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Correct, despite the really terrible head gasket design in the 3.8L Essex, I wouldn't call it the worst engine ever made because drivers could easily install a 3rd party gasket manufacturer that was better than the OEM version by Ford sold at dealers for higher cost, and the problem went away completely. Very unpredictable engine, but if Ford had got it right the first time on its design, it would easily be just as reliable and dependable as GM's award winning 3800 engine, actually.
Did you notice that several of those complaints were as a result of the campaign 953 "product improvement" update? There are other sites as well filled with stories of brand new Hyundais and Kias put in "limp mode" by this "product improvement" that is anything but.
I'm curious, but do you feel safe driving in your 2017 Hyundai Sonata, despite the known problem in engines?
My mom owns a (10 year older) 2007 Sonata, when has the Theta I fuel-injection engine (not direct-injection), and no engine or transmission problem so far after 120,000 miles. So, I can just tell my mom easily that new Hyundai Sonatas don't last as long as the old ones, as documented on carcomplaints.com. She only paid $14,995 sale plus TTL for it new from a weekend newspaper ad (when Hyundai sold less number of cars before and cared about customers). Not bad...
I'm curious, but do you feel safe driving in your 2017 Hyundai Sonata?
My mom owns a (10 year older) 2007 Sonata, when has the Theta I fuel-injection engine (not direct-injection), and no engine or transmission problem so far after 120,000 miles. So, I can just tell my mom easily that new Hyundai Sonatas don't last as long as the old ones, as documented on carcomplaints.com. They only paid $14,995 sale plus TTL for it new from a weekend newspaper ad (when Hyundai sold less number of cars before and cared about customers). Not bad...
Yes, I've never had any reason not to feel safe driving it. It's actually very solid, tight, and stable for a putt-putt car. That's what I've called 'em for 50 years. It comes naturally to you when you come of age sharing the road with new 427 Chevys and 429 Fords.
The car has actually exceeded my expectations so far. Example - I've taken one sizable trip in it that took me to Twin Falls, Idaho. On the return trip, I was unexpectedly detoured into the Nevada sticks south of Wells and Elko, Nevada due to a tanker truck carrying hazmat stuff jack-knifing on I-80 and spilling its cargo all over the road. Several miles of I-80 were completely closed for a day and a half. I've taken probably a dozen trips through there in 45 years and had never seen that happen.
Anyway, I'm driving the 2-lane windy, mountainous detour suggested by the Nevada HP in relentless heavy traffic all there for the same reason and it was mostly heavy tractor-trailer trucks. Low and behold, I round a curve and suddenly my life passes before me. I'm in total disbelief because what I see is a semi trying to pass! in a curve in that traffic. He's in my lane no more than about 250 ft away coming straight for me head on at probably 50 mph. I had a quick decision to make...
Die instantly or.......
Crank the wheel hard right off the road and into the Nevada scrub.
So a half second later I find myself bouncing, jarring, banging into who knows what I was hitting below me as I scraped to a stop a good ways off the road. To be in the car while this was happening was to KNOW beyond any doubt that your brand new car had just been destroyed by this sub-human jackal that had just run me off the road into hard scrub and debris that no Sonata should ever be asked to negotiate. I'm in the middle of nowhere assuming that my car is gone and that I will somehow have to be rescued. Like Marvin in Midnight Run.
Except that my car wasn't gone. In fact, it was still running. And after a few minutes to settle my nerves and heartbeat, I began inching back toward the road. Back through the scrub and debris I plowed, got back on the road....and found that car drove as well as it ever did. So north to Elko and I-80 I went. Found a place in Elko where I asked if they could give the car a thorough look-over from below to check for damage or problems. Outside of being caked with shredded Nevada scrub, everything was fine! No damage. Had a nice lunch and then headed west to Winnemucca, still not confident in how far I'd get. But the trip home was uneventful, as has been the car's performance ever since. And that was October almost 2 years ago. I wonder how many others cars - including the classics - would have weathered that nightmare with only some scratches made by the scrub on the finish low on the panels seen if you look closely.
As for me personally? Within a few months, I began to experience short episodes of arrhythmia which were precursors to persistent afib, which I've been in since September last year. Purely coincidence, I'm sure, stressful as that day was for my heart. No doubt it was going to happen anyway, with or without that truck driver's best efforts to kill us both.
By today's standards, my Sonata is actually a pretty good car, I'd have to say. There are two things I'd tweak if I could.
It has 3 driving modes - normal, eco, and sport. I much prefer the steering response in normal mode, and the transmission response in sport mode. I'd like to be able to select them independently and then leave them that way until/unless I want to change them. It won't let you do that.
The steering, like all cheap rack and pinion systems, is inferior to recirculating ball but I've driven much worse. It's not all that bad, really, but won't track stably centered for very long. Regularly must be corrected and then it's never long until you must correct the correction. For 50 years I drove bigger, better cars with recirculating ball steering that tracked perfectly for amazing distances on stable roads and that is my standard. Not that it's hard work, but steering this car is too much work. I'd expect that is true for most, if not all, new cars today.
But he offered you a '95 Cougar for $1000 because that's about what they're worth. No offense, but they were hideously styled and prone to major problems like blown head gaskets. I liked the looks of that vintage T-Bird, but they, too, were not good cars. If you've had better luck than average with yours, I certainly hope that continues for you.
The last Cougar made that I would buy was the '79. They were awesome, as were their T-Bird cousins. I'd love to have the right '77-'79 T-Bird, but I'd have to go back East to get one.
Are you talking about the 4.6? I see many 4.6 powered FoMoCo cars with mega miles. Of course any car will blow head gaskets if you overheat it. Lot of Crown Vic ex-police cars are still working as cabs, neither cops nor cabbies are known for taking real good care of a car that is not even theirs in the first place, but they soldier on anyway.
I guess hideous styling is in the eye of the beholder - it's not an XKE Jag, but it's not really ugly to me. Of course for a $400 car with working air that runs and drives well, and has few remaining needs, I can put up with styling I am not crazy about.
Another all-time great used car is the late 80's Camry. Have one of those too, they seem to run forever if you take reasonable care of them.
Not sure why you would go back East to find a vintage Cougar - should be plenty even in Cali - Well if you want to play the old car game, getting out of Cali would be the best first move.
Anyway. A lot of "vintage and veteran" alternatives to a newer and apparently inherently flawed newer Hyundai. For the same or less money.
Are you talking about the 4.6? I see many 4.6 powered FoMoCo cars with mega miles. Of course any car will blow head gaskets if you overheat it. Lot of Crown Vic ex-police cars are still working as cabs, neither cops nor cabbies are known for taking real good care of a car that is not even theirs in the first place, but they soldier on anyway.
Cougar came with 3.8L V6 Essex standard, but also came with 5.0L V8 Windsor or 4.6L V8 Modular optional (depending on model year).
Are you talking about the 4.6? I see many 4.6 powered FoMoCo cars with mega miles. Of course any car will blow head gaskets if you overheat it. Lot of Crown Vic ex-police cars are still working as cabs, neither cops nor cabbies are known for taking real good care of a car that is not even theirs in the first place, but they soldier on anyway.
I guess hideous styling is in the eye of the beholder - it's not an XKE Jag, but it's not really ugly to me. Of course for a $400 car with working air that runs and drives well, and has few remaining needs, I can put up with styling I am not crazy about.
Another all-time great used car is the late 80's Camry. Have one of those too, they seem to run forever if you take reasonable care of them.
Not sure why you would go back East to find a vintage Cougar - should be plenty even in Cali - Well if you want to play the old car game, getting out of Cali would be the best first move.
Anyway. A lot of "vintage and veteran" alternatives to a newer and apparently inherently flawed newer Hyundai. For the same or less money.
Correct, despite the really terrible head gasket design in the 3.8L Essex, I wouldn't call it the worst engine ever made because drivers could easily install a 3rd party gasket manufacturer that was better than the OEM version by Ford sold at dealers for higher cost, and the problem went away completely. Very unpredictable engine, but if Ford had got it right the first time on its design, it would easily be just as reliable and dependable as GM's award winning 3800 engine, actually.
Are you sure you want to word this in this way? You must know that the percentage of drivers that could easily install a 3rd party head gasket is very close to zero.
Are you sure you want to word this in this way? You must know that the percentage of drivers that could easily install a 3rd party head gasket is very close to zero.
Eventually later in the years, Ford came out with the improved gaskets for 3.8L to install in every new vehicles starting with 2002 model year, but I'm unsure if it's interchangeable with older models, like 1995 Ford Taurus and Ford Windstar. At that time during late-1990s, only the aftermarket gaskets were available, due to shortages of the OEMs by Ford.
Yeah, I think for 1995 the Cougar either got the V-6 or the 4.6 V-8, mine has the 4.6 modular. I have not heard of many problems with the 4.6 for 1995 MY cars. Oddly enough, the 94s had odd spark plugs that had only like 2 turns of threads, they sometimes blow out, and the 96 and later cars have the plastic intake manifold where the alternator likes to break its mounting point. So in my mind anyway, the 95 MY cars are the ones to get in this series. Apparently, around 2002 the plastic intake got a metal reinforced alternator mount, so these are more desirable than the 96 to '01 model years. Don't quote me on the exact year when the better plastic intake came around.
Yeah, I think for 1995 the Cougar either got the V-6 or the 4.6 V-8, mine has the 4.6 modular. I have not heard of many problems with the 4.6 for 1995 MY cars. Oddly enough, the 94s had odd spark plugs that had only like 2 turns of threads, they sometimes blow out, and the 96 and later cars have the plastic intake manifold where the alternator likes to break its mounting point. So in my mind anyway, the 95 MY cars are the ones to get in this series. Apparently, around 2002 the plastic intake got a metal reinforced alternator mount, so these are more desirable than the 96 to '01 model years. Don't quote me on the exact year when the better plastic intake came around.
Glad to hear it - that's the much better engine. And yes, you're absolutely right that the 95s are preferable at least until 2002, when they got the reinforcement.
Both of my panthers - Crown Vic and Lincoln Town Car - were 95s (and the panthers were all 4.6s from '92 on), so at least the manifold issue was one problem I didn't have. Unfortunately, I had lots of other problems. Window regulators, stuck blend doors, intermittent EATC blower motor controllers, and more.
The 95 4.6s did have another problem that I believe was fixed for '96. My Town Car suffered from it. It is described here and, in the end, was my last straw that prompted me to lease a new car. At the time, my car was an essential part of my job, so I could not live with starting problems, which this malady causes. Atop the other problems with the car, it was one too many.
Edit: It just occurred to me that we're getting way off-topic here and I apologize for my part in that.
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She only paid $14,995 sale plus TTL for it new from a weekend newspaper ad (when Hyundai sold less number of cars before and cared about customers). Not bad...
