hyundai now, not Mitsubishi. The original "GEMA" effort that included Chrysler is down to Hyundai and Mitsu, heavily influenced by Hyundai.
I think the Hyundai V8 is completely their own design.
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