speaking of cars...Hyundai Sonata

[deputydawg]

Re: speaking of cars...Hyundai Sonata

My brother in law has a Tiberon. That is a decent car, but nothing I would say even close to quality. The standards just aren't the same. <br />His was under warranty several years ago. Went to a funeral out of state, 300 miles from home. His car quit so we piled in mine. Couldn't find a dealer that would touch it. Finally I took off my suit and fixed the dumb thing. Was a plug wire, the boot was cracked arcing across. That was the stupidest design I have ever seen by the way.<br />The sonata is supposed to be a good ride. They have improved on the quality in the last few years. I have never seen one though. Unless things have changed in the past few years though, remember that the foreign cars do not meet the same standards of manufacture that is required in the US. Safety standards are met, but quality control is just not there. One may be excelent, the next made up of parts they swept off of the floor. The quality of steel used is not standard, things like that. That is unless things have changed since I was turning wrenches.

 

[Realgun]

Re: speaking of cars...Hyundai Sonata

All I know is that KIA made the little ford Festiva. That can went 147,000 miles and only had a head gasket changed along with the timeing belt.<br />And thats it in 11 years. I mantained it well.<br />That car was a first year car meaning your supposed to wait for the bugs to be worked out and buy the next years car.<br /><br />Fast Forward to 2003. Wife wants a new MiniVan but NEVER EVER another Chrysler product!<br />We bought a Kia Sedona EX.<br />She now has 47,000 miles on it. Only issue was a leaking rear seal on the brake cylinder. Dealer fixed this and did a complete rear brake job. Cost -0-.<br />The Van rides and drives like new. I even like it!<br />A friend at work has an Elantra and has 77,000 on it it seems fine and the dealer fixed the valve issue.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: speaking of cars...Hyundai Sonata

Realgun, the scary thing is that you drove the Festiva for 147K.. I'm not sure I could have done that..

 

[BrettNC]

Re: speaking of cars...Hyundai Sonata

Take my story with a grain of salt. The best thing to do is look at Consumer Reports' reliability surveys. Hyundai is on track to become the next Honda and Toyota in reliability ratings. The American vehicles are getting better, but still lagging.<br /><br />My wife has a 1999 Elantra. Her father bought it for her new. I did not have good thoughts on the reliability of the car at the time. Hyundai did a complete revamp of everything in 1998- manfuacturing, design, parts suppliers. They used to be really crappy cars before that. This car has had a nearly perfect track record (bad thermostat) so far at 113,00 miles. The powertrain design is excellent and very comparable to Honda's. Unfortunatley I can't say the same thing about my 1998 Ford Explorer (sohc v6). The design of the internal engine is very poor (for instance, plastic timing chain tensioners?!?)

 

[demsvmejm]

Re: speaking of cars...Hyundai Sonata

My wife bought her 1992 Elantra before we met. I had a very bad opinion of the car. It was a first year car. It did have a cheap feel to a lot of the parts. But we kinda miss the thing. It had good pep for the 1.6L DOHC I-4. It was great on gas, and was reliable. I worked at the local Hyundai dealership and repalved the t-belt at home at 59,997mi. <3K later the belt sheared some teeth. Being an interference engine I got to replace the head due to the casting around the valve guide breaking when then all eight exh valves broke off. On valve flipped over and embedded in a pistonso I got to replace that too. So >$850.00 later (1995 $$'s and mechanic's cost on parts, no labor) we fixed and sold the car. The girl who bought it put another 100K on it with no problems. Hyundai was a terrible car and a worse car company for a long time. Lately though, I heard nothing but good things about them, from the press and from owners. And better yet, I've had to work on very few, except maintenance items. <br />If I coudl afford a new car(both mine are paid off! ) I'd definately look at Hyundai, and Kia too.

 

[SoulWinner]

Re: speaking of cars...Hyundai Sonata

Hyundai is opening their first American assembly plant this year in Huntsville Alabama. Drove right by it on I-65 on my way to Cleavland to get my Land Cruiser.

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: speaking of cars...Hyundai Sonata

Do you guys get the Hyundi Terrican.<br />Would like to hear your views. <br />We have 2 versions: the base model then the Highlander.<br />My wife wants a Nissan Patrol Ti (the one with all the B/S) at $74,000 but this Highlander is only $42,000. <br />Quite different vehicles, (Nissan 3.5ton towing, Terrican 2.5ton) but not $32,000 difference.<br />I follow the Trading Post for used ones. <br />Pages and pages of Nissans, but under a handlful (if that) of Terricans. Owners just don't seems to want to sell them.<br />As for losing more on depreciation, is it an issue. <br />If you drop 30% on $74,000 that's $22,000 whereas 30% on $42,000 is $12,000. <br />I found a low milage (30,000 miles) 2000 Nissan Ti for $35,000 (excellant condition) and a 2002 Terrican (35,000 miles) for $31,000.<br />Who lost the most doe here?<br />The stuggle continues.<br />Cheers<br />Phillip

 

[youngboater]

Re: speaking of cars...Hyundai Sonata

The wife has a 2002 Hyundau Santa Fe 2.7 v6 with 45,000 miles with no problems at all. Well we had one problem. The drivers seat belt wouldn't retract at about 20,000 miles. We've been more than satisifed with the suv. We like the Escapes power but the plastic looks like crap on cars/trucks to me. Our warranty is 7 year 70,000 miles yatta yatta because they said it had 3 or 4 less horse power than advertised or something like that. I don't think too many other companies would do something like that. I really like the Hyundai and would buy one for myself but I love my pulling power with my full size <br />F-150.

 

[90skichallenger]

Re: speaking of cars...Hyundai Sonata

I will buy one when they make one that will tow my 7000 lb travel trailer. But other than that I have heard that they are really getting their stuff together quality wise.

 

[one more cast]

Re: speaking of cars...Hyundai Sonata

I decided to wait on buying a car at this time. The old lumina has a slight piston slap when cold and it is already worth very little so we are going to try and get a couple more years out of her.