FTC warns Hyundai

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
It's like any other make, it's all about the dealership-if you get a good one, keep using them & buying from them. Unfortunately there seems to be a shortage of decent ones around here, we've had to start using Kings Ford out in the northeastern suburbs (Mason, OH) because the closer in ones are all pretty useless.



This is the truth. Stealerships abound, and many times an unhappy client could easily be handled by the dealer.

 

[Rolla07]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
Would never understand why some people like buying anything that is not Japanese or at least American. My humble and somewhat polarizing opinion.


My humble and polarizing opinion is why waste your money on rather awful car like Versa when for the same money a slightly used Nissan Altima which is a superior vehicle in every measure is available. Was it for the short lived warranty?

I have rented the Versa and what a terrible car compared to Altima I ocassioanlly get as free upgrade.


But where do you stop? I could say the same thing about the Altima vs a Mercedes E-350...


There's a reason why a used luxury car is so cheap. Its usually because used luxury cars result in lots of costly repairs. I know two friends who went that route, the love was short lived...unless you are very lucky

 

[Rolla07]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
Would never understand why some people like buying anything that is not Japanese or at least American. My humble and somewhat polarizing opinion.


My humble and polarizing opinion is why waste your money on rather awful car like Versa when for the same money a slightly used Nissan Altima which is a superior vehicle in every measure is available. Was it for the short lived warranty?

I have rented the Versa and what a terrible car compared to Altima I ocassioanlly get as free upgrade.


You are arguing against an opinion? Thats like saying a Camry is better then a Corolla so why bother with a Corolla? An argument can be made against everyone's car choice.

 

[Robster]

Originally Posted By: wemay
Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
Would never understand why some people like buying anything that is not Japanese or at least American. My humble and somewhat polarizing opinion.


The masses will be fine, I'm sure.

The warranty has been stellar for me and other Hyundai owners i know.


Agreed. . .on my second new Hyundai and have had very few (minor) warranty issues, and those that I had were handled without ANY question from the dealer and fixed the first time. My current Hyundai has an engine that according to internet lore, is destined to grenade any minute--I doubt that it will, but if it happens I expect Hyundai will act in accordance with it's warranty contract, just as it has in the past. Yes, I'll likely buy another Hyundai.

 

[650NutKase]

Originally Posted By: Robster
Originally Posted By: wemay
Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
Would never understand why some people like buying anything that is not Japanese or at least American. My humble and somewhat polarizing opinion.


The masses will be fine, I'm sure.

The warranty has been stellar for me and other Hyundai owners i know.


Agreed. . .on my second new Hyundai and have had very few (minor) warranty issues, and those that I had were handled without ANY question from the dealer and fixed the first time. My current Hyundai has an engine that according to internet lore, is destined to grenade any minute--I doubt that it will, but if it happens I expect Hyundai will act in accordance with it's warranty contract, just as it has in the past. Yes, I'll likely buy another Hyundai.



My mom's 07 Kia Optima (Same as Sonata), has over 150k on the clock and running as great as ever. 2.4L inline 4 is a good engine and has been bulletproof. On the other hand, my 5.4 3v Triton is apparently one of the worst engines ever created by Ford. However, mine has been great. 134k no issues. Goes to show that not everything you hear is truth.

 

[BeerCan]

My Hyundai 3.8 has 110k and the 5.0 has 55k and both have been great cars. Some minor repairs on the 5.0 but all have been handled without issues

 

[Claud]

[/quote] My mom's 07 Kia Optima (Same as Sonata), has over 150k on the clock and running as great as ever. 2.4L inline 4 is a good engine and has been bulletproof. On the other hand, my 5.4 3v Triton is apparently one of the worst engines ever created by Ford. However, mine has been great. 134k no issues. Goes to show that not everything you hear is truth. [/quote]

I'd say it goes to show that some examples of every make will will give bombproof reliability for interstellar mileages, and some will be catastrophic money pit lemons.

The overall reliability record averaged over many thousands or millions sold will give a truer picture.
"My Smiths Disappointment has never let me down so all Smiths Disappointments will be utterly reliable " is as simplistic as "My Jones Humdrum is always letting me down so all Jones Humdrums are lemons". One example simply is too small a sample core to give a true picture.
Your Kia and Ford seem to be bucking the trend, whether that is because of your good driving and maintenance, or because they were assembled to a high standard in the first place, or more likely a combination of both is hard to tell.

Claud.

 

[Silverado12]

Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
Would never understand why some people like buying anything that is not Japanese or at least American. My humble and somewhat polarizing opinion.


My humble and polarizing opinion is why waste your money on rather awful car like Versa when for the same money a slightly used Nissan Altima which is a superior vehicle in every measure is available. Was it for the short lived warranty?

I have rented the Versa and what a terrible car compared to Altima I ocassioanlly get as free upgrade.


You are arguing against an opinion? Thats like saying a Camry is better then a Corolla so why bother with a Corolla? An argument can be made against everyone's car choice.


Yeah, but the Versa really is a pretty bad car. A friend of mine had one and he was always working on it for all sorts of little problems. It did have high miles, but I never had those kind of issues with my Chrysler and GM junk.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
Would never understand why some people like buying anything that is not Japanese or at least American. My humble and somewhat polarizing opinion.
Sorry, but my Korean Sonata will no doubt, hands down, definitely live a much longer life and will require much less work to get there than your Impala.


You can't possibly know that...

 

[Vuflanovsky]

Originally Posted By: Claud
[/quote] My mom's 07 Kia Optima (Same as Sonata), has over 150k on the clock and running as great as ever. 2.4L inline 4 is a good engine and has been bulletproof. On the other hand, my 5.4 3v Triton is apparently one of the worst engines ever created by Ford. However, mine has been great. 134k no issues. Goes to show that not everything you hear is truth.


I'd say it goes to show that some examples of every make will will give bombproof reliability for interstellar mileages, and some will be catastrophic money pit lemons.

The overall reliability record averaged over many thousands or millions sold will give a truer picture.
"My Smiths Disappointment has never let me down so all Smiths Disappointments will be utterly reliable " is as simplistic as "My Jones Humdrum is always letting me down so all Jones Humdrums are lemons". One example simply is too small a sample core to give a true picture.
Your Kia and Ford seem to be bucking the trend, whether that is because of your good driving and maintenance, or because they were assembled to a high standard in the first place, or more likely a combination of both is hard to tell.

Claud. [/quote]


While I can generally agree with what you're saying, I think there's a "rub" in relation to some of these posts citing their experiences with x vehicle. These posts serve as a contrast to posters who cite interest boards of a particular brand as giving you the empirical reality for a given problem ( not amplification of that problem ) OR ones that cite a car problem/reliability website that more significantly serves as a vent than representing the truer percentage numbers involved.

Sometimes the "fear porn" in relation to several of these issues/makes probably causes people to post that they haven't had any similar issues. I know it does for me. My DI car was supposed to have heavy carbon deposits or granade by now instead of being six years old with zero issues. Yeah, I'm just an anomaly....apparently like a lot of others.

 

[PimTac]

“Sometimes the "fear porn" in relation to several of these issues/makes probably causes people to post that they haven't had any similar issues. I know it does for me. My DI car was supposed to have heavy carbon deposits or granade by now instead of being six years old with zero issues. Yeah, I'm just an anomaly....apparently like a lot of others.


Spot on comment.

 

[OilFilters]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
Would never understand why some people like buying anything that is not Japanese or at least American. My humble and somewhat polarizing opinion.


How about for the toys? Paid 18k for a used German E-350 that listed for 68k when it was new. Fun to drive, has some nice touches that are standard like 3 position memory seats. Lots of options too. And to some people, money isn't really that big an issue.


That would be an absolute NIGHTMARE to deal with after about 10 years or 100k miles. The vast quantity of over engineering and over electrification will start to die a terrible death. You'll spend more than the car ever cost keeping it running.

If money isn't an issue why didn't you buy it new?

I'm pretty sure German cars are their way of getting back at us for losing the war.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: OilFilters
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
Would never understand why some people like buying anything that is not Japanese or at least American. My humble and somewhat polarizing opinion.


How about for the toys? Paid 18k for a used German E-350 that listed for 68k when it was new. Fun to drive, has some nice touches that are standard like 3 position memory seats. Lots of options too. And to some people, money isn't really that big an issue.


That would be an absolute NIGHTMARE to deal with after about 10 years or 100k miles. The vast quantity of over engineering and over electrification will start to die a terrible death. You'll spend more than the car ever cost keeping it running.

If money isn't an issue why didn't you buy it new?

I'm pretty sure German cars are their way of getting back at us for losing the war.


Well it's starting to hit the 10 year mark. Still a tad under 100k though. Money isn't an issue with regards to repair and I suppose I could have bought it new with cash, but didn't really feel up to blowing that much cash in one shot. Kept it in the market. It's probably up about 30-40% in the last 3 years. Hasn't done much in the last 6 months though. Some things are easily fixed with just a little help from the forums. Once the wipers wouldn't work, but it's a common problem with the nut being loose on the wiper arm. If it had been the linkage, it would have been several hundred, but it was just a loose nut so a quick free 2 minute repair job. I'm waiting for the intake manifold to go though, that is probably a 2k job at the dealer, but the part is about $560 online and I think my indy can do it for around $200-$300, maybe less. Still more fun to drive than the last car I had though so it's money well spent.

 

[MuzzleFlash40]

We've really enjoyed our Hyundai's. They are made here, even their steel plant is here in the states. Hard to beat the value for the money. None of the mid size offerings that I drove ride as nice as my Sonata. I use OE oil filters, but both the air filters are usually Wix.

 

[grampi]

I don't know much about their warrantees as I've never owned a Hyundai, but on a single day I test drove the current model Elantra, the current model Corolla, and the last generation Civic. I will say I thought the Elantra was by far the worst of the bunch, and the Corolla was by far the best driving car of the 3...

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: Rolla07
There's a reason why a used luxury car is so cheap. Its usually because used luxury cars result in lots of costly repairs. I know two friends who went that route, the love was short lived...unless you are very lucky

It's true if you go to the dealer. But I never go to the dealer unless it's only something they can do like firmware updates or if it's under warranty. Otherwise going to an indy is about 1/3 to 2/3's cheaper and if you can DIY, it's just the cost of the part.

 

[OilFilters]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
it's just the cost of the part.


Even the cost of parts is much, much higher, they have many more dealer only items, the shear parts count is much higher, and, there are oh SO MANY things that you could never do yourself unless you were an expert...

There is a reason "luxury", mostly German cars, end up in the junk yard much faster than the rest.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: OilFilters
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
it's just the cost of the part.


Even the cost of parts is much, much higher, they have many more dealer only items, the shear parts count is much higher, and, there are oh SO MANY things that you could never do yourself unless you were an expert...

There is a reason "luxury", mostly German cars, end up in the junk yard much faster than the rest.


Luckily you can buy a copy of the WIS (repair manuals) on eBay for $10. There's also a free one out there in google books. Lots of youtube videos. But yes, certain things like the balance shafts require taking the engine out of the car so there's certain non DIY items out there. But if you avoided certain 2005-2007 cars with the M272 engine, you'd be fine. I find parts are about 2-3x more than American parts, which almost puts them on par with some Japanese cars where parts are higher than American cars. Plus once they're older, you can also find the parts on eBay or in a junkyard. There's also certain super expensive parts like bixenon headlamps which list for around $1500 each, but you can get a Hella for around $200 and there are some aftermarket and junkyard/ebay options. Both of mine so far are fine though. They're actually not a very common failure item and the active corner illumination where the beam swivels up to 12 degrees from one side to another is kinda cool.

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted By: OilFilters
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
Would never understand why some people like buying anything that is not Japanese or at least American. My humble and somewhat polarizing opinion.


How about for the toys? Paid 18k for a used German E-350 that listed for 68k when it was new. Fun to drive, has some nice touches that are standard like 3 position memory seats. Lots of options too. And to some people, money isn't really that big an issue.


That would be an absolute NIGHTMARE to deal with after about 10 years or 100k miles. The vast quantity of over engineering and over electrification will start to die a terrible death. You'll spend more than the car ever cost keeping it running.

If money isn't an issue why didn't you buy it new?

I'm pretty sure German cars are their way of getting back at us for losing the war.


What is cheaper , pay $68k brand new and lose the value to $18k ($50k!!!!) over 5 years or buy two of used them for $36k - $18k trade in both over similar span of time.

 

[OilFilters]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
What is cheaper , pay $68k brand new and lose the value to $18k ($50k!!!!) over 5 years or buy two of used them for $36k - $18k trade in both over similar span of time.


Both are stupid ways to throw away your money. I can't stand people that are always playing musical cars and loosing tens of thousands of dollars each time...

My mom has bought 3 BMWs a few years old because she thinks she's better than other people, but can't afford them new. All three were totaled before 180,000 miles. By "totaled" I don't mean wrecked, I mean mechanically broken and the cost to repair greatly exceeded the value of the car. She loses $10-20k every time she does this and will never learn a lesson from it...

Not only were they expensive wastes of money, they could never be trusted to be reliable and take her anywhere.