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I had a Hyundai Santa Fe about 6 years ago. The advertised 100,000 warranty was indeed a scam. I don't remember the details, but they tacked an extra cost onto the contract.
How could you possibly accurately estimate HP by feel? Way too many factors. Power to weight ratio, torque curve, coefficient of drag, parasitic drag, temperature, elevation, humidity. My 2002 Santa Fe was overrated by something like 8 HP. I can tell you from experience from data logging and chassis dyno time that it is unlikely you are going to notice 8 HP at the crank.
Many auto manufactures have been sued over overrated HP rating including Mazda.
Acceleration, responsiveness to throttle. you can feel HP and particularly torque, through the seat of your pants if nothing else. The Koreans consistently feel like they're producing less power than their ratings. Some manufacturers actually feel like they're producing more power than their ratings (and some manufacturers actually underrate their engines). Hyundai and Kia are probably being 100% honest about their HP ratings...at the flywheel, just like the SAE Net specs suggest. But I bet their cars have more parasitic drag on the drivetrain than other manufacturers, so you end up with less HP and torque at the wheels.
That's my theory, I haven't done any dyno tests. But it probably explains it. Of the things you mentioned, parasitic drag is the only one that's validly different between manufacturers. Torque curve is part of "power" and everything else can be normalized.
Please,don't ever buy a Kia. I thought the whole car was covered for 100,000 miles.
Nope,only the powertrain.
Don't buy a car without reading the fine print and you will be fine. I managed Kia dealerships for a number of years, and we asked that you read everything before you signed it. If you didn't shame on you. How could you hand someone 25K dollars without knowing what you were getting into?
After the 3rd speeding ticket in my 07 VW GTI I went to the local Kia Dealer and asked to see the slowest car they had on the lot. The salesman took me to a silver 2010 Kia Soul. I drove it, and it was slow enough for my needs, so I bought one.
The sticker is 24 city, but I get 25 in Orange County. Like I said, it is slow. Not a single ticket yet. No idea about freeway mpg, we seldom drive the freeways, because it has the tendency to become a huge parking lot here in Southern California.
I changed the battery after 4.5 years, and the oil changes were $ 30, at every 3,500 miles, at the dealer. I had about 8 of those, to keep the warranty. I did change the coolant myself after 2 years and also the transm. fluid, just cheap insurance.
30 K miles, not a single problem. I'd buy another tomorrow if gets stolen.
I will replace the brake pads front and rear, myself, they aren't due yet, but I want new brake pads before we move to Paradise.
The Soul is like a small SUV without the high price and poor gas mileage. Great visibility. Easy to park.
I did work as a Honda tech for 22 years, and previously a year on Toyotas, and another year on Ferrari/Lamborghini.
On a Countach (remember that car, old timers?) it takes almost a week to do a valve clearance adjustment, with the shims they had, back in the late seventies.
The Ferraries needed valve guides and rings at 30 K.
Once my wife's V6 Honda Accord gets tired we'll get another Kia or Hyundai, if I live that long.
I've never heard of a vehicle that had bumper-to-bumper 100,000 mile warranty.
You can add the option to extend the b2b to 100k for new Hyundais for around a 1k at the time of purchase. You can even go beyond that if you select certain options, and the pricing is always negotiable.
I would buy a Kia, oR Hyundai over anything that has spewed out of Detroit in the past 40+ years. Kias are well built, reliable cars. I bought my final Detroit POS in 1990. It had a warranty THAT WAS USED MANY TIMES. When the warranty went out, I couldn't afford the repairs, so I dumped the car. The best warranty is the one you don't have to use. Both my 18 year old Nissan truck, and my six year old Toyota needed NO warranty work. The Toyota has only needed a battery and new tires. The old truck has had less repairs in 18 years than my final detroit POS had init's first month! True, the warranty covered that junker, but that didn't alleve the inconvenience, and bad feelings I had toward the dealer, and the zone representatives. They were in terminal denial. They lost a customer to the Asian brands forever!
Since I wrote this nearly four years ago, I still have both vehicles. The Corolla has had ZERO problems, and my 22 year old truck just got a new radiator and a water pump. Not bad for such old vehicles. When I drove Detroit crap I had to trade in quite often to avoid the expense and inconvenience. I have no want or desire for a new vehicle to take the place of what I have.
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