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Our 2006 Hyundai Sonata(V6) has over 55,000 so far so good. Ride is so smooth and quiet and its fast. I'm used to driving sports cars, what a difference. I'm anticipating Hyundai Genesis coupe with 300hp next year if I decide to retire my 300zx.
In 2000 I bought a new Elantra GT figuring I would give Hyundai a try. With the 10-year/100K warranty and all the standard features for $13,900 (AC, Auto, leather seats, power sun/moon roof, 6-speaker CD system, alloy wheels, 6 airbags, etc.) I thought it was a real bargain. And with a small car (4-cylinder engine) I expected to get great gas mileage.
Very quickly I found out that the car wasn't such a great deal. My average MPG topped out at about 25-26 which wasn't much better than my old large & heavy 6-cylinder Windstar minivan (24-25 MPG at best). And my Hyundai Elantra GT had a host of serious problems, as well as many less-serious but annoying issues. Among these were:
* Although they patterned the Elantra GT after the Saab 93 5-door hatchback, they neglected many of the Saab's conveniences -- like a hatch release inside the car so you didn't have to exit the car to open the hatch, and a well-placed cup-holder (the Saab has a pop-out driver's holder in the dash, Hyundai put theirs in the center console right behind the shifter making it hard to access).
* The OEM Michelin MX4V+ tires were awful. Marginal at best on dry pavement, and suicidal on snow or ice (supposed to be all-season). The real kicker -- they are supposed to be 60K treadwear but even with normal use & steady rotation they were gone by 28K miles, inexcusable.
* The poor MPG was a real disappointment. One of the reasons I went with a smaller 4-cylinder was to get better mileage, and the GT was advertised as getting up to 27-28 MPG (even with the automatic transmission). That never happened. About 24-25 MPG was the best I could manage.
* The build quality and overall feel of the car was very cheap. Since I was only spending @ $14K I was prepared to put up with some minor annoyances, as long as I got to enjoy the real benefits of the car in return (better MPG, the lengthy warranty & reliability, road performance, safety). But I never got to enjoy the benefits since for the most part they didn't exist.
* At 27K miles the parking brake cable broke. I was able to take the car to the dealer for warranty service, and I was happy. About a month or two later, I noticed that the brakes weren't working well, and the pedal travel was extreme (almost to the floor). I again took the car to a Hyundai dealer (I had all service done at the dealer, per the owner's manual). This time I was told that the entire brake system needed to be replaced -- pads, shoes, rotors, calipers, everything...due to severe rust damage. Total cost of the repairs -- $800 and the car was in the shop for almost a week. However, this was not covered under either the 10-year/100K warranty or the 5-year/60K Bumper-To-Bumper warranty...Hyundai doesn't consider rust-damaged rotors/calipers @ 28K miles to be a defect, and as "normal-wear" items brakes aren't covered under the Bumper-To-Bumper warranty beyond the first year or 12K miles. So, for a nearly-new vehicle that I was still making payments on (and which only had 28K miles) I had to spend almost $1K out-of-pocket.
* The real eye-opener came less than a month after the brake fiasco. While driving through an intersection I was cut off by someone running a red light; there was no chance for me to avoid them and I "T-boned" them, totalling both vehicles. Yet even though I struck the other car at a perfect 90-degree angle with enough force to total both cars (bent frames), not ONE of my airbags deployed. It took a few minutes for me to realize it, as I was staring at the steering wheel -- and then I noticed the Hyundai logo on the steering wheel still intact. Rather ironic. Luckily the seatbelt held & I was not injured, but it could have ended very differently, very badly.
That was when I decided that I had given Hyundai enough of a chance. In my driving life I have owned nearly 20 different vehicles, new & used, cars & trucks & vans, domestic & imported. None of the other brands I have owned have ever given me as much trouble or cost me as much as the Hyundai I bought...and the Hyundai could have cost me a lot more than money. I'll never buy another Hyundai/Kia vehicle, and I won't ride in one either since the airbags probably won't work if needed.
We drove the Hyundai, Santa FE. the ride seemed ok but the stereo system was terrible. Even the upgraded system didn't seem to have any base. It sounded like the AM radio in my Dad's "59 Chevy Station Wagon.
We test drove the Mitsubichi Outlander XLS. Really like it. Made in Japan, it has the same 10/100k warranty and 5 / bumper to bumper. Anyone know when the 2009 models are arriving.
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?
Come join us in 2008 stop living in the 90's old man.
90's Hyundais might of been junk but in the last 5 years years Hyundais consistantly outranks BMW and Mercedes, even some Toyotas. Do some research.
I have a Tucsan and I couldn't be happier... 3 yrs old, 48Kmiles, and I get about 24-26mpg if I am just buzzing around town... went an Vaca last april and took the Tuscan- got 30 mpg. No troubles what so ever with the car (knock on wood). LOVE IT!
Come join us in 2008 stop living in the 90's old man.
90's Hyundais might of been junk but in the last 5 years years Hyundais consistantly outranks BMW and Mercedes, even some Toyotas. Do some research.
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.
Four hyundais from 2003 and on in our immediate family. No real issues. My 05 sonata has the biggest issue as the driver side low beam headlight keeps going out after 5 or 6 months, and it is a PIA to change. Other than that good on our front.
As for the reliability of honda...my friends civic literally fell apart at 90K. She spent several thousand dollars trying to keep it running. My brothers ford escort had 325K then it was junked simply because the frame rusted out from Maine winters. A cars reliability will depend heavily on the driver and maintenance.
Anyone have a problem with the ESC and ABS lights coming on. I have a 2006 Sonata and it happens from time to time. Turning the car off resets it. The reset will work for hours to months. I haven't been able to bring it into a dealer with the lights on. The lights have to be on so they can check it with the computer for error codes. If anyone has had this fix please post the remedy!!!!!!!!!
The battery on a 2008 is dying just because it wasn't being driven for a week or more? That is not normal at all.
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.
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.
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